Description: Writing with the pastor and student in mind, Walter
Brueggemann provides guidance for interpreting Old Testament texts. He
offers both advice for the interpreter as well as examples of working
with different sorts of passages: from narratives, prophecies, and
Psalms. He also demonstrates how to work thematically, drawing together
threads from different traditions. His goal is to work through the
rhetoric of these passages to reach toward theological interpretation.
These investigations indicate Brueggemann's conviction that the process
of moving from text to interpretive outcome is an artistic enterprise
that can be learned and practiced. Endorsements: ""One of the best and
most esteemed interpreters of Scripture shows here how he does it. A
'how-to' book with wonderful examples, it is vintage Brueggemann:
incisive, penetrating, provocative, and always seeking to uncover the
cutting edge of the text. He cares as much about pastoral responsibility
as interpretive method. In fact, he doesn't think you can separate
them-one of the many gifts of this compelling and practical book.""
-Patrick D. Miller, author of The Religion of Ancient Israel ""We have
become accustomed to the insightful reflections and the critical
theological thinking of many contemporary biblical scholars. However,
seldom has an author taken us step-by-step through the actual
progression of that thought. This is precisely what Walter Brueggemann
does in this book. Insisting that all believers, not merely scholars,
should be able to critically read the Bible, he offers a modified,
though still critical interpretive approach, that shows us how we might
do it ourselves."" -Dianne Bergant, CSA author of Scripture: History and
Interpretation ""This is the book that those of us who have studied with
Walter Brueggemann have been waiting for. Here is the teacher we have
known in class: telling us how he has come to read scripture as he does
and showing us how he does it. I have been using this method of
interpreting scripture with my congregation for the past decade.
Together we have found that Brueggemann's three-step interpretive
strategy opens us up to the biblical texts so that they speak to us in
powerful new ways. What a wonderful gift this book is to the church.""
-Edwin Searcy, University Hill Congregation, Vancouver, BC About the
Contributor(s): Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters
Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary,
Decatur, Georgia. He is the author of numerous works, including Praying
the Psalms (2nd ed., Cascade Books, 2007), Theology of the Old
Testament, and Prophetic Imagination.