Introducing Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Framework for Hearing God in Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew

Reviewed by: Introducing Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Framework for Hearing God in Scripture by Craig G. Bartholomew Michael R. Simone S.J. craig g. bartholomew, Introducing Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Framework for Hearing God in Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015). Pp. xiv + 623. $44.99. Imagine a conductor who prepares for a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony not by studying performances of the work but by focusing primarily on the use of the word “resurrection” in late nineteenth-century Germany. Most would find such a conductor eccentric. Imagine further, then, if conductors in general eschewed performances or recordings of classical music altogether. If a musical phrase under study proved interesting enough to require actualization, they merely hummed the line to get a sense of it. The primary goal of their preparation was to understand the music in its original context, not to find ways to perform it in a profound and moving way. This analogy captures the essence of Bartholomew’s critique of contemporary Scripture study. Modern biblical scholarship has come to rely so much on academic methods of interpretation such as historical criticism that it neglects theological methods such as spiritual or ecclesial interpretation that were essential for centuries. B. argues that such methods should return to regular use in biblical scholarship. Bartholomew, a professor of philosophy and religion/theology at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, Ontario, studied at Bristol University under the evangelical biblicist Gordon J. Wenham and the critical philosopher Christopher Norris. The encounter of traditional biblical interpretation and modern criticism continues to be his interest. This work shows his vast knowledge of philology, exegesis, patristics, medieval and modern theology, literary theory, and historiography. B. is especially indebted to the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Brevard S. Childs, John Murray, and Karl Barth. The work is divided into five parts. The first explains the principles of the “Trinitarian hermeneutic” that should guide biblical interpretation: the Father draws all creation to the Son through the action of the Spirit. To accomplish this, God speaks directly through Scripture. The second part reviews the field of biblical theology and ends with a call to develop a “grand story of the Bible” that articulates God’s action in history (p. 110). In part 3, B. addresses the history of biblical interpretation, beginning with the Gadamerian principle that all readers are embedded in history and all readings are “traditioned” (p. 114). He then moves through ancient, medieval, Reformation, and modern interpretation (both Jewish and Christian) and ends with a chapter on canon and canonicity. Drawing on Childs, B. emphasizes that all Scripture records an encounter with the same God (p. 245). The record of this encounter generates its own hermeneutical questions. Part 4 demonstrates how this encounter in faith requires the support of philosophy, literature, history, and theology in its search [End Page 113] for understanding. In the final part, B. endeavors to apply these insights, first, in a reading of Hebrews and, second, in liturgical preaching. Bartholomew recognizes the inner tension of biblical hermeneutics. The Bible is an artifact from the ancient world, but it is also a religious text that records and mediates divine encounters. Those who work within denominational structures know the challenge of bringing these forms of discourse together. B.’s competence in literature and aesthetics serves him well. B. uses Hans Robert Jauss’s reception-critical theses to demonstrate something that historical criticism often misses: the texts of the Bible were written to move people (pp. 115–17). When academic exegetes encounter this affective quality, they treat it as literary criticism or Formgeschichte but give it little further thought. B.’s lengthy study of ancient, medieval, and modern reception demonstrates that this affective quality was essential not only to the process of editing that turned individual works into the theological network of the canon but also to Christian and Jewish traditions of reception. When scholars, in the name of scholarly neutrality, ignore this affective quality (and the ecclesial traditions that stem from it) they ignore something essential to the study of the artifact as well. Bartholomew’s work throws into relief the challenge of moving from academic to theological interpretation. In an ideal world, the...

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