Go Figure!

Description: Without turning naively to the past, scholars and preachers of the Old Testament are once again making use of figuration--something the church had always done until the modern period. This enlargement of method comes about partly out of disappointment with the exclusive use of historical methods, for to read the Bible theologically for the guidance of its present readers requires more than historical description. The 2006 Tyndale Conference on Biblical Interpretation, held at Tyndale University College in Toronto, Canada, focused on ""figuration in biblical interpretation."" The authors are the conference keynote speakers, Christopher Seitz and Ephraim Radner, as well as Tyndale faculty members in philosophy, history, Bible, and theology. There are also a few additional invited papers illustrating figural interpretation. This volume is a window onto the current hermeneutic ferment within biblical studies, and its title is an invitation to sample and share the excitement! Endorsements: ""Reading the Old Testament as Christian Scripture remains one of the central challenges of ecclesially located and ecclesially minded biblical interpretation. Though the hegemony of historical criticism has aggravated the problem, this stimulating collection of essays demonstrates its prominence across the history of interpretation. Emphasizing especially the potential of figural readings both of Scripture and, indeed, within the pages of Scripture itself, Go Figure! presses the conversation forward through fresh reflections of a hermeneutical sort and through penetrating exegesis. --Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary ""This collection provides vigorous testimony to the diversity of interpretive possibilities in our time. Long-standing but often long-abandoned ways of reading Scripture are illustrated in accessible ways. The critical approach is not rejected, but it is broadened, and literal interpretation is seen to be much more than the surface reading to which we are accustomed. The essays found here do not provide a single methodology. On the contrary, readers will find themselves confronted with a variety of rich hearings of the Word."" --Patrick D. Miller, Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): Stanley D. Walters, the editor, is Professor of Religious Studies at Tyndale University College, Toronto. He is the author of Water for Larsa.