In order to refocus their work so that it can open out into a three-way conversation between themselves, the scriptural text, and the communities interested in the text, Countryman argues that biblical scholars must abandon the over-dependence on analytical method that they favor. Scholars need to find new ways to bring the complexities of the text and its environment more directly into conversation with the complexities of human communities here and now. Countryman strikes out in new directions by stressing that the conversation with Scripture always calls the interpreter and the community of faith to address realities beyond the text. This book offers a challenge both to biblical scholars and to churches, calling them to work together in reforming and renewing their ways of dealing with Scripture. L. William Countryman is Sherman E. Johnson Professor in Biblical Studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Countryman’s Interpreting the Truth provides a challenge to the biblical scholar, the preacher, and the community to abandon all attempts for a final and complete biblical theology. Truth is a not an eternal possession but a dynamic discovery where the biblical scholar is connected and yet distinct from the community and where the community needs the scholarly interpretative for the eternal fact. He challenges the communities of faith to discard absolutism and the biblical scholar to abandon the claustophobic academy to converse and interact. Then both community of faith and the biblical scholar might discover together moments of grace and truth in engaging the biblical text."--Dr. Robert Gross, Webster University (Dr. Robert Gross )
"INTERPRETING THE TRUTH offers at once a sophisticated and plain-spoken advocacy for the role of the interpreter in the hearing of biblical texts. In the dynamic relationship of text, interpreter and community each is seen to have its own integrity within a context of locality, complexity, diversity and incompleteness. Truth, still with its own incompleteness, can only be found in this "practice of interpretation", but, as Countryman splendidly shows, so an often surprising truth can emerge."--Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch, Professor of Anglican Studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch )
"Brimming with thoughtful insights and gentle wisdom, Bill Countryman's Interpreting the Truth critiques the current narrowing of biblical interpretation to a fragmented conversation between like-minded specialists by focussing attention on the social practice of interpretation. For him, interpretation as social practice requires a creative and dynamic interaction among three essential elements: the interpreter, the text, and the community for whom the text is being interpreted. Countryman insists on the real complexity of this process of interpretation, if it is to reflect the complexity of human cultures past and present. His laudable aim is to re-direct the work of biblical scholars to the faith communities and other interested publics who stand in need of their contributions. This book is a "must-read" for biblical interpreters and everyone for whom such work on the Bible is important."--Professor Mary Ann Tolbert, George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA (Professor Mary Ann Tolbert )
“There is much about this book to celebrate, including its insistence that the interpreter never masters the text, never controls it, and must always be ready to be surprised by it. And the author appeals to conservatives and liberals alike to be called to task by the text.” –Theology Today, 1/05
“…[the] style is lively, clear, and nontechnical.… Synthesizing key insights of contemporary hermeneutical discussion, C. offers a valuable paradigm for those who want to envision biblical studies in a more integrated manner.” -The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005
“There are many fine insights and clever phrases, all of which have important implications for an understanding of these ancient texts…this treatise can be recommended on many accounts.” Religious Studies Review, April, July 2004 (Religious Studies Review )
"Countryman seeks to redefine the task of biblical interpretation so that the basis for this relevance will be made explicit, fostering greater coherence in the discourse of academic criticism and greater affinity with similar interpretation discourse in faith communities. He devotes most of the book to pragmatic demonstrations of its fruitfulness, giving wonderfully fresh interpretations of Jude, James, and Romans...Countryman shows that his approach can deliver what it promises...this book can greatly help biblical interpreters and other church members to better understand our respective roles and responsibilities as we try to discern what God is revealing through the Scriptures." -- Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
"Countryman’s Interpreting the Truth provides a challenge to the biblical scholar, the preacher, and the community to abandon all attempts for a final and complete biblical theology. Truth is a not an eternal possession but a dynamic discovery where the biblical scholar is connected and yet distinct from the community and where the community needs the scholarly interpretative for the eternal fact. He challenges the communities of faith to discard absolutism and the biblical scholar to abandon the claustophobic academy to converse and interact. Then both community of faith and the biblical scholar might discover together moments of grace and truth in engaging the biblical text."--Dr. Robert Gross, Webster University (, )
