Book: Word of Life - Introducing Lutheran Hermeneutics

Renowned Reformation scholar Timothy J. Wengert explores the genesis of Lutheran biblical interpretation by tracing the early work of Martin Luther, Melanchthon, and other Wittenberg exegetes. Their new approach led them to view Scripture in terms of "law and gospel," to read and translate the Greek and Hebrew text, and to focus on a theology of the cross and justification by faith. Luther and his colleagues found God working in the last place anyone would reasonably look: on the cross, in weakness and foolishness. Wengert demonstrates how these key historical and theological perspectives can be demonstrated in preaching, reflection, and teaching today. Using brief examples of preaching The Seven Last Word of Christ and reflecting on Luther's work on a variety of Psalms, the author provides a path for students and pastors alike to plumb the depth of Lutheran hermeneutics in their preaching and teaching.

Book: Eat this book - a conversation in the art of spiritual reading

Eat This Book challenges us to read the Scriptures on their own terms, as God’s revelation, and to live them as we read them. With warmth and wisdom Peterson offers greatly needed, down-to-earth counsel on spiritual reading. In these pages he draws readers into a fascinating conversation on the nature of language, the ancient practice of lectio divina, and the role of Scripture translations; included here is the “inside story” behind Peterson’s own popular Bible translation, The Message.

CONTENTS
1. "The Forbidding Discipline of Spiritual Reading" 
      Eat This Book
2.  The Holy Family at Table with Holy Scripture
3.  Scripture As Text: Learning what God Reveals
     The Revealing and Revealed God
     The Holy Trinity: Keeping It Personal
     Depersonalizing the Text 
     The Replacement Trinity
     Hoshia
4   Scripture As Form: Following the Way of Jesus
    The Story
    The Sentence
5 Scripture As Script: Playing Our Part in the Spirit
   The Uncongenial Bible 
   The Immense World of the Bible
   Obedience 
   Reading Scripture Liturgically
   Virtuoso Spirituality
   Lectio Divina
6 Caveat Lector
7 "Ears Thou Hast Dug for Me"
   Lectio
   Meditation
   Oratio 
   Contemplatio
8.The Company of Translators 8 God's Secretaries 
   Translation into Aramaic 
   Translation into Greek 
   Translation into American 
9 The Message
   Oxyrhynchus and Ugarit
   Lost in Translation 


REVIEWS
Lauren F. Winner— author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex
"Deep, stirring, luminous, even profound — if you are going to read one book about reading Scripture, it should be this one."

Gerald Sittser— author of A Grace Disguised
"Eugene Peterson has written a magnificent book about how to read the Bible. As any editor would say, a book must 'show,' not just 'tell.' Peterson's book does exactly that. The book itself has a biblical quality to it. Peterson uses vivid language; he tells and then reflects on wonderful stories; he invites readers to read their own stories in light of the story. This book is the fruit of decades of reading, pondering, conversing about, praying over, and living this story. Peterson encourages us to read the Bible as if we were dogs gnawing on a bone. Eat This Book made me lick my chops."

Church & Synagogue Libraries
"Peterson explores the ancient discipline of lectio divina and how its elements of reading, meditating, praying, and living can help us receive Scripture as 'formative for the way we live our lives, not merely making an impression on our minds or feelings. ' . . . Recommended."

Publishers Weekly
"Peterson's exposition of lectio divina is one of the fullest to appear in recent years. . . A worthy sequel to his 2004 hit Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places."

Book: Biblical authority after Babel

How the five solas can renew Biblical interpretation!!!

In recent years, notable scholars have argued that the Protestant Reformation unleashed interpretive anarchy on the church. Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong?

World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation's core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. Vanhoozer explores how a proper reappropriation of the five solas--sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (in Christ alone), and sola Deo gloria (for the glory of God alone)--offers the tools to constrain biblical interpretation and establish interpretive authority. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of "mere Protestant Christianity" has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice.

This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors, church leaders, and students.

