Interpreting the Bible : Approaching the Text

This volume provides preaching students and clergy with introductory knowledge of current approaches and methods in bliblcal studies, familiarity with the questions and aims that pertain to them, and facility with various methods of biblical exegesis. Approaches to biblical interpretation are then examined in light of the questions and concerns that arise specifically in the context of preaching.

Mary F. Foskett is the Zachary T. Smith Associate Professor of Religion at Wake Forest University, where she teaches New Testament, early Christian Studies, and feminist and multicultural interpretation. She is author of A Virgin Conceived: Mary and Classical Representations of Virginity and The Moral Teachings of Jesus, and coeditor, with Jeffrey Kah-Jin Kuan, of Ways of Being, Ways of Reading: Asian American Biblical Interpretation.

Editor's Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction Before the Sermon: Interpreting the Biblical Text	p. 1
What Is Exegesis?	p. 2
The Three Worlds of the Bible	p. 5
Ethics and the Three Worlds of the Bible	p. 10
Biblical Interpretation for Preaching	p. 12
Bringing the Text into view	p. 13
Beginning a Close Reading of the Text	p. 15
Shifting to a Wide-Angle Lens	p. 16
Case Study: Luke 7:36-50	p. 18
Conclusion	p. 28
Who's Reading and Whose Reading?	p. 29
The Reading Community	p. 30
The Congregational Community	p. 32
Religious Experience, Biblical Authority, and the Congregation	p. 35
Case Study: Luke 7:36-50	p. 36
The Living Word	p. 39
Engaging the Text in Historical Context	p. 41
The Challenge of Historical Distance	p. 42
History and the Ethics of Biblical Interpretation	p. 44
Reading in a Stream of History	p. 45
Examining the Historical and Social Contexts of the Bible	p. 46
Exploring the Historical World of the Text	p. 48
Case Study: Luke 7:36-50	p. 48
When Worlds Collide: Reading against the Grain of the Text	p. 55
Contextual Criticism	p. 56
Feminist Criticism	p. 58
Postcolonial Interpretation	p. 61
Reading with Resistance	p. 62
Case Study: Luke 7:36-50	p. 63
Conclusion Discerning the Transforming Word	p. 67
Toward Interpretation	p. 68
Discerning the Word	p. 70
Case Study: Luke 7:36-50	p. 71
Appendix A Close Reading of Matthew 4:1-11	p. 73
Notes	p. 77
For Further Reading	p. 83
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Interpreting the Bible : Approaching the Text in Preparation for Preaching

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