Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels - Hardcover

Hays, Richard B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1481304917 ISBN 13: 9781481304917

Publisher: Baylor University Press, 2016

Synopsis

The claim that the events of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection took place "according to the Scriptures" stands at the heart of the New Testament's message. All four canonical Gospels declare that the Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms mysteriously prefigure Jesus. The author of the Fourth Gospel states this claim succinctly: in his narrative, Jesus declares, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). Yet modern historical criticism characteristically judges that the New Testament's christological readings of Israel's Scripture misrepresent the original sense of the texts; this judgment forces fundamental questions to be asked: Why do the Gospel writers readthe Scriptures in such surprising ways? Are their readings intelligible as coherent or persuasive interpretations of the Scriptures? Does Christian faith require the illegitimate theft of someone else's sacred texts? Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels answers these questions. Richard B. Hays chronicles the dramatically different ways the four Gospel writers interpreted Israel's Scripture and reveals that their readings were as complementary as they werefaithful. In this long-awaited sequel to his Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul , Hayshighlights the theological consequences of the Gospel writers'distinctive hermeneutical approaches and asks what it might mean for contemporary readers to attempt to read Scripture through the eyes of the Evangelists. In particular, Hays carefully describes the Evangelists'practice of figural reading aan imaginative and retrospective move that creates narrative continuity and wholeness. He shows how each Gospel artfully uses scriptural echoes to re-narrate Israel's story, to assert that Jesus is the embodiment of Israel's God, and to prod the church in its vocation to engage the pagan world. Hays shows how the Evangelists summon readers to a conversion of their imagination. The Evangelists'use of scriptural echo beckons readers to believe the extraordinary: that Jesus was Israel's Messiah, that Jesus is Israel's God, and that contemporary believers are still on mission. The Evangelists, according to Hays, are training our scriptural senses, calling readers to be better scriptural people by being better scriptural poets.

About this title

Review:

A precious book that presents a learned proposal for the figural interpretation of the Synoptics and John. -- Boris Paschke -- Evangelical Review of Theology This is a book to be savored, not rushed through like fast food. At one point, Hays describes the benefit of reading Johnas narrative aattentively.a This book demonstrates Haysas attentive reading of the evangelists interpreting and using Scripturea| Haysas work will be useful for those studying one or more of the Gospels and for those researching the use of the Scriptures of Israel in the NT. Failure to engage with Hays would be a mistake. -- Kenneth D. Litwak -- Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society What cannot be overstated about Hays' book is the fresh way in which his methodology elucidates nuanced meaning in the Gospels as echoes of the larger story of Israel while also offering plain interpretation of standard passages. Hays' work in figural echoing is innovative, whisking a Gospel reader into other parts of scripture against standard hermeneutical practice such as grammatical-historic approaches. -- Thomas J. Savage -- European Journal of Theology Everyone should read Echoes of Scripture in the Gospel s; it is a masterpiece in figural interpretation. -- Dean Deppe -- Calvin Theological Journal

About the Author:

Richard B. Hays (Ph.D., Emory University) is Dean and George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament, Duke Divinity School. His publications include Reading the Bible Intertextually (edited with Stefan Alkier and Leroy A. Huizenga, 2009) and Revelation and the Politics of Apocalyptic Interpretation (edited with Stefan Alkier, 2012).

About this edition

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1481304917
• ISBN 13: 9781481304917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 524