Contents

• Introduction: Should the Church Repent or Retrieve the Reformation? Secularism, Skepticism, and Schism--Oh My!
• "By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them": Assessing a Revolution
• Narrating the Story of Protestantism
• Repenting the (Unintended) Iniquities of Our Reformation Fathers
• Fine-Tuning the Problem; Deepening the Dilemma
• Always Retrieving? "Ressourcing" the Debate about Interpretive Authority
• Why Mere Protestant Christianity Matters

1. Grace Alone: The Mere Protestant Ontology, Economy, and Teleology of the Gospel
Sola Gratia: What the Reformers Meant
Nature and/or Grace: Other Views
Triune Ontology and the Economy of Salvation
Sola Gratia for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

2. Faith Alone: The Mere Protestant Principle of Authority
Sola Fide: What the Reformers Meant
Faith and/or Criticism: Other Views
The Principle of Authority
Sola Fide for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

3. Scripture Alone: The Mere Protestant Pattern of Interpretive Authority
Sola Scriptura: What the Reformers Meant
Scripture and/or Tradition: Other Views
The Pattern of Authority
Sola Scriptura for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

4. In Christ Alone: The Royal Priesthood of All Believers
Solus Christus: What the Reformers Meant
Christology and Ecclesiology: Other Views
The Royal Priesthood
Solus Christus for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

5. For the Glory of God Alone: The Wealth of Holy Nations
Soli Deo Gloria: The Lord's Supper as a Test of Christian Unity
Church Unity: Other Views
Communion in the Church (and between Churches)
Soli Deo Gloria for Bible, Church, and Interpretive Authority

Conclusion: From Catholic Protestantism to Protestant Evangelicalism
"And in the Morning, It Was Leah!"
Protestant Evangelicalism: A Marriage Made in Heaven?
After Babel, Pentecost: The Households of God and the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity
The Gospel Alone: The Solas in the Pattern of Protestant Evangelical Interpretive Authority
Indexes

What others are saying
"In a season of Reformation remembrances, here comes a fresh appraisal of the core principles of historic Protestant Christianity. Written with conviction, nuance, and wisdom, this is Kevin Vanhoozer at his best--a treasure."
Timothy George, founding dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University; general editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

"The Reformation was about countering what was wrong in Catholicism, but its central principles, the five solas, are not only negations. Reformational Protestantism is also about being for something. The solas are therefore principles for shaping a robust theology. It is this constructive task that Vanhoozer has undertaken in this book, and he has done so with rigor, vigor, and an infectious enthusiasm."
David F. Wells, Distinguished Senior Research Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

"More than a rousing three cheers for the Reformation--though it is that--Kevin Vanhoozer's new book is a sparkling proposal for Protestant unity based on the five solas and also based on a differentiation between central gospel truths that are absolutely required and areas where disagreement should not divide Protestants denominationally. This is a constructive proposal for the next 500 years, rooted in an appreciation of the past 500. Catholic theologians like myself, seeking paths for deeper ecumenical dialogue, need to listen to Vanhoozer's rigorous, gracious, and erudite defense of the truth of Protestant Christianity."
Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry Jr. Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

"I've been waiting years for this book! In a theological landscape in which it's all too trendy to dismiss Protestantism, Vanhoozer takes a harder, braver route. He offers the church a compelling 'mere Protestantism' strong enough to give us hope going forward as we continue to seek, together with the tradition, faithfulness to God's good revelation to us in Scripture."
Beth Felker Jones, professor of theology, Wheaton College

"Kevin Vanhoozer properly calls for a Protestant ressourcement, encouraging us to rediscover some of the best wisdom from the early Reformers (think solas taken together) even as he challenges us to disentangle ourselves from some of the deeply problematic misunderstandings and outcomes that later arose in Protestant circles. He accomplishes what he sets out to do: look back creatively in order to move forward faithfully. If you are a Protestant and you love Scripture and the church, please read this book!"
Kelly M. Kapic, professor of theology, Covenant College

