In Houses of the Interpreter, David Lyle Jeffrey explores the terrain of the cultural history of biblical interpretation. But Jeffrey does not merely rest content to chart biblical scholarship and how it has both influenced and been influenced by culture. Instead, he chooses to focus upon the ""art"" of Biblical interpretation--how sculptors, musicians, poets, novelists, and painters have ""read"" the Bible. By so doing, Jeffrey clearly demonstrates that such cultural interpretation has deepened the church's understanding of the Bible as Scripture and that, remarkably, this cultural reading has contributed to theology and the practice of faith. Jeffrey's chapters effectively root the theological issues central to any hermeneutical enterprise (e.g., Scriptural authority, narrative, the Old Testament as Christian Scripture, the role of the reader, gender, and postmodernism) in specific authors and artists (e.g., Chaucer, Bosch, Sir Orfeo, C. S. Lewis)--and he does this in constant conversation with literature, both eastern and western.
David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and the Humanities and Provost at Baylor University. Jeffrey earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and is the author or editor of 12 books including A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (1992) and People of the Book: Christian Identity and Literary Culture (1996).
Preface and Acknowledgement PART ONE: Scripture in the House of Theology 1. How Firm a Foundation...? 2. Masterplot and Meaning in Biblical Narrative 3. Self-Examination and the Examination of Texts 4. Charity and Cupidity in Biblical Tradition 5. The Gospel according to Isaiah PART TWO: Scripture in the Houses of Art 6. Authority and Interpretation in the House of Fame 7. Chaucer's Friar's (Unpaid) Rent 8. Conversion in the English Saints' Plays 9. Parody and Piety in Bosch's Haywain 10. Sir Orfeo's Harp: Music for the End of Time PART THREE: Scripture in a House of Mirrors 11. Reading Wisely, Reading Well 12. Reading the Bible with C.S. Lewis 13. Scripture, Gender and Our Language of Worship 14. The Teaching Authority of Jesus and the Fatherhood of God 15. Postmodern Theology and Perennial Truth Notes Index
These essays are vintage Jeffrey--lively, literate, and learned, rich in wit and wisdom, ranging from ancient epic to medieval literature and art to postmodern parody, distinguished by a passionate erudition that attends with single-minded, open-hearted illumination to the interpretation of Scripture across cultures. Above all Jeffrey's writing enacts the kind of intertextual theological resourcement that our own houses of culture so desperately need: building up the Christian literary imagination through the scriptural education of our loves. Jeffrey brilliantly displays the virtues he holds up as characteristic of the exemplary reader: the rigorous analytic disciplines of the pilgrim mind, and the generosities of an open-hearted imagination. -Travis Kroekers, McMaster University, Ontario ...this collection will likely appeal to scholars, teachers, and students who share the author's interest in contemporary Christian thought and its implications for scriptural understanding in the modern age... Recommended. -- CHOICE
