What is it that the Scripture Says?: Essays in Biblical Interpretation, Translation, and Reception in Honour of Henry Wansbrough

Description

This volume of essays by distinguished international scholars celebrates and pays tribute to the multifarious contributions to the study of scripture that Henry Wansbrough OSB has made over the last 50 years, in a number of wide-ranging contexts, but most notably as General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. The essays answer the title's question in three inter-related areas: interpretation, translation and reception. Wansbrough's academic career has been focused in Oxford where he was Master of St Benet's Hall.Involved in many inter-religious and ecumenical dialogues, he is also a longstanding member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, founded to foster and guide biblical studies. For much of his time on the commission he worked under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Finally, as a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, Wansbrough has played a crucial role in scriptural studies for many generations of members of religious communities in the UK and abroad. Contributors include: John Barton; Willem Beuken SJ; Donald Bolen; Kevin Cathcart; James D. G. Dunn; Susan Gillingham; Mark Goodacre; Nicholas King SJ; Henry Mayr-Harting; John Muddiman; Wulstan Peterburs OSB; Adrian Schenker OP; Francesca Stavrakopoulou; Michael Tait; Albert Vanhoye SJ; Olivier-Thomas Venard OP; Benedicta Ward SLG; Bishop Kallistos Ware of Diokleia and John Webster.

Philip McCosker is a postgraduate student of theology at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He holds degrees in theology from Oxford and Harvard Universities. He is co-editor (with Denys Turner) of the Cambridge Companion to the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas (in preparation).

'A series of interesting and insightful essays...It represents a major landmark in British Roman Catholic biblical scholarship...this book will inevitably find its way into all major theological libraries. However, smaller libraries and individual readers may also wish to purchase the volume, given the quantity and quality of its scholarship. In particular, this book is highly recommended to anyone engaged in the perilous but rewarding take of translating the bible...Furthermore, because of the sheer eclecticism of this volume, it has the merit of providing a very wide and fulsome snapshot of contemporary concerns and issues in biblical studies today. On the whole...this volume makes a fitting tribute to Fr Henry and is a credit to its contributors and editor (Philip McCosker). As one has come to expect from the Library of New Testament studies, the work is beautifully presented and bound...With such a variety of material and such an impressive array of contributors, there will be something in this volume for every student and reader of Scripture.' Guy Williams, Scripture Bulletin -- Guy Williams, Scripture Bulletin, Vol XXXVII, No. 2, July 07 'Henry Wansbrough OSB is well known not only for the enthusiasm and panache with which he opens up the Bible to others - through his teaching, writing and biblical translation - but also for allowing that love of Scripture to permeate other areas of his life and interests. This Festschrift, edited by Philip McCosker, reflects these diverse interests in contributions from a wide variety of colleagues, friends and former pupils. The editor's introduction is not content simply to outline the essays of individual contributors, but also explores the wider hermeneutical issues they raise. So what, in the end, is it that the Scripture says? The message of this collection, and rightly so, is that the Scripture says many things. This answer reflects the paradigm shift in recent biblical scholarship, which is now far less apologetic about ecclesial commitments, far more modest in its historical claims, and willing to sit at the feet of older interpreters and their varied patterns of exegesis. Textual, historical, literary and theological approaches need to dialogue with each other in a truly Catholic approach to Scripture, and border crossing from one to the other is to be enthusiastically encouraged. This rich and diverse volume goes a long way towards showing us what the ingredients should be, and hinting...at how the recipe might be written.' Ian Boxall, New Blackfriars Reviewed by Joseph A. Fitzmyer in Expository Times, 2008. Contributor's paper "The Cultural Background and Challenges of La Bible de Jerusalem" by Olivier-Thomas Venard reviewed in International Review of Biblical Studies, 2007. Contributor Adrian Schenker's essay reviewed in International Review of Biblical Studies, 2007. This is an important study of 'myth and ritual' relating to ancienct Judean kinship." Contributor Franceska Stavrakopoulou's essay reviewed in International Review of Biblical Studies, 2007. "The Festschrift is a fine tribute to hits honorand, probably the first such academic honour for an english 'monk, scholar and wordsmith'" "delight in scholarships permeates his volume,captivating the reader" "Essayists have produced a Festschrift that libraries should buy and readers will want: their editor has brought them togheter in a volume worthy of their honorand" Journal for the study of the New Testament, 30 May 2008 -- Peter Doble