The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (Cambridge Companions to Religion)

The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, despite its dry-as-dust title, is a feast of answers to the extremely juicy question, "What does the Bible mean?" Editor John Barton shaped this book of essays as a "progress report on biblical interpretation in the 1990s." He invited leading scholars to provide 10-to-20 page definitions and summaries of recent developments in fields such as feminist interpretation, literary criticism, political reading, and sociological criticism. As Barton notes, there emerges from this book "a perception among many biblical scholars that the newest approaches are also a restoration of something very old." In other words, abstract hyphenates like "historical-critical" are helping scholars, pastors, and tuned-in laypeople learn to read like the fathers and mothers of faith. The fresh perspectives presented here make it possible to return to the Scriptures with renewed openness to the many shades of revelation. --Michael Joseph Gross