The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation (review)

162 Reviews Barton, John, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretatio Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998; R.R.P. $34.95; ISBN 0521485932. This new volume in the Cambridge Companion series is a useful addition to the shelves of a medievalist or early modern scholar. Although concerned with contemporary biblical studies, the book's convenient, upto -date bibliography provides an essential reference work for anyone whose historical and literary studies involve the Bible. Thefirsthalf comprises eleven articles which are both reviews, and critiques, of different interpretive strategies. The second provides summaries of the current state of research on both the Old and the N e w Testament books. The wide range of critical theories discussed is a reflection of how biblical studies have changed in the second half of the twentieth century, and is thus a salutary reminder of h o w theoretical fashions change. The development of biblical studies from historical-critical approaches in the nineteenth century to postmodernism at the end of the twentieth, parallels the shift in literary studies from philological pursuits to hermeneutics and deconstruction. Reading h o w others deal with historical texts is a provocative challenge to explore n e w methodologies. The book begins, chronologically, with John Barton's judicious overview of the varieties of method within the historical-critical approach, and rebuts the notion that it was ever as monologic as some later theologians maintained. All the articles provide a balanced overview of a particular field, and manage to combine an awareness of the intellectually complex nature of that field with a blessed freedom from jargon and obscurantism. Indeed, several of the articles could be added to undergraduate reading lists to introduce students to various studies: hermeneutics ('Biblical Studies and Theoretical Hermeneutics', Anthony Thiselton); linguistics ('Biblical Study and Linguistics', William Johnstone) feminism ('Feminist Interpretation', A n n Loades); and poststructuralism ('Poststructuralist Approaches—New Historicism and Postmodernism', Robert Carroll). The difficulties of reading a historical document are discussed well in all the articles, and are as relevant to medieval and Renaissance scholars as to students of the Bible. Of particular interest to the literary and art historian would he David Jasper's 'Literary Readings of the Bible' and Stephen Prickett's excellent piece, 'The Bible in Literature and Art', which is a Reviews 163 sensitive and compact introduction to medieval typology, and which traces the change in art to a more realist representation. The article could provoke stimulating discussion in literature, cultural studies or history seminars although the Rembrandt reproduction is too murky to illustrate Prickett's subtle readings of that painting. The second half of the book provides a handy, up-to-date coverage of recent scholarship and good bibliographies on the various books of the Bible and is a convenient reference for those whose research involves students of the Bible. A scholarly grounding in the original text can only refine the sensitivity of modern interpretations of medieval biblical understanding. For instance, an examination of Anglo-Saxon apocalyptic sermons would benefit from the an awareness of the evolution of Revelations, and the avoidance of oversimplistic distinctions about either Hellenistic or oriental influences, against which James VanderKam warns ('Apocalyptic Literature'). Overall, most of the biblical commentators would probably agree with Iain Provan that 'The interpreter is not free from constraint' ("The Historical Books of the Old Testament', p. 208). H e sees that 'the constraint is not ultimately that of authorial meaning in historical contexts, however, but that of canonical shaping' (p. 208). O n the other hand, others insist on maintaining the narrative shaping of texts to avoid the extraction of single sections to support a particular theoretical position (Pheme Perkins, 'The Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles', p. 244). Such awareness of this wider perspective might prevent literary critics using, for instance, James 4:6 ('the tongue . . . defileth the whole body') to support an entire epistemology. Overall, this is a stimulating and useful reference work, clearly written, despite an aversion to c o m m a s and a few editorial oversights; 'prize' instead of 'prise' (p. 161); and the curious use of 'pace-maker': 'biblical study [is] a pace-maker of theological change' (p. 126). I was unsure...