Seventeen respected colleagues and former students of David C. Steinmetz have contributed to this important collection of essays produced in honor of Steinmetz's sixtieth birthday. The burden of the present volume is to examine the sources and resources and to illustrate the continuities and discontinuities in the exegetical tradition leading into and through the Reformation. Specifically, this collection of essays proposes to highlight the historical context of Reformation exegesis and to describe how a truly contextual understanding signals a highly illuminating turn in Reformation studies. The three essays included in Part 1 offer background perspectives on Reformation-era exegesis. Richard A. Muller provides background on biblical interpretation in the Reformation from the perspective of the Middle Ages. Karlfried Froelich examines the fourfold exegetical method presented on the eve of the Reformation by Johannes Trithemius. John B. Payne offers a view of Erasmus's exegetical method in its relation to the approaches of Zwingli and Bullinger. The five essays included in Part 2 explore exegesis and interpretation in the early Reformation. Kenneth Hagen examines Luther's many approaches to the text of Psalm 116. Carl M. Leth discusses Balthasar Hubmaier's "Catholic" exegesis of the power of the keys in Matthew 16:18-19. Timothy J. Wengert takes on the issue of method, specifically the impact of humanist rhetoric on the exegetical method of Philip Melanchthon. Irena Backus examines Martin Bucer's efforts to make sense of the difficult chronology of John 5-7 in the light of his dialogue with the exegetical tradition. W.P. Stephens addresses Zwingli's understanding of John 6:63, a text crucial to Zwingli's eucharistic debate with Luther. The seven essays included in Part 3 examine continuity and change in mid-sixteenth-century biblical interpretation. Susan E Schreiner probes Calvin’s relation to the sixteenth-century debate regarding the grounds of certainty. Craig S. Farmer examines the exegesis of Bern theologian Wolfgang Musculus against the background of a catena of medieval readings of John 8. Joel E. Kok discusses the question of Bullinger’s status as an exegete in relation to Calvin, with a special focus on the exegesis of Romans. John L. Thompson considers the survival of allegorical argumentation in Peter Martyr Vermigli’s Old Testament exegesis. Lyle D. Bierma shows a clear relationship between Zacharias Ursinus’s exposition of Exodus 20:8-11 and aspects of interpretations offered by Calvin, Vermigli, Bullinger, and Melanchthon. John L Farthing offers a fresh study of Girolamo Zanchi’s interpretation of Gomer’s harlotry in Hosea 1-3. Robert Kolb considers the doctrine of Christ in Nikolaus Selnecker’s interpretation of Psalms 8, 22, and 110. Following a concluding essay by the editors on the significance of precritical exegesis, the final section of the volume, prepared by Micken L. Mattox, presents an up-to-date bibliography of the writings of David C. Steinmetz.

The Reformation of Prophecy illuminates the significant shifts in the Protestant reformers' engagement with the prophet and biblical prophecy-shifts from advancing the priesthood of all believers to strengthening Protestant clerical identity and authority to operating as a site of polemical-confessional exchange concerning right interpretations of Scripture.

At first glance, it may seem strange that after more than two thousand years of biblical interpretation, there are still major disagreements among biblical scholars about what the Jewish and Christian Scriptures say and about how one is to read and understand them. Yet the range of interpretive approaches now available is the result both of the richness of the biblical texts themselves and of differences in the worldviews of the communities and individuals who have sought to make the Scriptures relevant to their own time and place. A History of Biblical Interpretation provides detailed and extensive studies of the interpretation of the Scriptures by Jewish and Christian writers throughout the ages. Written by internationally renowned scholars, this multivolume work comprehensively treats the many different methods of interpretation, the many important interpreters who have written in various eras, and the many key issues that have surfaced repeatedly over the long course of biblical interpretation. The first volume explores interpreters and their methods in the ancient period, from the very earliest stages to the time when the canons of Judaism and Christianity gained general acceptance. The second volume contains essays by fifteen noted scholars discussing major methods, movements, and interpreters in the Jewish and Christian communities from the beginning of the Middle Ages until the end of the sixteenth-century Reformation. The authors examine such themes as the variety of interpretive developments within Judaism during this period, the monumental work of Rashi and his followers, the achievements of the Carolingian era, and the later scholastic developments within the universities, beginning in the twelfth century. Included are bibliographical references for even deeper study. - Publisher.

Contributors from both historical and biblical studies profile the methods, perspectives and seminal works of major biblical interpreters from the second century to the late twentieth century. Includes introductory essays for each period and bibliographies of each interpreter. Edited by Donald K. McKim.

It is equally true that the Reformation was inspired and defined by the Bible and that the Bible was reshaped by the intellectual, political, and cultural forces of the Reformation. In this book, a distinguished scholar--whose contributions to the field of religious studies have won him wide renown--explores this relationship, examining both the role of the Bible in the Reformation and the effect of the Reformation on the text of the Bible, Biblical studies, preaching and exegesis, and European culture in general. Jaroslav Pelikan begins by discussing the philological foundations of the "reformation" of the Biblical text, focusing on the revival of Greek and Hebrew language study and the important contributions to textual criticism by humanist scholars. He then examines the changing patterns of interpretation and communication of the Biblical text, the proliferation of vernacular versions of scripture and their impact on various national cultures, and the impact of the Reformation Bible on art, music, and literature of the period. The book is richly illustrated with examples of early printed editions of Bibles, commentaries, sermons, vernacular translations, and other works with Biblical themes, all of which are identified and discussed. The book serves as the catalog for a major exhibition of early Bibles and Reformation texts that has been organized at Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, and will also be shown at the Yale Center for British Art, the Houghton Library and the Widener Library at Harvard University, and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University.

The Bible played a vital role in the lives, theology, and practice of the Protestant Reformers. These essays from the 2016 Wheaton Theology Conference bring together the reflections of church historians and theologians on the nature of the Bible as "the people's book," considering themes such as access to Scripture, the Bible's role in worship, and theological interpretation.

This latest volume in the Reformation Commentary on Scripture (RCS) series offers biblical commentary from numerous Reformation-era theologians, pastors, and preachers from a variety of theological traditions—Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, Radical, and Roman Catholic—on six Old Testament books: 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, and 1-2 Chronicles.