Dennis Hamm

The Future of Catholic Biblical Scholarship

“Politically incorrect' is a label that Luke Timothy Johnson and William Kurz might wear proudly. They mean to buck some trends that they feel have distracted biblical scholars from serving the community of faith — from ancient prooftexting to the current privileging of the historical-critical approach, the hermeneutics of suspicion, and the quest for the historical Jesus. In doing so, they mean to stimulate their peers in the biblical guild to rethink some of the ways they do their work, yet without scrapping the benefits of modernity and even postmodernity. Readers will likely find much to argue with here (indeed, Johnson and Kurz sometimes disagree with each other), but few will doubt that the challenges they issue need to be addressed. Although Johnson and Kurz specifically address their Roman Catholic colleagues, what they say in this book will surely earn a hearing among all Christians who read the Bible with a view to living as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The Letters of Paul as Rituals of Worship

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“When Heil calls the thirteen letters of Paul 'rituals of worship,' he means that each is written as a script to be performed for a community gathered for worship over which Paul presides through the letter, thereby evoking and sharing in the prayer of his audience. Heil also explores how the language of the letters uses imagery from temple worship metaphorically, to interpret Christian life itself as worship. Heil manages to provide a fresh, pastoral reading of the Pauline corpus as a whole.”