Wise Readers and Reading Wisely

Theological interpretation of Scripture (TIS) begins with the premise of reading Scripture to know God. Yet what does this endeavor look like when certain modes of modern inquiry fragment a sense of the Bible's integral structure?

This book provides a thematized framework for the practice of TIS. In light of new understanding regarding the situated interpreter contra a view of knowers abstracted from life, part 1 sets up hermeneutical presuppositions of the Bible as Scripture. What does it mean that readers are embedded in sociolinguistic-cultural structures? What does it mean for interpreters who possess agency to determine their own reception of texts or to be obligated to authors, texts, and readers? Part 2 further examines theological interpreters' takes on the nature of Scripture, how they handle scriptural texts, and how they appropriate their readings for life. Part 3 applies the framework to theological exegeses to probe at how Scripture makes us wise for salvation. Just how do we read to become wise? Reading a few wisdom passages with textual discernment and imaginative seriousness, this book hopes to provide fresh ways to read wisely and to become a wise reader.