Exegesis and History of Reception: Reading the New Testament Today with the Readers of the Past

Highlighted by the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, the history of reception (Wirkungsgeschichte) is often misunderstood in biblical studies. Whereas it describes the historicity of the process of understanding, it is taken for an exegetical method among others. Through numerous concrete examples, Regis Burnet shows that taking into account the history of reception transcends methods. Not only does it make us aware of the prejudices that burden every act of reading, and thus relativize the claims of all exegetical methods to achieve a definitive interpretation of the biblical text, but it also makes it possible for the same methods to enter into dialogue with each other and more broadly with the theological tradition.