Since the rise of critical biblical study in the nineteenth century there has been a revolution in the way that we interpret the Bible and in the methods we employ to facilitate our reading. Professor John Barton has been a major recent influence upon such developments and this volume, written by friends, former doctoral students and colleagues, reflects upon his contribution. A generation of scholars has engaged with, adopted and further developed Professor Barton's nuanced and careful explication of method, as exemplified particularly in his book Reading the Old Testament: Method in Biblical Study. This volume is a tribute to his pioneering influence upon our field. The book divides into two parts. In the first, 'Revisiting Older Approaches', older methods in biblical studies such as source criticism and textual criticism are reviewed, both as methods and in relation to worked examples. In the second part, entitled 'Breaking the Mould', newer types of criticism such as sociological, feminist and post-colonial readings are explored, again in relation to particular texts and examples.
The book asks questions about the benefits and shortcomings of the methodological tools in our biblical critical tool-box and about the way texts are themselves brought to life in ever fresh interpretative and often interdisciplinary contexts. An array of distinguished contributors comes together in this volume to pay tribute to the honorand and to explore from a diversity of angles that ever intriguing, ever 'new' book - the Bible.