Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Editions and Translations xii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Part I: Basil of Caesarea 6
Part II: Contemporary and Constructive Theology 27
Summary of the Argument 33
Part I Basil of Caesarea 35
1 The Reader - A Little Lower than the Angels 37
Angels: Perfect upon Creation 38
Humanity: Perfected over Time 42
2 The Text - Scriptural Paideia 71
Anthropological Context 72
Revelation 74
Theological Account of Scripture 77
The Utility of Scripture 85
3 Reading - Eschatological Interpretation 90
Theological Analysis of Reading 92
The End of Reading 104
4 Ecclesial Setting - Exegesis and Ecclesial Dogma 111
A Concise History of Reception for De Spiritu Sancto 27 113
Background to De Spiritu Sancto: The Notion of Craft 114
A Reading of De Spiritu Sancto 27 117
Conclusion to Part I: Basil's Theological Account of Scriptural Interpretation 129
Part II Contemporary and Constructive Theology 133
Introduction to Part II: The Contemporary Debate 135
5 The Reader - Restoring a Sense of the End 140
The Critique of Modernity 141
Narrative and Human Nature 145
6 The Text - Scripture in the Flow of Time 159
Revelation and Generativity 161
A Text in Time 162
7 Reading - Interpretation and the Time of Learning 173
Reading as Shaped by Models of Scripture 174
The Contour of the Time of Learning 176
8 Ecclesial Setting - Practices Performed in Community 184
The Ecclesial Framework 187
Interpretation Situated in a Web of Practices 189
9 A Constructive Account of Scriptural Interpretation 201
Reader 205
Text 212
Reading 217
Ecclesial Setting 224
Conclusion 234
Bibliography 245
Index 265
