CONTENTS

August 2002

‘The recovery of an authentically Catholic scriptural scholarship is urgent, for we are already well down the road to forgetfulness.’ Luke Timothy Johnson, who is Professor of New Testament at the Chandler School of Theology, Emory University, Georgia, USA, explains why such a recovery is so important and how it might be achieved.

How do we get to know the Scriptures better? Angela Wills, who uses the Scriptures in her work fir the Department of Collaborative Ministry of the Diocese of Portsmouth, describes her own journey from ignorance to a well informed and deep enjoyment of God’s word. She suggests also practical ways of how we might do the same.

How does one understand the Book of Isaiah? Mark O’Brien, an Australian Dominican and Old Testament scholar teaching in Melbourne, looks at different ways of interpreting Isaiah and offers an overall guide which can help to tap the depth and richness of its message.

Is the biblical account of Saul mainly about history? Barbara Green, an American Dominican and Professor of Biblical Studies at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, interprets the story of the failed king so that we see it both as a message to those who were in exile and also to ourselves today for ‘it discloses something of ourselves as we read’.

Can only experts understand the Bible? Nicholas King, an English Jesuit at Campion Hall, Oxford, who taught Scripture in South Africa until recently, recognises the help which scholars can give to us but suggests ‘that those are best equipped to read Scripture who do so with a living faith’.

How was Jesus’ self-understanding shaped? The Scriptures played a crucial role in the process. Margaret Barker, a scholar who has written many books on Scripture and the apocryphal literature, examines what was included a Scripture in Jesus’ time. This illumines Christian origins and help us to understand the life and teaching of Jesus in their original context.

The Book of Revelation is part of the canon of sacred Scripture but is largely ignored by the Church. Ian Boxall, who teaches Scripture in Oxford and has recently published a book on Revelation, suggests various ways by which this wonderful book may be interpreted. The Church must use it, for it has a ‘capacity to speak to the world in which we live’ and so enrich Christian lives.

St Paul provokes controversy, but many are just ignorant of his writings. Paula Gooder, who has done a doctorate on Paul at Oxford, looks at three recent approaches in scholarship which have helped us to make more sense of Paul. ‘Love him or hate him, Paul remains as important today as ever he was’.

Margaret Atkins, who teaches theology at Trinity and All Saints College in the University of Leeds, reflects on the lectionary readings for the Sundays of September and October.

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Books

The Ocford Bible Commentary
ed. by John Barton and John Muddiman
OUP, £50
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


The Lost Bible: forgotten Scripures revealed
J.R. Porter
Duncan Baird Publishers, £25
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


Oscot College in the Twentieth Century
Michael Williams
Gracewing, £9.99
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974

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