Reading Sacred Scripture: Voices from the History of Biblical Interpretation - Paperback

by Stephen Westerholm (Author), Martin Westerholm (Author)

A rich display of the Christian tradition's reading of Scripture

Though well-known and oft-repeated, the advice to read the Bible "like any other book" fails to acknowledge that different books call for different kinds of reading. The voice of Scripture summons readers to hear and respond to its words as divine address. Not everyone chooses to read the Bible on those terms, but in Reading Sacred Scripture Stephen and Martin Westerholm (father and son) invite their readers to engage seriously with a dozen major Bible interpreters -- ranging from the second century to the twentieth -- who have been attentive to Scripture's voice.

After expertly setting forth pertinent background context in two initial chapters, the Westerholms devote a separate chapter to each interpreter, exploring how these key Christian thinkers each understood Scripture and how it should be read. Though differing widely in their approaches to the text and its interpretation, these twelve select interpreters all insisted that the Bible is like no other book and should be read accordingly.

Author Biography

Stephen Westerholm is professor of early Christianity at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Among his previous books are Justification Reconsidered: Rethinking a Pauline Theme and Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The "Lutheran" Paul and His Critics.

Martin Westerholm is lecturer in systematic theology at Durham University, England, and author of The Ordering of the Christian Mind: Karl Barth and Theological Rationality.