A needed lesson in how to read the Bible. In postmodern culture, the Bible has no definite place and the average person has trouble knowing what to make of it. Even many twenty-first-century Christians have difficult seeing the relevance of scripture. This superb volume is for everyone today who has lost the art of reading the Bible attentively and imaginatively. Written by a truly terrific group of scholars and teachers, this book restates with one clear voice the proper approach and goal of reading scripture. Chapters range from theological principles for understanding the Bible to studies of ways the Bible as been interpreted in the past to examples of good exegesis. The book also includes several model sermons on the subject. Above all, this engaging book shows that the Bible is neither a mere historical curiosity nor a therapeutic, self-help manual, but is first and foremost the story of God's gracious rescue of our lost and broken world.

The difficulty of interpreting the Bible is felt all over today. Is the Bible still authoritative for the faith and practice of the church? If so, in what way? What practices of reading offer the most appropriate approach to understanding Scripture? The church's lack of clarity about these issues has hindered its witness and mission, causing it to speak with an uncertain voice to the challenges of our time.

This important book is for a twenty-first-century church that seems to have lost the art of reading the Bible attentively and imaginatively. "The Art of Reading Scripture" is written by a group of eminent scholars and teachers seeking to recover the church's rich heritage of biblical interpretation in a dramatically changed cultural environment. Asking how best to read the Bible in a postmodern context, the contributors together affirm up front Nine Theses that provide substantial guidance for the church. The essays and sermons that follow both amplify and model the approach to Scripture outlined in the Nine Theses.

Lucidly conceived, carefully written, and shimmering with fresh insights, "The Art of Reading Scripture" proposes a far-reaching revolution in how the Bible is taught in theological seminaries and calls pastors and teachers in the church to rethink their practices of using the Bible.

Contributors: Gary A. Anderson

Richard Bauckham

Brian E. Daley

Ellen F. Davis

Richard B. Hays

James C. Howell

Robert W. Jenson

William Stacy Johnson

L. Gregory Jones

Christine McSpadden

R. W. L. Moberly

David C. Steinmetz

Marianne Meye Thompson