The Use and Abuse of the Bible: A Brief History of Biblical Interpretation

by Henry Wansbrough

Genres: Theology, Religion, Christianity, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2010

About the author

Born Joseph Henry Wansbrough, the Very Reverend Dom Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), is an English biblical scholar and a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, England.

He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. He has written twenty books, more than sixty articles, around ninety book reviews, an edition of the Synoptic Gospels, with an accompanying textbook, for 'A'-Level students, and more than fifty electronic booklets, essays, and lectures, as well as editing, co-editing, and translating other volumes. Today he resides at Ampleforth.

Reviews

[Dhanaraj Rajan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the way the Bible was interpreted in different ages right from the New Testament times to the contemporary times.

From the back cover:

"Henry Wansbrough's vivid, pithy essays show consumers of scripture - an apostle, theologians, doctors of the church, a venerable heresiarch, a medieval laywoman, modern politicians with secular agendas, Christ himself - understanding and often warping the text in the light of their own times and prejudices. He brings to life the intimacies and complicities of individual relationships with sacred readings." - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame, USA.

[Jim Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It helped me better understand the history of the Bible and its interpretation. I think some people today tend to look at the Bible as a complete document that was handed down directly from God in its completed form. Of course that is not the case. People interpreted scripture in different ways. People determined what would be included in the Bible. You couldn't always look up chapters and verses. There was a political motivation behind the development of the King James version. Many of you probably already know all of this but, for me, it helps me understand that it's alright to question what we're taught today. It's okay to look at the history of the Bible and understand how we got to today's interpretation(s). It's acceptable to believe it is inspired by God but not dictated by God. For some people, this is blasphemy. They think we're obligated to believe in an almost fairy tale literal interpretation of everything that is in the Bible. For me, I'm good with believing that God inspired people to write the Bible and also inspired people to interpret it. God's love is real. God wants to be in communion with his people. Some of the arguments as to exactly what that means have raged for centuries. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a deeper understanding of Bible history.

[Ben Jeapes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the title I was expecting something a little different. I expected case studies of how the Bible has been used to justify bad things, and maybe put them right too - for example, in the history of slavery, say. But what I got is still worth reading. Instead it's a series of profiles of Biblical thinkers - e.g. Irenaeus, Origen, Jerome, Bede, Aquinas, Julian of Norwich, Luther, the Wesleys and others - and the interpretative approaches they took towards the Bible. They all did it in different ways, some could be said to have been more helpful than others, but none of them got it what you would call _wrong_. One or two did have a habit of applying their own preconceptions in advance, others were genuinely transformed by what they read. All of them one way or another contributed to a holistic approach that is much more helpful, and much more in keeping with the Bible's purposes, than blind literalism.

Also helpful towards the end are a look at how the Bible has been used rightly and wrongly as regards the existence of a particular state at the eastern end of the Mediterranean; and then a summary of the Lectio Divina method, which the author clearly believes to be the best way of approaching scripture.

[KIERAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not like the Christological view of the Old Testament, mainly because of the problem that a view SOLELY fixated on Christ can lead to anti-Semitism, as well as a lack of respect for the non-prophetic content already present. And a lack of respect for Judaism in general.

But otherwise this was a good, educational read.

[Nick Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. Quite good. Treats of a wide range of diverse figures.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good companion to 'traditional' christian history. A different angle of how theologians and people of faith understood the scriptures in their own times.