Reading Sacred Scripture: Voices from the History of Biblical Interpretation

Though well-known and oft-repeated, the advice to read the Bible "like any other book" is extremely unhelpful, say Stephen and Martin Westerholm, since the voice of Scripture calls us to hear and respond to its words uniquely as divine address. In Reading Sacred Scripture the authors (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. Subjects discussed include: Irenaeus, Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, The Pietists and Wesley, Schleiermacher, Kierkegaard, Barth and Bonhoeffer.