An experienced teacher offers an innovative hermeneutical approach, showing how the whole Bible can be understood as a wisdom text that shapes its readers morally.
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An experienced teacher offers an innovative hermeneutical approach, showing how the whole Bible can be understood as a wisdom text that shapes its readers morally.
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Dryden writes in his preface, "The central thesis of this book is at once commonsensical and controversial: the Bible is a wisdom text" (xvi). That includes more than the few OT wisdom books, but all of the Bible is wisdom. The Gospels, for instance, are written in a specific way (a certain genre) so that the ancient reader automatically knew that what they were reading was a wisdom text.
The NT Gospels and epistles reflect certain genres of their time, both which formed virtue over vice in their readers leading to wise and righteous living. We are not only to believe the right doctrine. Our lives are to be changed. In fact, the Parable of the Sower teaches that theology and ethics function together (37). Hearing the word = "hearing, accepting, and doing" (62).
In the first chapter of section one, Dryden looks at knowing and reading. He compares reading strategies of modernism (historical-critical approaches) with post-modernism (e.g., reader-response criticism). Wisdom engages the whole person, the mind and how one morally lives. Test case: John 3.
In his second and third chapters, Dryden compares theology with ethics and law with gospel. Wisdom seeks to shape both our knowledge and our affections for God. His formula: the Bible teaches us how to make the right actions, for the right reasons, with the right motivations. Test case: Philippians 2.
Dryden disregards the myth that since the gospel has come to us by God's grace, surely we can't expect people to do good works. The gospel reveals God's righteous character and his righteous actions, which we should aim to imitate by looking at Christ, our savior and exemplar. Dryden compares antinomianism with authenticity; legalism with moralism. Test case: John 15.
Section two has two chapters devoted to the theory and practice of reading the Gospels for wisdom, and two chapters for the epistles. These were by far the best chapters, with the practical chapter on the Gospels being my favorite. One important facet of fictional books that is true of the Bible is how "readers sympathize with their needs [that of the characters] and so, guided by the author's characterization, identify with the character as a vehicle" (123). This is important because "vast portions of biblical narratives teach us next to nothing explicitly about God" (122). (Think of the book of Esther.)
The Conclusion summarizes the whole book. The appendix draws differences between the books in the Wisdom literature and the whole Bible as wisdom.
Recommended?
This is a very good book. Albeit it much of the is very academic, with topics such as modernism, postmodernism, speech act theory, and epistemology being covered. Some places are easier to read, but not all of the cookies are on the bottom shelf. I would love to see a more user-friendly version of this. I very much enjoyed this book, and recommend it to teachers, professors, and pastors.
I received this book from Baker Academic with no requirement of a positive review.
