Biblical Interpretation in Theological Perspective
FRANCIS WATSON
Published by T&T Clark International
A Continuum imprint
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
15 East 26th Street, Suite 1703, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © T&T Clark Ltd 1994
First published 1994
This edition published 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0567080587 (paperback)
Part Two Theology and Postmodernism
7. Narratives of Postmodernity
Part Three Holy Scripture and Feminist Critique
10. Hebrew Narratives and Feminist Readers
Part Four Theology, Hermeneutics, Exegesis
16. Resurrection, Text and Truth
The position developed in this book is, in one sense, a familiar one: that biblical interpretation should concern itself primarily with the theological issues raised by the biblical texts within our contemporary ecclesial, cultural and socio-political contexts. At a time when many former hermeneutical certainties are encountering sustained and effective challenge, the familiar but still controversial claim that biblical interpretation should no longer neglect its theological responsibilities is due for reformulation and restatement.
In offering such a restatement, I am heavily dependent on recent hermeneutically-oriented work within both biblical studies and systematic theology. Several of the chapters that follow simply present critical appreciations of recent work within literary, canonical or feminist perspectives, and even where I have taken a more independent line I have often developed this by way of dialogue with other hermeneutical proposals. At the same time, I have been acutely aware that to argue for the primacy of theology within biblical interpretation is to adopt a minority position, with all the vulnerability that this entails. Despite the recent vogue for interdisciplinary work of various kinds, it remains unusual for biblical scholars to advocate a renewed dialogue with systematic theology as the way forward for their own discipline. In exploring the possibilities of such a dialogue, I have often had to go my own way, in relative isolation from current debate.
If the results of ...
|
About Text, Church and World: Biblical Interpretation in Theological PerspectiveFrancis Watson contends that the new approaches make it possible to rethink the relationship of Biblical studies to Christian theology. If interpretation is determined in part by the perspective of the interpreter, then it no longer makes sense to insist that historical questions about the test’s origins must always be given priority over explorations of its theological potential. Indeed, given that the primary location of the Biblical text is the Christian community, the object of investigations must be the Biblical text in its final, canonical form. Historical questions about its circumstances of origin are less significant than its role in furthering the process of theological and hermeneutical thought. Watson therefore engages critically with the work of, for example, Barth, Childs, Derrida, Frei, Lindbeck, McFadyen and Schussler Fiorenza. He also offers examples of a Biblical interpretation that gives precedence to theological concerns, drawing on texts from both Old and New Testaments. The outcome is a major challenge to the fundamental methodological assumptions of historical-critical Biblical scholarship. |
| Support Info | textchrworld |