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Deep Exegesis: The Mystery Of Reading Scripture (2009)

by Peter J. Leithart(Favorite Author)

4.32 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1602580693 (ISBN13: 9781602580695)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Baylor University Press

review 1: One of the best and most fun books on reading the Bible that I have read in a long time. Leithart argues against reading scriptureto extract the one narrow meaning from the 'husk' of the text. Instead he suggests careful attention be payed to the actual words of scripture (and thus eschews paraphrases like the Message). It is through this attention to 'the letter' of scripture that we get a full sense of the meaning of scripture. And he does this in an interesting and engaging manner. He defends typology as a valid hermeneutic (for any reading, not just scripture) by asserting that texts are events and thus change meaning over time. Rather than arguing for limits on the meaning of particular words, he allows the Biblical writers poetic genius in their word choice. This all... moreows for nuances and shades of meaning, which are not directly evident from the context. His chapter on Intertextuality is entitled 'The Text is a Joke.' By explaining the anatomy of a joke he shows how proper understanding of a 'joke' comes from understanding from outside sources and the ability to discover which information is relevant to 'get it.' His chapter on structure argues that like music, texts can be constructed with multiple structures and themes. In his final chapter, Leithart asserts that Scripture is about Christ, both as head (Jesus) and body (ecclesia). This means that passages point typologically to both Christ and his church and by extension, everything else.This text grew out of Leithart's defense of the quadriga- the medieval belief in the literal, anagogical, allegorical and tropological senses of scripture. But Leithart isn't so much engaging patristics and medieval texts; rather he is trying to show that the quadriga itself is a good hermeneutic. Thus he attends to making sure we are reading the Bible with a literary sensitivity, thoughtfulness and an expansive imagination about all that the text is saying.In criticism, I think sometimes Leithart is a little unfair in his critique of his opponents. Also, throughout this book, he uses John 9 and the story of Jesus' healing of the man born blind to show how this works out. In one sense this is smart, but it is also the easy route. John's gospel is ripe with poetic overtones, allusions, theologizing, symbolism. Any student of John's gospel is going to pay attention to what John is hinting at, not merely what the action is. I found myself wondering at different points, what Leithart would do with a non-narrative text which wasn't so expansive in its allusions. Still I substantially agreed and really liked some of the ways he opened up John 9 to me.
review 2: Post-script: Just re-read after college. This book has shaped my reading so much that coming back to it feels very old hat. Having finished a class in hermeneutics I do wonder whether Leithart has explained the relation between authorial intent and reader implication, but I am tempted to say this doesn't matter much; writers want readers to see things that aren't there.The second chapter on time I feel might have problems, but all the presuppositions are very tempting. Three through five are solid. Six is a bit speculative, but application is always that way and Leithart's alternative to much of Evangelical individualism.My only critique coming back to it (and it is a criticism of greatness, not the sort of thing you take off stars for) is that Leithart does not allow for a human element--he still seems to be concerned with the Bible primarily as informer of human action. Not bad, but there is more to be said. Also, Leithart is not a great writer of prose; here he's at his best, funny and happily poking fun at our modern assumptions of exegesis. I definitely need to keep selling this book.Older: Dr. Leithart makes some rather controversial claims in this book that took me a while to work over-particularly his views on how meaning actually can be packed into a word. But, after deep thought and long reasoning, I came around. Every chapter says something, and there were more and longer chapters than in a usual Leithart book. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in hermeneutics. Aside from the orthodoxy, it does stuff you won't find in your typical exegesis book.A quick re-reading of the book reminded me what a colossal influence this has been in my thinking. This book got the machinery in place for me to see everything as typological and every detail as significant and added for a reason. I like that. This book taught me to read, not just the Bible, but Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Virgil, Boethius, Dante, Shakespeare, and even C.S. Lewis. less

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