Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part 1 Lines of approach
- 1 Historical-critical approaches
- 2 Literary readings of the Bible
- 3 The social world of the Bible
- 4 Poststructuralist approaches New Historicism and postmodernism
- 5 Political readings of Scripture
- 6 Feminist interpretation
- 7 Biblical studies and theoretical hermeneutics
- 8 The Bible and Christian theology
- 9 Biblical study and linguistics
- 10 Aspects of the Jewish contribution to biblical interpretation
- 11 The Bible in literature and art
- Part 2 Biblical books in modern interpretation
- General Index
- Index of Biblical References
2 - Literary readings of the Bible
from Part 1 - Lines of approach
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part 1 Lines of approach
- 1 Historical-critical approaches
- 2 Literary readings of the Bible
- 3 The social world of the Bible
- 4 Poststructuralist approaches New Historicism and postmodernism
- 5 Political readings of Scripture
- 6 Feminist interpretation
- 7 Biblical studies and theoretical hermeneutics
- 8 The Bible and Christian theology
- 9 Biblical study and linguistics
- 10 Aspects of the Jewish contribution to biblical interpretation
- 11 The Bible in literature and art
- Part 2 Biblical books in modern interpretation
- General Index
- Index of Biblical References
Summary
The twentieth century has seen a growing fascination with the Bible 'as literature', with an accompanying persistent sense of theological unease, apart from the obvious recognition that it is a collection of literary' texts having, in common with other literature, narratives, poems, epistles and so on. In 1935 T. S. Eliot suggested that when the Bible is discussed as 'literature' then its 'literary' influence is at an end, for it is far more than that. For T. R. Henn more recently, however, the phrase 'the Bible as literature' suggests a manner of approach to the reading of Scripture, and therefore also a means of assessment, one lightened of theology. As C. S. Lewis earlier wrote of the Authorized Version, 'it is very generally implied that those who have rejected its theological pretensions nevertheless continue to enjoy it as a treasurehouse of English prose'.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation , pp. 21 - 34Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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