ABSTRACT

There are many books about how people ought to interpret the Bible. This book is about how people in churches actually interpret the Bible, and why they interpret it in the way that they do. Based on a study of Anglicans in the Church of England, it explores the interaction of belief, personality, experience and context and sheds new light on the way that texts interact with readers. The author shows how the results of such study can begin to shape an empirically-based theology of scripture. This unique study approaches reader-centred criticism and the theology of scripture from a completely new angle, and will be of interest to both scholars and those who use the Bible in churches.

chapter 1|17 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|10 pages

Biblical Studies in Academy and Church

chapter 3|27 pages

The Bible and Ordinary Readers

chapter 4|19 pages

Biblical Literalism and Ordinary Readers

chapter 5|19 pages

Biblical Interpretative Horizons

chapter 6|28 pages

Personality and Scripture

chapter 7|19 pages

Interpretative Communities and Scripture

chapter 9|10 pages

Towards an Empirical Theology of Scripture