The New Testament: Methods and Meanings

The New Testament: Methods and Meanings

In this concise, accessible book, Warren Carter and A.J. Levine introduce three aspects of New Testament study: the world of the text (plots, characters, setting, and themes), the world behind the text (the concerns, circumstances, and experiences of the early Christian communities), and the world in front of the text (the meaning for contemporary readers).Â As students engage the New Testament, theyÂ face a central issue that has confronted all students before them, namely, that these texts have been and are read in diverse and often quite conflicting ways. These multiple readingsÂ involve different methods: historical-critical, traditional (history of interpretation), colonial, multicultural, and sociological, with feminist and liberationist implications for the first-century readers as well as the ongoing implications for today's reader. For example, Carter and LevineÂ show how a text can be used by both colonizer and colonized, feministÂ and anti-feminist, or pro- and anti-Jewish.Â The authors also showÂ how scholarly work can be both constructive and threateningÂ to the contemporary Church and how polemical texts can be used, whether for religious study, theological reflection, or homiletical practice.
Country USA
Manufacturer Abingdon Press
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2013-11-19
Format Kindle eBook