1st Edition
Philosophical and Theological Engagements with Biblical Narratives
Biblical narratives include some of the most important and influential narratives in human history, shaping human understanding of the most basic questions of human life as lived individually or in social association with others. These narratives have lasted for so many centuries because they offer deep insights into the nature of the human condition and human flourishing. This volume includes chapters by accomplished philosophers and theologians who bring their expertise to bear on biblical narratives to show the way in which each narrative contributes something distinctive to our understanding of human flourishing. They broaden the on-going work in analytic theology with a new focus on narrative and the knowledge of persons in philosophical-theological biblical exegesis. They also illustrate the narrative cognition that this methodology can provide. The book will be of interest to scholars of philosophy, theology, and biblical studies.
Introduction
1. “Knowledge Through Narrative: Philosophical and Theological Explorations of Biblical Stories”
Eleonore Stump and Judith Wolfe
Part I Biblical narratives and human flourishing
2. “God, Humanity, and Meaning in the Book of Jonah”
Aaron Segal
3. “Ecclesiastes and the Good Life for Human Beings”
Eleonore Stump
4. “The Unbinding of Isaac: Maimonides on the Aqedah”
Josef Stern
5. “Abraham, Lazarus, and Returning to Life: Kierkegaard on Existential Faith”
Sharon Krishek
Part II Biblical narratives and human flourishing in relation to God and others
6. “Why God Does Not share His Secrets with Us: What We can Learn From Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on John 15: 14-16 and the Biblical Narrative of Abraham”
Patrick Zoll
7. “Give Truth to Jacob”
Samuel Lebens
8. “Divine Disappointments: Humans and Other Animals in the Book of Bereishit”
Tamara Wright and Ian Gamse
9. “Creation and Participation in John’s Gospel”
Darren Sarisky
10. “Identifying the Risen Christ: Some Reflections on the Epistemology and Theology of the Road to Emmaus Story”
Mark Wynn
Part III Biblical narratives and human flourishing in the midst of disorder and distress
11. “A Narrative and Apocalyptic Philosophy of Prayer: Being Towards God”
Simon Oliver and Judith Wolfe
12. “Jonah, Alienation, and the Meaning of Life”
Godehard Brüntrup
13. “Images of Mercy: Narrating the Gospel through a Rwandan Catholic Shrine”
Alison Fitchett-Climenhaga and Nevin Climenhaga
Biography
Eleonore Stump is the Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy at Saint Louis University. She has published extensively in philosophy of religion, contemporary metaphysics, and medieval philosophy.
Judith Wolfe is Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of St Andrews. Her core expertise is in eschatology and apocalypticism in theology, philosophy and literature, on which she has published widely.
