Table of Contents

CONTENTS
Abbreviations   5
Introduction   6

THE ORIGINS OF THE BIBLE   11
    The Biblical Canon   11
    The Formation of the Old Testament Canon   13
        (a) The crisis of the Exile   13
        (b) The growth of the canon   16
        (c) Canonical and deuterocanonical books   18
    The Formation of the New Testament Canon   22
        (a) The Old Testament as Christian Scripture   22
        (b) Stages in the development of a canon   23
    Texts and Translations   26
        (a) The transmission of the biblical text   26
        (b) Ancient translations   28
        (c) Modern translations   30
        (d) Division into chapters and verses   33

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE   34
    The Task of Interpretation   34

Patristic and Medieval Interpretation (ca. 200–1500)   38
    Principles of Patristic and Medieval Interpretation   38
        (a) Old and New Testaments   39 
        (b) Bible and church   39
        (c) Sacred and secular knowledge   40
    Patristic and Medieval Exegesis   41
        (a) The regula fidei (rule of faith)   42
        (b) The spiritual sense of Scripture   42
        (c) The four senses of Scripture   43

Reformation and Counter-Reformation (ca. 1500–1650)   46
    The Bible and the Church   48
        (a) The Bible interprets itself   48
        (b) The Bible authenticates itself   49
        (c) The Bible has a single meaning   51
    The Catholic Response   52

The Bible in the Modern Era (ca. 1650–today)   54
    The Development of Historical Criticism   54
    The Reception of Historical Criticism   57
        (a) The Protestant Churches   57
        (b) The Catholic Church   59

Postmodern Biblical Interpretation   65
    The Indeterminacy of Meaning   65
        (a) Part and whole   65
        (b) The historical context   67
        (c) The “intentional fallacy”   68
        (d) Text and reader   70
        (e) A hermeneutics of suspicion   71
    Conclusions   73

Review Aids and Discussion Topics   75
Maps   79

About the Author

Gregory W. Dawes is senior lecturer in both religious studies and philosophy at the University of Otago (New Zealand). He undertook graduate study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he completed the Licentiate degree, before receiving a PhD from the University of Otago in 1995. He has written several books, the most recent being The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious Authority (Westminster John Knox, 2001). He is currently researching Christian responses to the work of Charles Darwin.

Reviews

This is a fine introductory volume to a series that holds great promise for the average reader.The Bible Today

Complementing the highly successful New Testament New Collegeville Bible Commentary, this short book is an indispensable introduction to the entire series.Catholic Library World

Dawes continues, underscores our need to appreciate the ways in which the Bible has been interpreted throughout Christian history. . . . Dawes certainly has met his goal of presenting a clear overview of the origins of the Bible and its interpretation. His concise writing style, logical organization, and helpful format devices make this a work suitable for individual and group use.WritingWorks

Highly recommended for novice to intermediate biblical students and scholars.Midwest Book Review

At a time when knowledge of the Bible has declined while religious fundamentalism is on the rise, this concise, clear and accurate account of the origins of the Bible and history of its interpretation is invaluable. Dawes is a gifted writer. He not only communicates a great deal of information in a short space but also invites the reader on a journey of discovery, which concludes with a sympathetic but not uncritical account of post-modern developments. This slim volume admirably succeeds in its aim to provide readers of the New Collegeville Bible Commentary with essential background information concerning the Bible and the variety of ways in which it was been interpreted down to the present.Brendan Byrne, S.J., Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

This highly readable guide to the origins of the Biblical writings and to the history of how the Bible has been interpreted provides a rich context for our own informed reading of Scripture. Greg Dawes has the gift of expressing complex and detailed matters in a crystal clear and yet profound way. The book is wonderfully well written and greatly helps us to understand the way the Bible has been and is used in the Church, and the way that theology has developed. Readers of Scripture will greatly benefit from this excellent book.Paul Trebilco, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Otago, New Zealand