Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

The claim that the events of Jesusâ€™ life, death, and resurrection took place â€œaccording to the Scripturesâ€ stands at the heart of the New Testamentâ€™s message. All four canonical Gospels declare that the Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms mysteriously prefigure Jesus. The author of the Fourth Gospel states this claim succinctly: in his narrative, Jesus declares, â€œIf you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about meâ€ (John 5:46). Yet modern historical criticism characteristically judges that the New Testamentâ€™s christological readings of Israelâ€™s Scripture misrepresent the original sense of the texts; this judgment forces fundamental questions to be asked: Why do the Gospel writers readÂ the Scriptures in such surprising ways? Are their readings intelligible as coherent or persuasive interpretations of the Scriptures? Does Christian faith require the illegitimate theft of someone elseâ€™s sacred texts?
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Echoes of Scripture in the GospelsÂ answers these questions. Richard B. Hays chronicles the dramatically different ways the four Gospel writers interpreted Israelâ€™s Scripture and reveals that their readings were as complementary as they wereÂ faithful. In this long-awaited sequel to his Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, HaysÂ highlights the theological consequences of the Gospel writersâ€™Â distinctive hermeneutical approaches and asks what it might mean for contemporary readers to attempt to read Scripture through the eyes of the Evangelists. In particular, Hays carefully describes the Evangelistsâ€™Â practice ofÂ figural readingâ€”an imaginative and retrospective move that creates narrative continuity and wholeness. He shows how each Gospel artfully uses scriptural echoes to re-narrate Israelâ€™s story, to assert that Jesus is the embodiment of Israelâ€™s God, and to prod the church in its vocation to engage the pagan world.
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Hays shows how the Evangelists summon readers to a conversion of their imagination. The Evangelistsâ€™Â use of scriptural echo beckons readers to believe the extraordinary: that Jesus was Israelâ€™s Messiah, that Jesus is Israelâ€™s God, and that contemporary believers are still on mission. The Evangelists, according to Hays, are training our scriptural senses, calling readers to be better scriptural people by being better scriptural poets.
Country USA
Manufacturer Baylor University Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2016-07-06
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Baylor University Press
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2016-07-06
Format	Kindle eBook

Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

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