Description
Written in an engaging and entertaining manner, this new book from leading Catholic biblical scholar Henry Wansbrough charts the use and abuse of scripture through the ages. It ranges from the evangelists' engagement with Hebrew Scriptures to the use of the Bible in present day politics – most pertinently in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wansbrough takes as his starting point Frances Young's The Art of Performance. This enables him to creatively display how 'The Bible' is differently 'performed' in different ages.
Wansbrough demonstrates the variety of these performances and their different emphases throughout history to glimpse the different ways in which great figures within the Christian tradition have used and abused the Bible. Indirectly, therefore, it attacks the ever-present danger of fundamentalism, and single-minded interpretation of the Bible. Viewing the interpretation of the Bible against the background of various historical periods gives a valuable insight into the long and rich history of the Church. A final chapter provides a 'worked example' of Lectio Divina providing a window into the author's personal life of praying the Bible.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Which Bible? What is the Bible?
1. The First Century: The Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New
2. The Second Century: Melito and Irenaeus
3. The Third Century: Origen
4. The Fourth Century: Jerome
5. The Dark Ages: Bede and the Bible
6. The High Middle Ages: Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Aquinas
7. Two Norfolk Ladies: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
8. Martin Luther
9. The Bible in the Politics of Early Seventeenth Century England
10. John and Charles Wesley
11. Newman
12. The Bible and the State of Israel
13. Lectio Divina
Bibliography
Timeline
Author(s)
Henry Wansbrough, Henry Wansbrough OSB is a Benedictine Monk of Ampleforth, former Chairman of the Oxford University Theology Faculty and former Master of St Benet’s Hall. He is a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and Executive Secretary of ICPEL (The International Commission for Producing an English-language Lectionary). He lectures frequently across the globe including being Guest Lecturer in Scripture at Harare University, Zimbabwe.