Sensing the Scriptures
Aminadab's Chariot and the Predicament of Biblical Interpretation
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2014
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Publisher's Description
This book explores the ways that Christians, from the period of late antiquity through the Protestant Reformation, interpreted the Bible according to its several levels of meaning. Using the five bodily senses as an organizing principle, Karlfried Froehlich probes key theological developments, traditions, and approaches across this broad period, culminating in a consideration of the implications of this historical development for the contemporary church. Distinguishing between "principles" and "rules" of interpretation, Froehlich offers a clear and useful way of discerning the fundamental difference between interpretive methods (rules) and the overarching spiritual goals (principles) that must guide biblical interpretation. As a study of roots and reasons as well as the role of imagination in the development of biblical interpretation, Sensing the Scriptures reminds us how intellectually and spiritually relevant the pursuit of a historical perspective is for Christian faith and life today.
Endorsements (3)
“In the midst of our contemporary crisis in reading the Bible, Karlfried Froehlich's Sensing the Scriptures offers a valuable alternative. This clearly written and compelling book makes a strong argument for a new look at the centuries-old view of the multiple senses of Scripture, especially the four levels symbolized by Aminadab's chariot (Song of Songs 6:12): the literal, the allegorical, the tropological, and the anagogical. This reconceiving of the principle of the four senses may allow modern readers to see biblical interpretation not as a problem, but as an opportunity for a personal appropriation of the message of the text beginning with the 'touch' of the literal meaning and ascending to the 'taste' of the anagogical sense.”
“Accessible yet penetrating. Froehlich draws upon his magisterial familiarity with fifteen centuries of primary sources to highlight the multifaceted character of pre-modern Christian biblical interpretation. . . . He illumines a path whereby we might join earlier generations in exploring ways of engagement with the broader range of Scripture's senses. A remarkable historical and hermeneutical tour de force.”
“In this remarkably brief and learned book Froehlich introduces readers to a Bible richer and more complex than they had ever imagined.”
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