Phenomenologies of Scripture
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Phenomenologies of Scripture addresses two increasingly convergent disciplines: philosophy and biblical studies. On the one hand, the recent “theological turn” in phenomenology has established religion as a legitimate area of phenomenological inquiry. If that turn is to be enduringly successful, phenomenology must pay attention to the scriptures on which religious life, practice, and thought are based. On the other hand, biblical studies finds itself in a methodological morass. Contemporary approaches to scripture have raised important questions about the meaning and function of scriptural texts that phenomenology is uniquely positioned to answer: How is the meaning of a text constructed or gleaned? How can the divine be present in human words? Is a scientific approach to the Bible still possible?
Bringing together essays by eight of today’s most prominent philosophers of religion with responses by two leading biblical scholars, Phenomenologies of Scripture reestablishes the possibility of fruitful, dialectical exchange between fields that demand to be read together.
Phenomenologies of Scripture draws the reader into the biblical text through close readings that often reveal sparkling new insights and open up depths previously unplumbed. One does not have to be a trained phenomenologist to benefit from these riches. Time spent with this volume will be amply repaid.---Bruce Ellis Benson, Loyola Marymount University
Admittedly, phenomenology has been less averse to the study if not also the practice of religion and theological language than other areas of philosophical inquiry. So the idea is especially welcome of an edited collection of essays in which phenomenologists are commissioned to provide readings of biblical texts.---Review of Biblical Literature