The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible

by Lieb, Michael; Mason, Emma; Roberts, Jonathan; Rowland, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780199204540
• ISBN10: 0199204543
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-04
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In recent decades, reception history has become an increasingly important and controversial topic of discussion in biblical studies. Rather than attempting to recover the original meaning of biblical texts, reception history focuses on exploring the history of interpretation. In doing so itlocates the dominant historical-critical scholarly paradigm within the history of interpretation, rather than over and above it. At the same time, the breadth of material and hermeneutical issues that reception history engages with questions any narrow understanding of the history of the Bible andits effects on faith communities. The challenge that reception history faces is to explore tradition without either reducing its meaning to what faith communities think is important, or merely offering anthologies of interesting historical interpretations. This major new handbook addresses these matters by presenting receptionhistory as an enterprise (not a method) that questions and understands tradition afresh. The Oxford Handbook of the Reception History of the Bible consciously allows for the interplay of the traditional and the new through a two-part structure. Part I comprises a set of essays surveying the outline, form, and content of twelve key biblical books that have been influential in thehistory of interpretation. Part II offers a series of in-depth case studies of the interpretation of particular key biblical passages or books with due regard for the specificity of their social, cultural or aesthetic context. These case studies span two millennia of interpretation by readers with widely differing perspectives. Some are at the level of a group response (from Gnostic readings of Genesis, to Post-Holocaust Jewish interpretations of Job); others examine individual approaches to texts (such as Augustine andPelagius on Romans, or Gandhi on the Sermon on the Mount). Several chapters examine historical moments, such as the 1860 debate over Genesis and evolution, while others look to wider themes such as non-violence or millenarianism. Further chapters study in detail the works of popular figures who haveused the Bible to provide inspiration for their creativity, from Dante and Handel, to Bob Dylan and Dan Brown.

Table of Contents

Introduction, Jonathan Roberts
Part One
1. Genesis, Rachel Havrelock
2. Job, John F. A. Sawyer
3. Psalms, Katherine Dell
4. Isaiah, John F. A. Sawyer
5. Ezekiel, Paul Joyce
6. Daniel, John J. Collins
7. Judges, David M. Gunn
8. Gospel of John, Catrin H. Williams
9. Romans, Guy J. Williams
10. Corinthians, Judith Kovacs
11. Galatians, John Riches
12. Revelation, Christopher Rowland
Part Two
Hermeneutical and Historical Issues
13. The Bible and Iconography, Albert C. Labriola
14. Linguistic and Cultural Influences on Interpretation in Translations of the Bible, David J. Clark
15. Memory, Imagination, and the Interpretation of Scripture in the Middle Ages, Mary Carruthers
16. Bible and Millenarianism, Peter Clarke
17. Non Retaliation and Military Force, Richard Harries
18. The Bible and Anti-Semitism, Tobias Nicklas
19. Dante and the Bible, Piero Boitani
20. George Friedric Handel and the Messiah, John Butt
21. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's The Women's Bible, Ann Loades
22. Uchimura and the Bible in Japan, Atsuhiro Asano
23. One Bible, Two Preachers: Patchwork Sermons and Sacred Art in the American South, Carol Crown
24. Bob Dylan's Bible, Michael J. Gilmour
25. From John's Gospel to Dan Brown: The Magdalene Code, Robin Griffith-Jones
Hebrew Bible
26. Gnostic Interpretations of Genesis, Ismo Dunderberg
27. Samuel Wilberforce, Thomas Huxley, and Genesis, John Hedley Brooke
28. Sodomy and Gendered Love: Reading Genesis 19 in the Anglican Communion, Jay Emerson Johnson
29. Exodus in Early Twentieth Century America: Charles Reynolds Brown and Lawrence Langner, Scott Langston
30. The Use of Exodus by the Africaanas and Liberation Theologians, Paulo Nogueira
31. Elihu's Spiritual Sensation: William Blake's Illustrations to the Book of Job, Emma Mason
32. Ezekiel 1 and the Nation of Islam, Michael Lieb
33. Post-Holocaust Jewish Interpretations of Job, Isabel Wollaston
34. Seventh Day Adventists, Daniel, and Revelation, Kenneth G. C. Newport
35. Esther and Hitler: A Second Triumphant Purim, Jo Carruthers
New Testament
36. Kierkegaard on the Lilies and the Birds: Matthew 6, George Pattison
37. Ghandi's Interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, Jeremy Holtom
38. Preaching, Politics, and Paul in Contemporary African American Christianity, Brad Braxton
39. Ruskin, the Bible, and the Death of Rose La Touche, Zoe Bennett
40. Karl Barth on Romans, Tim Gorringe
41. Augustine and Pelagius on the Epistle to the Romans, Mark Edwards
42. Luther on Galatians, Peter Matheson
43. Joanna Southcott: Enacting the Woman Clothed with the Sun, Gordon Allan
44. Bible Reading and/after Theory, Valentine Cunningham