Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture [Paperback]

Peter Leithart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1602580693 | ISBN-13: 978-1602580695

Seeking to train readers to hear all that is being said within a written text, Peter Leithart advocates a hermeneutics of the letter that is not rigidly literalist and looks to learn to read not just the Bible, but everything--from Jesus and Paul. Thus Deep Exegesis explores the nature of reading itself taking clues from Jesus and Paul on the meaning of meaning, the functions of language, and proper modes of interpretation. By looking (and listening) closely, and by including passages from the Bible and other literary sources, Leithart aims to do for the text what Jesus did for the blind man in John 9: to make new by opening eyes. The book is a powerful invitation to enter the depths of a text.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Displaying his extraordinary ability to make interpretation exciting, Leithart demonstrates that the meanings of biblical texts cannot be adequately known outside their literary and historical resonances. A magnificent book."
--Matthew Levering, Associate Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University

"Deep Exegesis is a clear, optimistic, and well-written book, with wide-spanning and interdisciplinary implications."
--The Christian Scholar's Review (Spring 2010)

"Everyone interested in understanding the Bible (and what Christian isn't!) should read this book."
--Greg Peters, Assistant Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology, Biola University (reviewed in The Scriptorium, 4/6/10)

"... a sustained, often playful, and sometimes brilliantly provocative attempt to undo the dichotomy between the Scripture's formal husk and its material kernel.... Deep Exegesis is a treasure trove of hermeneutical reflection by a master craftsman. It will repay careful reading, by scholars as well as students."
--Wesley Hill, Books and Culture, July/August 2011

"Leithart is a very fine reader of the biblical text as is evident from his ever-deeper reading and re-reading of Jn 9.... Leithart's project has significant value and potential for his intended audience."
--Seamus O'Connell, Journal for the Study of the New Testament (2011, 33:5)

Everyone interested in understanding the Bible (and what Christian isn t!) should read this book .... --Greg Peters, Assistant Professor of Medieval and Spiritual Theology, Biola University (reviewed in The Scriptorium, 4/6/10)

About the Author

Peter J. Leithart is Senior Fellow of Theology and Literature, New St. Andrews College. He is the author of twenty books, including, most recently Writer of Fancy: The Playful Piety of Jane Austen (forthcoming), The Baptized Body, and The Promise of His Appearing. He lives in Moscow, Idaho, where he serves as Pastor of Trinity Reformed Church.

Product Details

• Paperback: 253 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602580693
• ISBN-13: 978-1602580695
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps Leithart's Best, October 3, 2009

By 

Ralph Allan Smith (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture (Paperback)

Peter Leithart's Deep Exegesis: The Mystery of Reading Scripture is the most helpful book I have ever read on how to interpret the Bible -- a topic of serious interest for me for almost 40 years. In my seminary days, I learned that historical grammatical exegesis is the only way to approach the Bible. The problem was that certain passages in the New Testament clearly interpreted the Old Testament in ways that did not conform to the literal mold. Could we follow the exegetical methods of Jesus and Paul, or were they operating on principles that are beyond our ken?

In six chapters with titles like "Words are Players" and "Texts are Music," Leithart not only uncovers the exegetical methods of Jesus and Paul, but he shows his readers how to follow their path by ending each chapter with relevant insights on John 9. In the process, Leithart relates Biblical interpretation to the interpretation of literature outside the Bible, offers withering criticism of Biblical critics, discloses serious flaws in conventional hermeneutical wisdom, teaches us the music of the Biblical text, and, most importantly, shows how all Scripture is about Christ. Leithart does this all with penetrating theological insight, wry humor, and even more than his customary eloquence. I literary could not put the book down.

If there is only one book you read on Biblical interpretation, this should be the book. It is too well written and profound to be considered a "textbook," but it is so full of insight and such a delight to read that a kind professor might give his students a break and assign them a book that would be sheer pleasure. Anyone serious about reading the Bible and looking for guidance in reading not only deeply, but in a manner that is faithful to the Bible as Holy Scripture should read Leithart's Deep Exegesis.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Hermeneutical Paradigm Shift, October 19, 2009

By 

William B. Littlejohn (Edinburgh, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture (Paperback)

It has been taken for granted in the last century that the venerable medieval exegesis of the quadriga, as well as any hermeneutical practice prior to the nineteenth century, was "pre-critical," and hence unscientific, unreliable, and fanciful. Rigorous grammatico-historical exegesis, it has been argued and accepted, is basically the only way to go, whether you're liberal or conservative. Ironically, conservatives have militantly defended this stifling limitation on the Bible's ability to speak to us, because they fear that opening up the meaning of the text at all will leave it victim to the interpreter's whim to twist the text however he wishes.

In Deep Exegesis, Peter Leithart comes out firing on all cylinders against this odd modernist myopia, showing that it destroys the integrity of the Biblical text, as surely as it would destroy any other work of literature on which such a method was used. He employs very recent discoveries in the philosophy of language, philosophy of history, and literature, to vindicate and enhance a very ancient understanding of how texts work, arguing that a "literal" conservative hermeneutic need not be minimalist but can be as deep and broad as the Scriptural narrative itself.

Leithart keeps our journey along this sophisticated path pleasant and easy by enlisting dozens of examples from literature, pop culture, and everyday life to illuminate his argument, and by his characteristically lighthearted (forgive the pun), readable style.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep Clarification, October 12, 2009

By 

Steven M. Esmond (Macon, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture (Paperback)

I found this book to be profound, witty, thought provoking and extremely helpful. For many years, the biblical interpretation I found left me dissastisfied. I knew there was more to the text than what I was hearing or reading, but I could not find it with the tools I had. Then, when I began to read Dr. Leithart and others it seemed as if a new world opened up for me. This book provides a clear explanation and defense of that approach. If you want to see more in the Bible than you have in the past, then I suggest you get this book.