"Are rumors of Protestantism's demise greatly exaggerated? May it actually be the case that the authority, unity, and mission of the whole church could be served precisely by reengaging with the Reformation solas rather than running from them? While wrestling frankly with the Reformation's unintended consequences, Vanhoozer makes a penetrating argument that must be taken seriously."
Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology, Westminster Seminary California

"The authority of Scripture in the life of the church is a perennial theme of debate. In this book, Kevin Vanhoozer links the subject to the five solas of the Reformation era, explaining the part that each one of them plays in our interpretation and application of the Bible today. Half a millennium later, he shows how there is still life in these classical formulations and why they should be recovered by the church today. Biblical Authority after Babel will be a stimulating discussion starter and will help to shape the evolution of Protestant hermeneutics in the years ahead."
Gerald Bray, research professor of divinity, Samford University

"At a time when the terms 'evangelical' and 'catholic' both face bewildering internal and external pressures, Kevin Vanhoozer helps to shine Scripture's light on an authentically Protestant path forward. Amid newfound interest in the Reformation solas, this book's distinctive contribution lies in discerning their hermeneutical import. This approach challenged me to think afresh about the gospel, Scripture, and the church at several points."
Daniel J. Treier, Blanchard Professor of Theology, Wheaton College Graduate School

"Protestants in general, and evangelicals in particular, are often challenged to manifest a robust grasp of the catholicity of the church. The difficulty of such a task can be compounded by (mis)understandings of sola scriptura, as well as of the authority of--and authority in--the church. In Biblical Authority after Babel, Kevin Vanhoozer summons evangelical Protestants to squarely face these and related issues in their particular stream of Christianity, and he proposes a way forward by both faithfully and creatively drawing upon the five solas of the Reformation. This is an astute and constructively thought-provoking book."
W. David Buschart, professor of theology and historical studies, Denver Seminary

"Protestantism has been charged with many schisms and with spawning modern secularism and its varied ills. While some have sought solace in other folds, Kevin Vanhoozer responds not by looking elsewhere for another defense but by doubling down through retrieval of basic principles of Protestant theology. Further, he shows that those reformational solas were themselves retrievals of earlier biblical faith and practice. Readers of Vanhoozer have learned to expect to be charitably guided and imaginatively provoked, and this book delivers similar wisdom and provocation."
Michael Allen, associate professor of systematic and historical theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

To buy the Biblical authority after Babel visit here

ebook: The Bible in the Life of the Lutheran Communion - a study document on Lutheran Hermeneutics

 The Bible in the Life of the Lutheran Communion. A Study Document on Lutheran Hermeneutics
The commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 provides the opportunity to highlight the special significance of the Bible for the vitality of the Church and the life of every Christian. This study document emphasizes that the heart of the Bible is its salvific message. The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16). The whole Bible is to be interpreted in light of the message that brings life.
Today, the Bible is read in hugely diverse cultural, political, economic and religious contexts. Therefore the document engages with the question how Lutheran churches in such varied contexts can reach a shared and mutual understanding regarding their reading and interpretation of biblical texts. The study text emphasizes the importance of theological education in order to prepare pastors, teachers and leaders effectively to interpret Scripture.

Contents
The Lutheran churches’ focus on the Bible and its interpretation
2. What does sola scriptura mean?
Reading the Bible in light of the Lutheran Reformation
2.1. Luther’s understanding and exegesis of the Bible
2.2 Sola scriptura and the tradition of the Church
2.3 The paradox of understanding: revelation and interpretation

3. Challenges of interpreting the Bible today 
3.1. Contextual interpretation of the Bible amidst the plurality of cultures 
3.2 Ongoing translation 
3.3. Historical-critical reading of the Word of God
3.4. The Bible as a book communicating experiences with the living God 
3.5. The Church as a “space of resonance” of the Bible 
3.6. The tension between the common and the particular 
3.7. Methodological considerations: various hermeneutical spirals

4. Opportunities for reading and understanding the Bible in the twenty-first century 
4.1. Common ground
4.2. Plurality of meaning
4.3. Global dialogues
4.4. Lutheran branding

The Bible in the life of the Lutheran Communion is available free here