The Soul’s Longing: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Biblical Interpretation has as its main purpose to show the deep connection between spiritual life and biblical interpretation which is both inspiring and accurate. It also makes clear the powerful effect of the interpreter’s theology – especially the understanding of who Jesus Christ is – upon his or her method of biblical interpretation.
This is done by looking at fundamental principles of traditional Christian theology, along with an historical overview indicating the close connections between interpretation and spiritual life in the Church of the early centuries. In addition, the book describes what went wrong through the later centuries that has led to the problems in much biblical scholarship today – such as the work of the notorious “Jesus Seminar.”
This book also shows why the interpretive strengths of the early Church can and should be brought into the present while retaining what is of value from biblical scholarship of the recent past. Some examples are given of how this can be done.
