Cultural Interpretations: Reorienting New Testament Criticism

by Brian K. Blount

Overview

Building on insights into the social functions of language, especially its interpersonal dimensions, Blount constructs a culturally sensitive model of interpretation that provides a sound basis for ethnographic and popular, as well as historical-critical, readings of the biblical text.

Blount's framework does more than acknowledge the inevitability of multiple interpretations; it foments them. His analysis demonstrates the social intent of every reading and shows the influence of communicative context in such diverse readings of the Bible as Rudolf Bultmann's, the peasants of Solentiname, the Negro spirituals, and black-church sermons. Then Blount turns to Mark's account of the trial of Jesus, where he shows how this hermeneutical scheme helps to assess the emergence and validity of multiple readings of the text and the figure of Jesus.

Blount's expansive interpretive proposal will help scholars and students open up the possibilities of the text without abandoning it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800628598
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	12/14/1995
Series:	Reorienting New Testament Criticism
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Brian K. Blount is president and professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. His scholarship focuses on the Gospel of Mark, the book of Revelation, cultural hermeneutics, and New Testament ethics. He is the author of Cultural Interpretation: Reorienting New Testament Criticism (1995); Go Preach! Mark's Kingdom Message and the Black Church Today (1998); Then the Whisper Put On Flesh: New Testament Ethics in an African American Context (2001); Struggling with Scripture, with Walter Brueggemann and William Placher (2001); Preaching the Gospel of Mark in Two Voices, with Gary W. Charles (2002); Can I Get a Witness? Reading Revelation through an African American Lens (2005); Revelation: A Commentary (2009); and Invasion of the Dead: Preaching Resurrection (2014). With Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, he has coedited Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship (2000).

Table of Contents

Preface

A Contextual Approach to New Testament Interpretation

PART ONE: Cultural Contexts and Biblical Interpretation

Existential Interpretation

The Gospel in Solentiname

The Negro Spiritual

The Sermon in the Black Church

PART TWO: Interpreting the Trial of Jesus in Mark

Potential Meaning in Mark's Trial Scenes

Jesus the Redeemer

Jesus the Tragic Hero

Jesus the Revolutionary

Jesus, Man of the People

Beyond Interpretative Boundaries

Notes

Bibliography

Indexes