Bibliographical details:
Gillingham, S. E. (1998). One Bible, Many Voices: Different Approaches to Biblical Studies. London: SPCK.
Publisher’s information:
No single approach to reading the Bible can possibly do justice to its complex history and content.
Advocating a pluralistic reading, Dr Gillingham offers theological, historical and literary insights into both the compilation of the Bible and the development of the discipline of biblical studies. These insights are then applied to the psalms, and Psalm 8 in particular.
This book is accessible to anyone wishing to undertake academic study of the Bible, while allowing those familiar with a devotional stance to set their ideas in a wider, richer context.
‘This is an invaluable introduction to the area of biblical studies. It tells the beginner so much that he or she needs to know and yet which is so often taken for granted. Dr Gillingham guides us clearly through the rationale and methods of all the main approaches to the Bible used by scholars ancient and modern, and wisely argues for a judicious use of all of them. Her insistence on the diversity and openness of the Bible itself transcends old and arid disputes between “fundamentalist” and “liberal” approaches to it and shows all of us, of all traditions and none, how to read the Bible with greater sensitivity and insight. The clarity of the born teacher is stamped on every sentence.’ – Revd Dr Rex Mason, Regent’s Park College, Oxford
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements … xii
Preface … xiv
Historical Background 1 The Old Testament c. 1000-167 BCE … xvi
Historical Background 2 The New Testament c. 200 BCE - 135 CE … xvii
List of Tables and Figures … xix
Introduction … 1
Part One: Plurality in the Making of the Bible … 7
1 A Biblical Library? The Smaller Parts of the Greater Whole … 9
2 A Biblical Theology? Two Testaments, One Book? … 27
3 A Biblical Corpus? The Canon and the Boundaries of Faith … 46
4 A Biblical Text? The Variety of Versions … 72
Part Two: Plurality in the Reading of the Bible … 115
5 Theological Approaches to the Bible … 117
6 Historical Approaches to the Bible … 144
7 Literary Approaches to the Bible … 171
8 The Many Voices in the Psalms … 187
9 From Theory to Practice: Readings of Psalm 8 … 232
Conclusion … 245
Bibliography … 248
Subject Index … 271
Author Index … 275
Bible Reference Index … 278
Click here to read the review by Cynthia Edenburg published in the Review of Biblical Literature.
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