Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Who is the suffering servant? : the crisis in contemporary hermeneutics -- Part 1. Theological Hermeneutics : -- 2. Toward a theology of Scripture -- 3. The theological metaphysics of the great tradition -- 4. The history of biblical interpretation reconsidered -- Part 2. Recovering Premodern Exegesis : -- 5. Reading the Bible as a unity centered on Jesus Christ -- 6. Letting the literal sense control all meaning -- 7. Seeing and hearing Christ in the Old Testament -- Conclusion : -- 8. The identity of the suffering servant revealed -- Appendix : Criteria for limiting the spiritual sense

The rise of modernity, especially the European Enlightenment and its aftermath, has negatively impacted the way we understand the nature and interpretation of Christian Scripture. In this introduction to biblical interpretation, Craig Carter evaluates the problems of post-Enlightenment hermeneutics and offers an alternative approach: exegesis in harmony with the Great Tradition. Carter argues for the validity of patristic christological exegesis, showing that we must recover the Nicene theological tradition as the context for contemporary exegesis, and seeks to root both the nature and interpretation of Scripture firmly in trinitarian orthodoxy.