Table of Contents

Foreword: Which Bible? What is the Bible?
1. The First Century: The Interpretation of the Old Testament in the New
2. The Second Century: Melito and Irenaeus
3. The Third Century: Origen
4. The Fourth Century: Jerome
5. The Dark Ages: Bede and the Bible
6. The High Middle Ages: Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Aquinas
7. Two Norfolk Ladies: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
8. Martin Luther
9. The Bible in the Politics of Early Seventeenth Century England
10. John and Charles Wesley
11. Newman
12. The Bible and the State of Israel
13. Lectio Divina
Bibliography
Timeline

Promotional Information

Leading Catholic biblical scholar Henry Wansbrough charts the use and abuse of scripture throughout the ages.

About the Author

Henry Wansbrough OSB is a Benedictine Monk of Ampleforth, former Chairman of the Oxford University Theology Faculty and former Master of St Benet's Hall. He is a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and Executive Secretary of ICPEL (The International Commission for Producing an English-language Lectionary). He lectures frequently across the globe including being Guest Lecturer in Scripture at Harare University, Zimbabwe.

Reviews

'Out of his remarkable experience of the Bible as translator, theologian and monk, Henry Wansbrough has provided a brilliantly readable and attractive introduction to the understanding of the Bible from the New Testament itself to its use in the present state of Israel' Benedicta Ward SLG, Reader in Christian Spirituality, University of Oxford, UK

'This is an enchanting and wonderfully wide-ranging account of how the library that we call the Bible has been read and heard down the ages. It is written by an eminent student of the text who has given his life to biblical scholarship committed not only to the highest standards of academic integrity but also to reading the Old and New Testaments from within the faith community. The Bible is a text (or set of texts) quite like any other, and Dom Henry is an attentive and affectionate reader of it. His explorations into the readings that others have made over the centuries make this a very rich book indeed. It shows the Bible's explosive power, and chapter after chapter has an utterly contemporary feel precisely because the remarkably wide range of bible readings recounted in this book always speak to the present age, and because there is a powerful illumination that comes from learning how others have read the text. It is also good for our humility to discover what gifted readers there were in the age that is today disparagingly dismissed as "pre-critical", and in how many different ways Christians have read the same documents. This book brings Scripture alive for an age that desperately needs it.' - Nicholas King, University of Oxford, UK

Henry Wansbrough's vivid, pithy essays show consumers of scripture - an apostle, theologians, doctors of the church, a venerable heresiarch, a medieval laywoman, modern politicians with secular agendas, Christ himself - understanding and often warping the text in the light of their own times and prejudices. He brings to life the intimacies and complicities of individual relationships with sacred readings. - Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, University of Notre Dame, USA

"This is a little gem of a book, written accessibly with clarity and humour: a welcome relief from the flat and monochrome reading which often passes as 'the plain sense of Scripture', particularly in popular debate. It reminds its readers of a Christian tradition of biblical interpretation that is far more sophisticated, challenging and ultimately satisfying."  The Tablet, 22nd May 2010.

'A selection of delightful and entertaining essays' Church Times
*Anthony Phillips*

Features an edited lecture given by the author.
*The Tablet*

Anyone interested in the Bible or indeed in the history of theology will find valuable material here... [Wansbrough is] an engaging and exceptionally well-informed guide.
*times Literary Supplement*

‘A sound, concise, engaging and stimulating journey through the history of biblical interpretation... a remarkably solid and appealing survey of Christian biblical interpretation and theology by a distinguished biblical interpreter in his own right.'
*America*

... Henry Wansborough is a lively, succinct and admirably experienced guide.
*Journal for the Study of The New Testament, Volume 33 Number 5 *

'What is most valuable about this volume is its potentially broad appeal. The motor of this appeal emanates from Wansborough's efforts to properly clarify and delineate the enduringly fecund practices of reading and being by Holy Scripture. Moreover, his reception history explores what it has meant at other points in the history of Christianity to call a text 'Scripture'. By this readers are offered some tools for interrogating contemporary and perhaps, personal, assent to that title. It is hard to imagine whether one could ask more from such a compact and accessible volume.' - Richard P Whaite, University of Notre Dame/King's College, University of London
*Theological Book Review*

The Use and Abuse of the Bible: A Brief History of Biblical Interpretation is a very helpful and short (179 pages) overview of the whole history of interpretation and misinterpretation.
*Churchman Review*