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May 04, 2006

Integral questions about the Bible's meaning, authority, and interpretation are being discussed with renewed interest thanks in part to Dan Brown's best selling book The Da Vinci Code. Into this environment steps Justin S. Holcomb, editor of Christian Theologies of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction. The book is a wonderful collection of easily digestible essays about what major thinkers in the Christian tradition have said about scripture from the earliest days of the faith to the present.

Although Christian Theologies of Scripture is targeted primarily at Bible college and seminary professors, students, pastors, and those in the Christian community, I think it also provides the perfect primer on the faith for non-believers or those unfamiliar with its theology. Figures such as Aquinas, Luther, Calvin and Balthasar are traced, as well as notable thinkers from the modern era. Beside these traditional theological pillars that make up the bulk of the book there also sits essays exploring feminism, the African American Christian tradition, and postmodernism.

Ultimately the book does not attempt to persuade you, and it was not designed as such. Rather, Christian Theologies of Scripture is an objective examination and investigation into the history of Christian theology with one overarching question: What is the Bible? Of course there are many answers, and you're invited to explore them in this top notch introduction to Christian thought.

Bonus: Blogger Glenn Lucke has posted an interesting interview with the editor, Justin Holcomb. Here's a teaser:

Sure, our questions now are different from Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth. But, the theologians from then have given us categories and a vocabulary to use, concepts to ponder, and conversations and thoughts about scripture that we should continue. We can stand on the shoulders of these giants in our contemporary conversations about scripture…but we need to know what they said.

Posted by Joshua Claybourn at May 4, 2006 12:55 AM

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