Text and Psyche: Experiencing Scripture Today

Traditional doctrinal and historical interpretations rely heavily on rational analysis. But from the disciples at Emmaus to the beginnings of the 20th century, it has been the impact of scripture upon the human heart that has changed lives. In recent decades, this impact has been strengthed by advances in linguistic and literary theory, by such disparate, influences as feminism, structuralism, Jungianism, deconstructionism, the analysis of archaic imagery and myth, the recovery of Gnostic texts, and finally openess to pluralism, whether ethnic, geographic, religious or interpretative. All of these factors as treated in this book, with a comprehensiveness that shows that the reader of scripture has a creative and not merely a passive role. It explains that texts are not simply storehouses of knowledge but rather "a vineyard" to be tilled for the reader's nurture and pleasure.