God's Frozen Word: Canonicity and the Dilemmas of Biblical Studies Today

Abstract

Both in the academy and in the church, students and teachers find it increasingly difficult to cope with the Bible. We have lost - and need to rediscover - a once-universal ability to read canonic texts in a creative way as a framework for engaging with ultimate questions of God and morality.

Keywords

Academy Biblical Studies canon ethics philosophy philology performance

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Loveday Alexander , ‘fiThis is thatfl: The Authority of Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles', in Princeton Seminary Bulletin, July 2004; reprinted in Aaron Son (ed.), History and Exegesis: New Testament Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for His 80th Birthday(2006: forthcoming).

Loveday Alexander , ‘Canon and Exegesis in the Medical Schools of Antiquity', in Jean-Daniel Kaestli , Philip Alexander (eds.), The Canon of Scripture in Jewish and Christian Tradition(PIRSB 4; Lausanne: Éd. du Zebre , 2006).

Richard Bauckham , God and the Crisis of Freedom: Biblical and Contemporary Perspectives( Louisville, KY/London: Westminster John Knox , 2002), esp. ch. 3 (pp. 50–77), ‘Authority and Scripture'.

Harold Bloom , The Western Canon( London: Macmillan , 1995).

F. F. Bruce , ‘Scripture in Relation to Tradition and Reason,' in Richard Bauckham and Benjamin Drewery (ed.), Scripture, Tradition and Reason: A Study in the Criteria of Christian Doctrine. Essays in honour of R. P. C.Hanson( Edinburgh: T&T Clark , 1988), pp. 35–64.

Ellen F. Davis and Richard B. Hays (ed.), The Art of Reading Scripture( Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans , 2003).

E. Earle Ellis , The Old Testament in Early Christianity(WUNT 54; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck , 1991).

Pierre Hadot , Philosophy as a Way of Life( Oxford: Blackwell , 1995).

Nicholas Lash , The Beginning and the End of ‘Religion'( Cambridge: CUP , 1996).

10.

Kevin Madigan , ‘ Christus Nesciens? Was Christ Ignorant of the Day of Judgement? Arian and Orthodox Interpretation of Mark 13:32 in the Ancient Latin West' (Harvard Theological Review, 96:3, 2003, pp. 255–278 ).

11.

H.-I. Marrou , History of Education in Antiquity( New York: Sheed & Ward , 1956).

12.

Gregory Nagy , Homeric Questions( Austin, TX: University of Texas Press , 1996).

13.

Frances M. Young , The Art of Performance: Towards a Theology of Holy Scripture( London: Darton, Longman & Todd , 1990).

14.

Frances M. Young , Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture( Cambridge: CUP , 1997).