
The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies
Michael C. Legaspi(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 29. April 2010
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-0-19-539435-1 (ISBN)
Description
The Bible has always been a contested legacy. Form late antiquity to the Refomation, debates about the Bible took place at the center of manifold movements that defined Western civilization. In the eigtheenth century, Europe's scriptural inheritance surfaced once again at a critical moment. During the Enlightenment, scholars guided by a new vision of a post-theological age did not simply investigate the Bible, they remade it. In place of the familiar scriptural Bibles that belonged to Christian and Jewish communities, they created a new form: the academic Bible. In this book, Michael Legaspi examines the creation of the academic Bible. Beginning with the fragmentation of biblical interpretation in the centuries after the Reformation, Legaspi shows how the weakening of scriptural authority in the Western churches altered the role of biblical interpretation. In contexts shaped by skepticism and religious strife, interpreters increasingly operated on the Bible as a text to be managed by critical tools. These developments prepared the way for scholars to formalize an approach to biblical study oriented toward the statist vision of the new universities and their sponsors. Focusing on a renowned German scholar of the period, Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791), Legaspi explores the ways that critics reconceived authority of the Bible by creating an institutional framework for biblical interpretation designed to parallel-and replace-scriptural reading. This book offers a new account of the origins of biblical studies, illuminating the relation of the Bible to churchly readers, theological interpreters, academic critics, and people in between. It explains why, in an age of religious resurgence, modern biblical criticism may no longer be in a position to serve as the Bible's disciplinary gatekeeper.
Reviews / Votes
This fascinating study, arising out of a PhD dissertation, focuses ostensibly on obscure German critic Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791), but tells the wider story of the changes in academic perspectives on the Bible over the last few centuries very well. * Dr Lee Gatiss, Churchman *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
529 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-539435-1 (9780195394351)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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Michael C. Legaspi
The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies
Book
03/2012
Oxford University Press Inc
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Michael C. Legaspi
The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies
E-Book
04/2010
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€27.49
Available for download

Michael C. Legaspi
The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies
E-Book
04/2010
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€27.49
Available for download
Person
Assistant Professor of Theology, Creighton University
Author
Instructor in Philosophy and Religious StudiesInstructor in Philosophy and Religious Studies, Philips Academy
Content
CONCLUSION; BIBLIOGRAPHY