Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses that the three important methods operative within the contemporary interpretative landscape are historical-critical, hermeneutic-poetic and a retrieval of the classic figural and Christocentric reading of the Bible. It examines that the share a common deficit: each of them fails adequately to depict the hermeneutic situation of the church and the nature of the Bible in terms of their common implication within God's communicative and salvific action. It investigate that in the hermeneutic strategies, the argument is that the hermeneutic field and the nature and character of critical biblical interpretation are over-determined by their preponderant relation to human actions implicated in the production, interpretation and ecclesial use of the Bible. The choice of the three interpreters whose hermeneutic proposals are the substantive material for examination within the book is motivated by a few particular considerations.