its multi-layered narratives, its richly textured poetry, and its complicated arguments, calls for interpretive competence. Is it enough simply to say, ‘read your Bible’? Can it be taken as a matter of course that everyone who has learned the basic skill of recognizing letters, words and sentences (English or otherwise) is fully competent thereby to read the ancient, sacred texts of Israel and the early Christian Church? Answers to these questions are woven into the tapestry of the chapters that