Houses of the Interpreter: Reading Scripture, Reading Culture

Baylor University Provost's Series

by David Lyle Jeffrey

Going beyond merely charting biblical scholarship and how it has both influenced and been influenced by cultural influences, Jeffrey focuses upon the art of biblical interpretation - how sculptors, musicians, poets, novelists and painters have read the Bible. By doing so, he demonstrates how such cultural interpretation has deepened the Church's understanding of the Bible as scripture and how, remarkably, this cultural reading has even contributed to theology and the practice of faith.; Jeffrey's chapters root theological issues germane to the hermeneutical enterprise (scriptural authority, narrative, the Old Testament as Christian scripture and the role of the reader, gender and postmodernism) in specific authors and artists (such as Chaucer, Bosch, Sir Orefo and C.S. Lewis) and he does this in constant conversation with literature, both eastern and western.; The list of great readers of scripture that Jeffrey draws up includes far fewer trained theologians than one might expect, and it is his thesis that the Church's desire and need for a deeply consistent and intellectually coherent biblical theology will only be satisfied by including the treasury of foundational interpreters that he assembles. But Jeffrey even here is careful to argue that the understanding of the un-ordained, the laity, needs also to be gathered up and most carefully reflected upon in the light of scripture itself.

Genres: Theology

288 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fascinating book in three parts. It is a series of essays on varying topics, including translation, interpretation, meanings of words, etc., in regards to the arts and scripture. The last section is especially good, as it makes a case for objective truth, interweaving many philosophic thoughts by the ancients, CS Lewis, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, William James, and others. The middle section consists of essays about specific pieces of art and literary works, so it would be much more informative to use the middle section in conjunction with the specific works of art.