Liturgical Hermeneutics Of Sacred Scripture

The purpose of this book is to explore what a liturgical approach to the Bible looks like and what hermeneutical implications this might have: How does the liturgy celebrate, understand, and communicate Scripture? The starting point is Pope Benedict's affirmation that "a faith-filled understanding of sacred Scripture must always refer back to the liturgy" (Verbum Domini 52). The first part of the book (based on SC 24) provides significant examples to demonstrate: The liturgical order of readings intertextually combines Old Testament and New Testament readings using manifold hermeneutical principles, specifically how the psalms show the wide range of interpretations the liturgy employs. Prayers are biblically inspired and help to appropriate Scripture personally. The hymns convey Scripture in a poetic way. Signs and actions such as foot-washing or the Ephphetha rite enact Scripture. The study considers the Mass, the sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours. In the second part, Benini systematically focuses on the various dimensions of liturgical hermeneutics of the Bible, which emerge from the first part. The study reflects the approaches the liturgy offers to Scripture and its liturgical reception. It explores theological aspects such as the unity of the two Testaments in Christ's paschal mystery or the anamnesis as a central category in both Scripture and liturgy. The liturgy does not understand Scripture primarily as a document of the past, but celebrates it as a current and living "Word of the Lord," as a medium of encounter with God: Scripture is sacramental. Liturgical Hermeneutics of Sacred Scripture seeks to contribute not only to the comparison of the Roman, Ambrosian, and Byzantine Rite regarding the Word of God, but most of all to the overall "liturgical approach" to Scripture. As such, it promotes an interdisciplinary dialogue of liturgical and biblical studies.

John W. Nevin's transcendental hermeneutics is perhaps one of the most penetrating and sophisticated theological systems to emerge from American soil. Though more than a century has passed since he spoke, Nevin's polemic against materialism, religious skepticism, individualism, and sectarianism still retains its creative force and insight.

Theology and Sacred Scripture Original essays demonstrate the complex and varying relationships between theology and scripture. Contributors: - Kathleen M. O’Connor, Columbia Theological Seminary - Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University Divinity School - Diana L. Hayes, Georgetown University - Francis X. Clooney, Boston College - Russell A. Butkus, University of Portland - Patricia McDonald, Mount St. Mary’s College - Maria Pascuzzi, University of San Diego - Daniel Van Slyke, Caldwell College - Jason Bourgeois, St Mary’s University of Minnesota - John Topel, Seattle University - Terrence W. Tilley, University of Dayton - Regina A. Boisclair, Alaska Pacific University - James M Donohoe, Mount St. Mary’s College

In his 2009 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that “theological reflection has always considered inspiration and truth as two key concepts for an ecclesial hermeneutic of the sacred Scriptures” and that there is today the need “for a fuller and more adequate study of these realities, in order to better respond to the need of interpreting the sacred texts in accordance with their nature.” The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture: The Word That Comes from God and Speaks of God for the Salvation of the World is the contribution of the Pontifical Biblical Commission toward a more adequate understanding of the concepts of inspiration and truth that respects both the nature of the Bible and its significance for the life of the Church. Drawing on a close reading of the Scriptures themselves, the document focuses on three main aspects:1. The inspiration of Sacred Scripture and the exploration of its divine provenance2. The truth of the Word of God, emphasizing the message about God and his project of salvation3. Challenges that arise from the Bible itself, on account of certain aspects that seem inconsistent with its quality of being the Word of God Reading this document, formally approved by Pope Francis, will strengthen the reader to receive the word of God—in the liturgical assembly and in every other place—in its theological, Christological, soteriological, and ecclesiological context in a way that corresponds ever more closely to this unique gift of God whereby God communicates his very self and invites us into communion with him.

In this book, Schneiders investigates the meaning of the theological claim that the Bible is the "Word of God" and the "church's book," along with the implications of these claims for biblical interpretation. She then examines the historical, literary, and religious-spiritual dimensions of the New Testament. Schneiders puts her theory to a test in a feminist interpretation of John 4. She argues that the comprehensive object of biblical interpretation is not merely information but transformation and that an adequate hermeneutical theory must include a wide range of exigetical and critical methods within a theologically and philosophically adequate understanding of scripture as sacred text.--From publisher's description.

The story of the creation of The Saint Johns Biblethe first commissioned, handwritten Bible in five hundred years and the first Bible of this magnitude written in English using a contemporary translationhas been told elsewhere. In Word and Image, Fr. Michael Patella focuses not on how it was made but on how, now that it is finished, it can be read, viewed, and interpreted. Patella considers the centuries-long tradition of illuminated Bibles and also the fascinating ways this Bible reflects third-millennium concerns. He seeks to rekindle interest in sacred art by allowing The Saint John's Bible to teach its readers and viewers how to work with text and image. As an accomplished Scripture scholar, a monk of the abbey that commissioned the Bible, and the chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text that provided the vision to the artists who created it, Patella may be the only one who could write this book with such insight, expertise, and love.

Inspiration and Interpretation provides readers with a much needed general theological introduction to the study of Sacred Scripture.