Houses of the Interpreter

Reading Scripture, Reading Culture

David Lyle Jeffrey

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780918954893
• eBook ISBN:
  9781602580497
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Literary Collections

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page, Title Page, Copyright
• Contents
• Preface and Acknowledgments, Dedication
• Part I. Scripture in the House
• 1. How Firm a Foundation . . . ?
• 2. Masterplot and Meaning in Biblical Narrative
• 3. Self-Examination and the Examination of Texts: Augustine’s Confessions and On Christian Doctrine
• 4. Charity and Cupidity in Biblical Tradition
• 5. The Gospel according to Isaiah
• Part II. 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 III. 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