History of Biblical Interpretation - 3D Many might agree with the statement in the New Testament that “no prophetic writing is a matter for private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20, REB). Nevertheless, there has been no lack of suggesting a diverse assortment of interpretive methods over the past few millennia. Making one’s way through the forest of suggestions for understanding the Bible has been aided by such resources as IVP’s Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters, but sometimes there’s a need to gain a perspective from a more chronological and in-depth viewpoint.

Coming at biblical interpretation from its earliest forms down to today is nowhere better handled than in the three-volume History of Biblical Interpretation series edited by Alan J. Hauser and Duane F. Watson. This multi-author work is divided into three volumes: (1) The Ancient Period, (2) The Medieval through the Reformation Periods, and (3) The Enlightenment through the 19th Century. Nearly forty separate scholars contribute to the approximately combined equal number of chapters across the three installments.

Need a better understanding of Rabbinic Midrash? Check out vol. 1, ch. 7. Want to explore Eastern Orthodox Biblical Interpretation? Consult the 5th chapter of the second volume. Find yourself expected to know the lasting legacy of Graf and Wellhausen? Go directly to ch. 10 in the final volume. This series can be read straight through or consulted as needed regarding just about any subject related to Jewish or Christian biblical interpretation, whether ancient or modern.

History of Biblical Interpretation - macOS

Chapters are readable, but not simplified. Covering nearly 1500 combined pages in the print edition, these 40 or so chapters offer an adequate bit of depth; but for the reader wanting to learn even more, a helpful bibliography of further reading is provided with each chapter. Introductory discounted pricing is available for a limited time.

History of Biblical Interpretation
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List of topics covered and their contributors:

  • Inner-Biblical Exegesis in the Tanak (Esther Menn)

  • Hebrew Into Greek: Interpretation In, By, and Of the Septuagint (Leonard Greenspoon)

  • Philo of Alexandria as Exegete (Peder Borgen)

  • Biblical Interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Philip R. Davies)

  • Interpretation of Scripture in the Targumim (Martin McNamara)

  • Rabbinic Midrash (Gary G. Porton)

  • The Stabilization of the Tanak (James A. Sanders)

  • The Interpretation of the Tanak in the Jewish Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (James H. Charlesworth)

  • Interpreting Israel’s Scriptures in the New Testament (Donald H. Juel)

  • The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists (Joseph Trigg)

  • Alexandrian and Antiochene Exegesis (Frances Young)

  • Jerome and the Vulgate (Dennis Brown

  • Augustine and the Close of the Ancient Period of Interpretation (Richard A. Norris, Jr.)

  • The Formation of the New Testament Canon and Its Significance for the History of Biblical Interpretation (Harry Gamble)

  • The Interpretation of Scripture in the New Testament Apocrypha and Gnostic Writings (Craig A. Evans)

  • Early Medieval Exegesis: Gregory I to the Twelfth Century (Mary A. Mayeski)

  • Jewish Midrashic Interpretation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Carol Bakhos)

  • Medieval Jewish Biblical Exegesis (Robert A. Harris)

  • Eastern Orthodox Biblical Interpretation (Paul M. Blowers)

  • The Text of the Tanak (Russell Fuller)

  • The Text of the New Testament (J. Keith Elliott)

  • Scholastic Interpretation of the Bible (Christopher Ocker)

  • The Renaissance Humanists (Erika Rummel)

  • Biblical Interpretation in the Works of Martin Luther (Mark D. Thompson)

  • Biblical Interpretation in the Works of Philip Melanchthon (Timothy Wengert)

  • John Calvin and the Interpretation of the Bible (Barbara Pitkin)

  • Biblical Interpretation in Medieval England and the English Reformation (Lee W. Gibbs)

  • Biblical Interpretation among the Anabaptist Reformers (Stuart Murray)

  • Biblical Interpretation in the Catholic Reformation (Guy Bedouelle)

  • Scriptures in the Vernacular Up to 1800 (Lynne Long)

  • The Term “Enlightenment” and Biblical Interpretation (Michael C. Legaspi)

  • An Overview of Historical Criticism (William Baird)

  • Spinoza and His Influence on Biblical Interpretation (Travis L. Frampton)

  • Schleiermacher as New Testament Scholar and Theologian (Christine Helmer)

  • Biblical Interpretation in the Work of F. C. Baur and the Tübingen School (Darrell Jodock)

  • David Friedrich Strauss and Ludwig Feuerbach: The Rise of Sturm und Drang in Biblical Scholarship (Jeffrey F. Keuss)

  • Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible: Masoretes to the Nineteenth Century (James A. Sanders)

  • Wilhelm De Wette and His Contemporaries (J. W. Rogerson)

  • Graf and Wellhausen, and Their Legacy (Bill T. Arnold and David B. Schreiner)

  • The Text and Lexicography of the New Testament in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Dirk Jongkind)

  • The Quest for the Historical Jesus and Its Implications for Biblical Interpretation (J. D. G. Dunn)

  • Biblical Interpretation in Continental and American Pietism (Carter Lindberg)

  • Biblical Interpretation in North America Through the Nineteenth Century (Thomas H. Olbricht)