Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study by Markus Bockmuehl, Prophecy and Discernment by R. W. L. Moberly, The Preexistent Son: Recovering the Christologies of Matthew, Mark, and Luke by Simon J. Gathercole, Prophecy and Hermeneutics: Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets by Christopher R. Seitz, Reading Scripture with the Church: Toward a Hermeneutic for Theological Interpretation by A. K. M. Adam, Stephen E. Fowl, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and Francis Watson, Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith by Francis Watson (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study. By MARKUS BOCKMUEHL. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. Pp. 297. $27.00 (paper). ISBN 978-0-8010-2761-1. Prophecy and Discernment. By R. W. L. MOBERLY. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xvi+ 281. $39.99 (paper). ISBN 978-0-52185992 -9. The Preexistent Son: Recovering the Christologies ofMatthew, Mark, and Luke. By SIMON J. GATHERCOLE. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006. Pp. xi + 344. $34.00 (paper). ISBN 978-0-8028-2901-6. Prophecy and Hermeneutics: Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets. By CHRISTOPHER R. SEITZ. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007. Pp. 264. $23.00 (paper). ISBN 978-0-8010-3258-5. Reading Scripture with the Church: Toward a Hermeneutic for Theological Interpretation. By A. K. M. ADAM, STEPHEN E. FOWL, KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, and FRANCIS WATSON. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006. Pp. 155. $30.00 (paper). ISBN 978-0-8010-3173-1. Paul and the Hermeneutics ofFaith. By FRANCIS WATSON. New York: T. & T. Clark International, 2004. Pp. xv + 584. $66.00 (paper). ISBN 0-56708232 -6. Markus Bockmuehl's Seeing the Word begins with C. H. Dodd's 1936 inaugural lecture at the University of Cambridge, in which Dodd sets forth his understanding ofthe five steps ofcritical exegetical methodology, beginning with text criticism and ending with biblical theology. Whereas Dodd exudes confidence in the enduring value ofthe text-critical, higher-critical, and linguistic research of his predecessors, Bockmuehl shows that contemporary New Testament scholarship lacks a consensual basis upon which to conduct its inquiry. This fragmentation has been accentuated by such factors as the growth of subspecialties, the vast quantity of publications, the dismissal of scholarship done prior to the past three decades, and the growing inability to read foreign languages. Even so, like Dodd, Bockmuehl holds that "most of the major historical-critical questions one might wish to ask of the New Testament have now indeed seen a pretty good airing of the available options" (44), in part thanks to the recent work of N. T. Wright and Martin Hengel. 313 314 BOOK REVIEWS Arguing that questions of theological meaning now are at the forefront, Bockmuehl cautions against approaches that ignore the text's own historical setting/intention. He encourages efforts to unify New Testament research through "forums of shared inquiry ... where a common concern for truth makes it possible both to articulate and to question inherited certainties, to assess one's own and the other's deep-seated ideological commitments without immediate disqualification" (61). This vision of inquiry as a common project, requiring concern for truth and attentiveness to the other, characterizes Bockmuehl's two major recommendations for advancing New Testament study: to include the "effective history" or "historical footprint" (65-66) within the task of understanding the meanings of the New Testament texts, and to attend to the standpoint of the implied reader of the texts. Both proposals open up New Testament scholarship to the Church, and especially to the Church of the apostolic period, but neither proposal excludes non-Christian scholars or represses historical/theological disagreements. Bockmuehl first takes up the significance of the texts' implied reader. He observes that "the historic significance of the ancient biblical texts is inseparable from the space they have inhabited, and continue to inhabit, as the canonical Scripture of the Christian church" (77). While secular readers can contribute to New Testament interpretation, they cannot fully apprehend the "ecclesial dynamic of life and worship" (ibid.) that provides the matrix of the New Testament texts. The New Testament texts emphasize that nonbelieving readers require the transformation of their minds (wisdom) before they will be able to understand. Does this claim underestimate the tensions intrinsic to the New Testament texts themselves? Critiquing Rowan Williams's "conflict-driven hermeneutics" (84), Bockmuehl argues that theology has its coherence in and through the exegesis of Scripture. Far from primarily revealing conflict, Scripture reveals God's wisdom addressed to the ecclesial implied reader in "the hermeneutic of the Spirit" (91). Yet as Bockmuehl indicates through a reading of Genesis 3 and Matthew 4, the New Testament's implied reader learns from Jesus not to claim power to control the meaning of God...