Joseph K. Gordon - Divine Scripture in Human Understanding

ADVANCE PRAISE

for

Divine Scripture in Human Understanding

Divine Scripture in Human Understanding has the potential to greatly aid the ways in which Scripture is used and understood in theological debate, especially in those communities that are more biblically oriented. Its sophisticated discussion of the actual history of Scripture within an overall context of divine providence undoes any attempt at fundamentalism. The book is accessible to nonspecialists, but will be of greater value to those who are seeking professionally to understand their own performance in relation to questions such as What do we mean by biblical theology? and Is biblical theology just exegesis?

Neil Ormerod, Australian Catholic University

Christians need to learn how to read, hear, and meditate on Scripture in a Christian manner. This substantial and important book spells this out, in the form of a systematic theology of the Bible, in dialogue with the church fathers and with Bernard Lonergan and Henri de Lubac. It sets Scripture in a trinitarian context and makes a strong case for its inspiration and authority.

John Barton, Oriel and Laing Professor Emeritus of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford

Joseph K. Gordons approach to the perennial question for Christians of how to read Scripturehow, that is, to understand its contents, its modes of discourse, its spiritual authority, and its historical contingencies in the light of theological tradition and practiceis subtle, deft, and penetrating. The result, moreover, is a volume at once remarkably comprehensive and delightfully concise. Students of theology will profit from it immensely, but so will accomplished masters of the craft.

David Bentley Hart, University of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study

This remarkable book offers a thoroughly trinitarian approach to a systematic theology of Holy Scripture, rooting it in the rule of faith, in constructive appropriation of premodern understandings of Scripture to address postmodern paradoxes, and in absolute honesty about modern historical consciousness and awareness of the contingencies of textual transmission, of biblical diversity, and of linguistic indeterminacy. It affirms that, as the useful instrument of divine pedagogy, Scripture proves capable of perennially transforming human lives. Thus what we have here is a wonderful corrective to bibliolatry which substantiates the indispensable and vital connection between the Word of God incarnate and the Word of God inscribed.

Frances Young, Edward Cadbury Professor Emerita of Theology, University of Birmingham

Joseph Gordon offers a sophisticated, creative, and compelling account of the human-divine character of Scripture, and of Scriptures instrumental role in the divine economy of human transformation for participation in the life of the Triune God. Gordons treatments of the rule of faith as hermeneutical necessity, the soul (reinterpreted for our context) as the subject of transformation, and the theological significance of the Bibles concrete, diverse instantiations inform his overall project in fresh ways. This is an important volume that deserves the careful attention of both biblical scholars and theologians.

Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, St. Marys Seminary & University

God may not have a context, but ScriptureGods inscripturated wordcertainly does, and the major contribution of Gordons study lies in its careful unpacking of the role that various historical contexts have on its authors and readers categories of understanding. As an added bonus, Divine Scripture in Human Understanding contains one of the clearest descriptions of Bernard Lonergans unique approach to theologys task of faith seeking textual and traditioned understanding for today that I have yet come across.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Divine Scripture in Human Understanding

READING THE SCRIPTURES

Gary A. Anderson, Matthew Levering, and Robert Louis Wilken

series editors

Divine Scripture in
Human Understanding

A SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE

JOSEPH K. GORDON

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS

NOTRE DAME, INDIANA

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

www.undpress.nd.edu

Published 2019 by the University of Notre Dame

All Rights Reserved

Published in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gordon, Joseph K., 1985author.

Title: Divine scripture in human understanding : a systematic theology of the Christian Bible / Joseph K. Gordon.

Description: Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, 2019. | Series: Reading the Scriptures | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019003978 (print) | LCCN 2019004374 (ebook) | ISBN 9780268105198 (pdf) | ISBN 9780268105204 (epub) | ISBN 9780268105174 (hardback) | ISBN 0268105170 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: BibleCriticism, interpretation, etc.

Classification: LCC BS511.3 (ebook) | LCC BS511.3 .G667 2019 (print) | DDC 230/.041dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003978

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at

I am overwhelmed when I recall all of the help and encouragement I have received while working on this project. I must first acknowledge my gratitude to the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for sustaining me during this work. As I have reflected and written, I have regularly felt the weight of responsibility that comes from writing and teaching about divine things (James 3.1) and have prayed countless times that these words would be relatively adequate to the reality of Gods economic work in and through Christian Scripture. My prayer is that this work will be useful and edifying for those who hope to read and understand the treasures of the written Word of God. Anything valuable in this work I owe ultimately to God. I am eternally grateful to the communities of St. Johns, Abbottsford Hall, Real Life, and St. Luke and St. Peters, and for my friends in the Ekklesia Project for prayer and for spiritual and emotional support through the process of writing this work.

We can become transformed vicariously, David Burrell writes in Friendship and Ways to Truth, in the transformation of those whose lives have become entwined with ours (17). My life has been entwined withand so transformed bycountless others as I worked on this project, which began its formal life as my doctoral dissertation at Marquette University. I owe many thanks to friends and colleagues in the Department of Theology at Marquette, and to their significant others, for stimulating conversations and for the joy of their company. There are too many to name, but I must single out Stephen and Katie Waers and Ryan and Kate Hemmer for special mention. Thanks are also due to Jeremy Blackwood, Christopher Brenna, Anne Carpenter, Nick Elder, Jen Fenton, Kirsten Guidero, Jon Heaps, Geoff Holsclaw, Karen Keen, Samantha Miller, Jakob Rinderknecht, Gene Schlesinger, Tyler Stewart, Eric Vanden Eykel, and Juli Vasquez for their encouragement and feedback regarding specific aspects of this project. Thanks are also due to numerous members of the theology faculty at Marquette who taught me in seminars or took the time to discuss theology, Scripture, and professional matters with me. I owe thanks to Michel Barnes, Josh Burns, Michael Cover, Ralph Del Colle (), Deirdre Dempsey, Julian Hills, Mark Johnson, Therese Lysaught, Joseph Mueller, Joseph Ogbonnaya, Andrei Orlov, David Schultenover, Susan Wood, and Wanda Zemler-Cizewski. I owe a great deal to professors and mentors at Johnson University and Lincoln Christian Seminary, especially John Castelein, Steve Cone, Steve Cook, Bob Kurka (), Bob Rea, and Chris Simpson. Thanks are also due to John Barton, Adam Bean, Cynthia Crysdale, Steve Fowl, Ben Fulford, Michael Gorman, David Bentley Hart, Stephen Lawson, Matthew Levering, Eric Mabry, David Mahfood, Peter Martens, Dan McClain, Neil Ormerod, Randy Rosenberg, Matt Tapie, Roy Terry, and Jeremy Wilkins, who took time to discuss aspects of this work with me or offered encouragement. I owe special thanks to Neil Ormerod and Kevin Vanhoozer for their vital critical and constructive feedback and reassurance during the formal review process. I could not have asked for, or imagined, having better mentors and dissertation codirectors than Bob Doran and Steve Long. Those I have mentioned have undoubtedly contributed to whatever strengths this work has. They cannot, and should not, be blamed for any of its shortcomings, for which I take full responsibility.