Reading Scripture Canonically: Theological Instincts for Old Testament Interpretation - Paperback

by Mark S. Gignilliat (Author)

Veteran Old Testament teacher Mark Gignilliat explores the theological and hermeneutical instincts that are necessary for reading, understanding, and communicating Scripture faithfully. He takes seriously the gains of historical criticism while insisting that the Bible must be interpreted as Christian Scripture, offering students a "third way" that assigns proper proportion to both historical and theological concerns. Reading and engaging Scripture requires not only historical tools, Gignilliat says, but also recognition of the living God's promised presence through the Bible.

Back Jacket

How might we read the Old Testament canon as Christian Scripture? This is the driving question of the volume. Gignilliat places critical discussions within the framework of the Old Testament as an intentionally crafted, living Word of God and then proposes how Christians might read it with trinitarian sensibilities. This fresh and thoughtful exploration of what it means to read the Old Testament canon theologically can enrich current debates.
--M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas), Wheaton College and Graduate School

"Here is an authentic Christian refrain about the Bible, echoing the tradition but transposed into a twenty-first-century key. Gignilliat does ample justice to Scripture's material form and historical situatedness--this is not a screed against historical criticism--yet he pushes beyond source-oriented considerations and reconstructions to grapple with the trinitarian witness of the biblical canon, especially the Old Testament. These are questions that contemporary Christian biblical scholars usually neglect to pursue. May it be otherwise!"
--Stephen B. Chapman, Duke University

"Drawing beautifully on Childs and Sheppard, Gignilliat concludes that for the canon, fixity is a pole not a stage. Along the way, the author discusses what links Gunkel to von Rad and what was at stake between Lagarde and Kahle. Hence this work does dual service as a textbook and as a serious spur to scholarly thinking."
--Mark W. Elliott, University of Glasgow

"This work can help us to go beyond simply reading the Word to having an encounter with the God of the Word by reading the Bible with an intra-trinitarian lens, enabling us to marry doctrine with doxology."
--Robert Smith Jr., Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

"Gignilliat gives readers a book that manifests the rare combination that he himself possesses--equal comfort both in the field of Old Testament scholarship and in the theological and philosophical world. He offers not the mechanics of a method but something far more valuable: orthodox reflections that train our instincts and expectations as we go about reading the Old Testament as Christian Scripture."
--Jonathan T. Pennington, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"A fascinating invitation and useful guide for all students who are interested in the very essence of both parts of the Christian Bible. Canon is understood as the very subject matter of the Bible: the Triune God as one and the same in the Old and New Testaments. The author shows how to combine serious exegetical work with the enduring quest for the Triune God."
--Hermann Spieckermann, University of Göttingen

Author Biography

Mark S. Gignilliat (PhD, University of St. Andrews) is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, and serves as canon theologian at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of several books, including A Brief History of Old Testament Criticism.