"INTERPRETING THE TRUTH offers at once a sophisticated and plain-spoken advocacy for the role of the interpreter in the hearing of biblical texts. In the dynamic relationship of text, interpreter and community each is seen to have its own integrity within a context of locality, complexity, diversity and incompleteness. Truth, still with its own incompleteness, can only be found in this "practice of interpretation", but, as Countryman splendidly shows, so an often surprising truth can emerge."--Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch, Professor of Anglican Studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (, )
"Brimming with thoughtful insights and gentle wisdom, Bill Countryman's Interpreting the Truth critiques the current narrowing of biblical interpretation to a fragmented conversation between like-minded specialists by focussing attention on the social practice of interpretation. For him, interpretation as social practice requires a creative and dynamic interaction among three essential elements: the interpreter, the text, and the community for whom the text is being interpreted. Countryman insists on the real complexity of this process of interpretation, if it is to reflect the complexity of human cultures past and present. His laudable aim is to re-direct the work of biblical scholars to the faith communities and other interested publics who stand in need of their contributions. This book is a "must-read" for biblical interpreters and everyone for whom such work on the Bible is important."--Professor Mary Ann Tolbert, George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA (, )
“Countryman seeks to redefine the task of biblical interpretation so that the basis for this relevance will be made explicit, fostering greater coherence in the discourse of academic criticism and greater affinity with similar interpretation discourse in faith communities. He devotes most of the book to pragmatic demonstrations of its fruitfulness, giving wonderfully fresh interpretations of Jude, James, and Romans…Countryman shows that his approach can deliver what it promises…this book can greatly help biblical interpreters and other church members to better understand our respective roles and responsibilities as we try to discern what God is revealing through the Scriptures.” – Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
"INTERPRETING THE TRUTH offers at once a sophisticated and plain-spoken advocacy for the role of the interpreter in the hearing of biblical texts. In the dynamic relationship of text, interpreter and community each is seen to have its own integrity within a context of locality, complexity, diversity and incompleteness. Truth, still with its own incompleteness, can only be found in this "practice of interpretation", but, as Countryman splendidly shows, so an often surprising truth can emerge."--Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch, Professor of Anglican Studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch )
"Brimming with thoughtful insights and gentle wisdom, Bill Countryman's Interpreting the Truth critiques the current narrowing of biblical interpretation to a fragmented conversation between like-minded specialists by focussing attention on the social practice of interpretation. For him, interpretation as social practice requires a creative and dynamic interaction among three essential elements: the interpreter, the text, and the community for whom the text is being interpreted. Countryman insists on the real complexity of this process of interpretation, if it is to reflect the complexity of human cultures past and present. His laudable aim is to re-direct the work of biblical scholars to the faith communities and other interested publics who stand in need of their contributions. This book is a "must-read" for biblical interpreters and everyone for whom such work on the Bible is important."--Professor Mary Ann Tolbert, George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA (Professor Mary Ann Tolbert )
“There is much about this book to celebrate, including its insistence that the interpreter never masters the text, never controls it, and must always be ready to be surprised by it. And the author appeals to conservatives and liberals alike to be called to task by the text.” –Theology Today, 1/05
“…[the] style is lively, clear, and nontechnical.… Synthesizing key insights of contemporary hermeneutical discussion, C. offers a valuable paradigm for those who want to envision biblical studies in a more integrated manner.” -The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 67, 2005
“There are many fine insights and clever phrases, all of which have important implications for an understanding of these ancient texts…this treatise can be recommended on many accounts.” Religious Studies Review, April, July 2004 (Religious Studies Review )
"Countryman seeks to redefine the task of biblical interpretation so that the basis for this relevance will be made explicit, fostering greater coherence in the discourse of academic criticism and greater affinity with similar interpretation discourse in faith communities. He devotes most of the book to pragmatic demonstrations of its fruitfulness, giving wonderfully fresh interpretations of Jude, James, and Romans...Countryman shows that his approach can deliver what it promises...this book can greatly help biblical interpreters and other church members to better understand our respective roles and responsibilities as we try to discern what God is revealing through the Scriptures." -- Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
