Taught by God: Ancient Hermeneutics for the Modern Church
In Taught by God, theologian Brandon D. Smith invites modern Christians to rediscover the early church’s approach to biblical interpretation, not just as an historical relic but as a vibrant means of understanding the Bible today. Smith introduces three “sensibilities” that Christians throughout church history have shared: a concern for Scripture’s very words, its theological and Christological unity, and its importance for the church. Through biblical and historical examples, Taught by God challenges the modern church to read and interpret Scripture with the great cloud of historical witnesses. Short, easy-to-understand, and extensively researched, Taught by God invites readers to discover further riches in Scripture. These riches take Scripture’s divine inspiration and the Christian tradition’s reflections on Scripture seriously in order to inspire ever-greater worship of the ultimate author of all Scripture.
Publisher: B & H
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781087752730
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Brandon D. Smith (PhD, Ridley College, Melbourne) is Chair of the Hobbs School of Theology & Ministry and Associate Professor of Theology & Early Christianity at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is also a co-founder of the Center for Baptist Renewal and host of the Church Grammar podcast.
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"You and I are not the first people to read the Bible. ‘They’ – the church fathers – read and often memorized large portions of the Scriptures centuries ago. Why should we care about their interpretations? After all, we don’t hold to their medicine or science anymore. The answer, says Brandon Smith, is that ‘they’ were taught by God how to read the word of God, and we modern Christians have much to learn from our premodern forbears, especially when it involves to our cultural and interpretive blind spots. The church would foster healthier reading habits if Christians today recovered the three sensibilities that Smith identifies as hallmarks of premodern biblical interpretation." Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School