Reading the Gospels Wisely

by Pennington, Jonathan T.; Bauckham, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780801039379
• ISBN10: 0801039371
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781441238702
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-10-01
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• More Book Details

Summary

This textbook on how to read the Gospels well can stand on its own as a guide to reading this New Testament genre as Scripture. It is also ideally suited to serve as a supplemental text to more conventional textbooks that discuss each Gospel systematically. Most textbooks tend to introduce students to historical-critical concerns but may be less adequate for showing how the Gospel narratives, read as Scripture within the canonical framework of the entire New Testament and the whole Bible, yield material for theological reflection and moral edification. Pennington neither dismisses nor duplicates the results of current historical-critical work on the Gospels as historical sources. Rather, he offers critically aware and hermeneutically intelligent instruction in reading the Gospels in order to hear their witness to Christ in a way that supports Christian application and proclamation.

Author Biography

Jonathan T. Pennington (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is associate professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Heaven and Earth in the Gospel of Matthew and has published a number of tools for learning biblical languages.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Clearing Ground, Digging Deep, and Laying a Good Foundation
What Are the Gospels? Defining "Gospel"	p. 3
What Are the Gospels? Understanding the "Gospel" Genre	p. 18
Why Do We Need the Gospels? (Or Why Saint Paul Is Not Enough)	p. 36
The Joy and Angst of Having Four Gospels	p. 50
Texts and History: The Testimony of the Fourfold Witness	p. 74
Reading Holy Scripture Well: Three Avenues	p. 108
Reading Holy Scripture Well: Intent, Meaning, and. Posture	p. 122
Foundations for Reading the Gospels Well	p. 143
Building the House through Wise Reading
Reading the Gospels as Stories: The "Whatever Strikes Me" (WSM)Hermeneutic versus Narrative Analysis	p. 169
Reading the Gospels as Stories: Circles of Contextual Meaning	p. 183
Living in the Gospels House
Summing It All Up: Applying and Teaching the Gospels	p. 213
The Gospels as the Archway of the Canon	p. 229
Scripture Index	p. 259
Author Index	p. 265
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