Introduction to "Patristic Theories of Biblical Interpretation" (Cambridge UP, 2016)

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry, 2020

PREVIEW ONLY - READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://doi.org/10.33929/sherm.2020.vol2.no2.07 This paper examines modern hermeneutic approaches and how patristic exegetes can complement interpretative methods. Modern hermeneutics apply different procedures depending on the genre. Kannengiesser’s Handbook of Patristic Exegesis is used to summarize patristic views by specific book and genre, while Russell’s Playing with Fire, Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard’s Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, and Kaiser and Silva’s, Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics frame the range of modern hermeneutic approaches. Perspectives on spiritual formation are addressed per genre since it is important for biblical interrelation and application and was valued by patristic exegetes like Augustine. The paper shows how patristic exegetes focused on the spiritual and seeking the Bible’s deeper meaning. It demonstrates how Russell’s spiritual formation emphasis aligns with Augustine’s spiritual burning that transformed his life and how this emphasis aligns with the patristic exegetes’ desire to seek deeper spiritual meaning in scripture.

‘Biblical Interpretation in the Patristic Era: A Handbook of Patristic Exgesis and Some Other Recent Books and Related Projects’, Vigiliae Christianae. A Review of Early Christian Life and Language 60 (2006) 80-103

Modern Theology, 2020

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation (2019) should be viewed as a definitive new tool for understanding the contextual concerns, literary genres, and shifting ideological principles that generated Early Christian biblical exegesis. This review essay explains why the new Handbook is distinct among tools of its kind, and highlights some of its major benefits for encountering and engaging the ancient resources of Christian theologies on their own terms. This collection of essays may be fruitfully used to nuance and expand contemporary trends in hermeneutical and analytic theology (This research is made possible by Research Foundation-Flanders [F.W.O.]).

Understandably, modern exegetes are hesitant about adopting the ancient church’s hermeneutical practices. Rather than attempt to rationalize or resolve patristic exegesis, this paper will propose how modern hermeneutics can incorporate the interpretive practices of the patristic era. Ultimately, a genuinely “Christian” interpretation of Scripture will conform to the “Christotelic” trajectories of interpretation exemplified by Christ, the apostles, and the patristic fathers, while recognizing that advances in biblical criticism can supplement patristic methodologies. Assumed here is the belief that a “Christian” hermeneutic necessarily patterns itself (at the very least) after Christ and the apostles (if not also church tradition). Any other exegesis that does not follow the example of Christ or the apostles, such as modern historical-grammatical hermeneutics, is essentially foreign to traditional Christianity.

Andrews University Seminary Studies, 2017

The development of Biblical interpretation through various periods in history remains vital to theologizing and central to Christian faith itself. There have been various methodological and hermeneutical developments through periods of history, the Apostolic, Patristic, Medieval, Reformation and contemporary being few. Each period has its own varying features and characteristics; some interpretative methods being more fluid and some being exclusive to the era. This paper tries to highlight the Biblical hermeneutics of Gregory of Nyssa (4th C.E) through the text Life of Moses , while doing so also bringing forth two ancient schools of theology (Alexandrian and Antiochene) and their methods of interpretation. In this evaluation few prominent biblical interpreters from both schools are also discussed.

The Journal of Religion, 2015