The Canonical Approach: A Critical Reconstruction of the Hermeneutics of Brevard S. Childs

This text provides an assessment of Brevard S. Childs’s canonical approach to biblical interpretation. An analysis of Childs’s work identifies a number of historical, hermeneutical and theological issues that are central both to Childs’s programme and to the wider methodological debate. These include the adequacy of the historical-critical tools, their relationship to the more recent, synchronic approaches, the role of the interpreter’s own presuppositions, the viability of working from a specific faith-commitment and ways in which the ancient texts can speak to the modern church. Following a discussion of these questions the text suggests how Childs’s programme can be set on a sounder methodological basis. This book is particularly notable for its clarification of Childs’ approach, and for its original solutions to a number of central methodological problems.