"Countryman’s Interpreting the Truth provides a challenge to the biblical scholar, the preacher, and the community to abandon all attempts for a final and complete biblical theology. Truth is a not an eternal possession but a dynamic discovery where the biblical scholar is connected and yet distinct from the community and where the community needs the scholarly interpretative for the eternal fact. He challenges the communities of faith to discard absolutism and the biblical scholar to abandon the claustophobic academy to converse and interact. Then both community of faith and the biblical scholar might discover together moments of grace and truth in engaging the biblical text."--Dr. Robert Gross, Webster University (, )
"INTERPRETING THE TRUTH offers at once a sophisticated and plain-spoken advocacy for the role of the interpreter in the hearing of biblical texts. In the dynamic relationship of text, interpreter and community each is seen to have its own integrity within a context of locality, complexity, diversity and incompleteness. Truth, still with its own incompleteness, can only be found in this "practice of interpretation", but, as Countryman splendidly shows, so an often surprising truth can emerge."--Bishop Frederick Houk Borsch, Professor of Anglican Studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (, )
"Brimming with thoughtful insights and gentle wisdom, Bill Countryman's Interpreting the Truth critiques the current narrowing of biblical interpretation to a fragmented conversation between like-minded specialists by focussing attention on the social practice of interpretation. For him, interpretation as social practice requires a creative and dynamic interaction among three essential elements: the interpreter, the text, and the community for whom the text is being interpreted. Countryman insists on the real complexity of this process of interpretation, if it is to reflect the complexity of human cultures past and present. His laudable aim is to re-direct the work of biblical scholars to the faith communities and other interested publics who stand in need of their contributions. This book is a "must-read" for biblical interpreters and everyone for whom such work on the Bible is important."--Professor Mary Ann Tolbert, George H. Atkinson Professor of Biblical Studies, Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA (, )
“Countryman seeks to redefine the task of biblical interpretation so that the basis for this relevance will be made explicit, fostering greater coherence in the discourse of academic criticism and greater affinity with similar interpretation discourse in faith communities. He devotes most of the book to pragmatic demonstrations of its fruitfulness, giving wonderfully fresh interpretations of Jude, James, and Romans…Countryman shows that his approach can deliver what it promises…this book can greatly help biblical interpreters and other church members to better understand our respective roles and responsibilities as we try to discern what God is revealing through the Scriptures.” – Anglican Theological Review (Anglican Theological Review )
About the Author
L. William Countryman is Sherman E. Johnson Professor in Biblical Studies at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. He is a popular speaker, and the author of many books including Gifted by Otherness, Living on the Border of the Holy, Forgiven and Forgiving, and Love Human and Divine, all available from Morehouse Publishing.
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2 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Modernism improving on modernism (which isn't an improvement),
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This review is from: Interpreting the Truth: Changing the Paradigm of Biblical Studies (Paperback)
Interpreting the Truth gives us an overview of many of the issues of modern biblical interpretation. In this sense it may be a necessary read for a believer who wants to be aware of the contemporary quasi-Christian mindset/s.
The New Testament is given a fuller treatment than the Old, with Jude, James and Romans given full (sample) chapters. However... Let's start with the "Abbreviations" page at the start of the book. The RSV and NRSV will be used, we can see, as their names and abbreviations are provided for our convenience and recognition. Wait... can it be? The NIV doesn't get a mention in the abbreviations page at all! So, a book about "interpretation" isn't even going to mention or make use of the NIV once? It is one of the most popular translations of the Scriptures of our time. It was translated by a huge team from just about every denomination. Surely this is a lack! Or a bias of some kind? Check out the index. There are 23 references to homosexuality and only 3 to Protestantism. Alarm bells are ringing. Take a look at the bibliography. None of the great evangelical names are given even a cursory mention, like D.A. Carson, Blomberg or Bock. Instead we have the standard Yale and Harvard fare. Do we approach the Bible with reverence and awe towards a holy God? Or are we in the business of interpretation? I'd rather keep my naivety and choose the former. It's a shame that so much material by theologians and academics today is neither edifying nor God-glorifying. Instead we have justifications of depraved lustful desires.
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