The Multivalence of Biblical Texts and Theological Meanings

Christine Helmer is Senior Scholar in Theology at Harvard Divinity School. She is the author of The Trinity and Martin Luther (von Zabern) and coeditor of Biblical Interpretation: History, Context, and Reality (Society of Biblical Literature) and One Scripture or Many? Canon From Biblical, Theological, and Philosophical Perspectives (Oxford University Press).

These interdisciplinary essays by an international team of scholars raise a number of crucial issues in biblical interpretation and for biblical theology. They also offer some inspiring suggestions and perspectives well worth pursuing.

Christoph Stenschke, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

Contents

Introduction: Multivalence in Biblical Theology, Christine Helmer
For the Love of Christ: Generic and Unique Elements in Christian Theological Readings of the Song of Songs, David Carr
Fixity and Potential in Isaiah, C. R. Seitz
The Term “Sacrifice” and the Problem of Theological Abstraction: A Study of the Reception History of Genesis 22:1–19, Christian A. Eberhart
“Consider the Lilies of the Field…”: A Sociorhetorical Analysis of Matthew 6:25–34, Lincoln E. Galloway
Luke-Acts and Negotiation of Authority and Identity in the Roman World, Gary Gilbert
The Fall and Human Depravity, John Barton
“Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone?”: Jesus, Forgiveness, and Divinity, Stephen T. Davis
Worship in Spirit and Truth: Louis-Marie Chauvet’s Sacramental Reading of John 4:21–24, Kevin Mongrain
“… Who Proceeds from the father”—and the Son? The Use of the Bible in the Filioque Debate: A Historical and Ecumenical Case Study and Hermeneutical Reflections, Bernd Oberdorfer
Recovering the Real: A Case Study of Schleiermacher’s Theology, Christine Helmer