Ronald E. Heine

Good read and some helpful insights into appropriating Patristic readings of the scripture. I follow and generally agree with his argument that we should listen to how many of the early Christian interpreters approached the Old Testament and that this should inform our own reading of the text. Where this breaks down for me, is Heine avoids some of the difficulties inherent in patristic approaches.

For example, his ressourcement project points to the recovery of anological, tropological and allegorical
readings of the Old Testament, but as Heine seeks to portray these in a positive light, he neglects to mention the instances where these meanings are not derivative of the literal sense but diametrically opposed to it. It seems to me, that this needs to be wrestled with a little bit more directly if we are going to give patristics space in our hermeneutic.

With this small caveat, I enjoyed this book immensely and will happily refer back to it. Heine does a good job of describing the interpretive approaches of the early church, their use of the Septuagint, apologetic use of the law, readings of historical narrative, prophets and the psalms. All in all a good read.… (mehr)