This book seeks to identify a distinct approach to interpreting Scripture in the New Testament that makes use of assumptions about a text's author or time of composition. Focusing upon the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Acts of the Apostles and the Davidssohnfrage in the Synoptic Gospels, it is argued that in certain cases the meaning of a scriptural text is understood by the New Testament author to be contingent upon its history: that the meaning of a text is found when the identity of its author is taken into account or when its time of origin is considered. This approach to interpretation appears to lack clear precedents in intertestamental and 1st Century exegetical literature, suggesting that it is dependent upon distinctly Christian notions of Heilsgeschichte. The analysis of the Davidssohnfrage suggests also that the origins of this approach to interpretation may be associated with traditions of Jesus' exegetical sayings. A final chapter questions whether an early Christian use of history in the interpretation of Scripture might offer something to contemporary discussion of the continuing relevance of historical criticism.

If you are reading this, it is because you expect it to have meaning. You will be making assumptions about its author based on the content and context; you will be interpreting what you read in the light of your own prejudices and experience and the conditioning of your cultural surroundings. Does it matter what the author intended? Does an unintentional message have validity? Is there a single meaning of the text, or one on which we should all agree? These questions are obviously much more significant when the text concerned is the Bible, which Christians believe to be the word of God. In the face of claims that Evangelical biblical interpretation is based on principles which have nothing to do with Christian theology, this Study explores the philosophical integrity of the quest for meaning in a text, and discusses the benefi ts and pitfalls of the various tools we might bring to the task of interpretation. It draws inspiration from Scripture's own methods as the Old Testament is applied in New Testament writings, to give a Christian theological account of hermeneutics. The Revd Dr Benjamin Sargent is Assistant Curate in the Parish of Warblington with Emsworth in Hampshire and a Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. His Oxford University DPhil was on the use of authorial intention in the New Testament and contemporary theological interpretation of Scripture. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles on biblical interpretation published in Churchman, Evangelical Quarterly and the Heythrop Journal.

The celebration of the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer has helped to stimulate a renewed interest in its teaching and fundamental contribution to Anglican identity. Archbishop Cranmer and others involved in the English Reformation knew well that the content and shape of the services set out in the Prayer Book were vital ways of teaching congregations biblical truth and the principles of the Christian gospel. Thus the aim of this series of booklets which focus on the Formularies of the Church of England and the elements of the different services within the Prayer Book is to highlight what those services teach about the Christian faith and to demonstrate how they are also designed to shape the practice of that faith. As well as providing an account of the origins of the Prayer Book services, these booklets are designed to offer practical guidance on how such services may be used in Christian ministry nowadays. In this study of the daily collects and readings in the Book of Common Prayer, Benjamin Sargent opens up the rationale of the lectionary.

The use of Scripture in 1 Peter has been subject to much extensive analysis in the last thirty years. In Written to Serve Benjamin Sargent offers an up to date and comprehensive analysis of how 1 Pet 1.10-12 offers a 'hermeneutic,' providing an insight into how Scripture is interpreted in the letter. Sargent also argues that the relation of 1.10-12 has been misunderstood. Rather than offering a Christological hermeneutic with a focus on the suffering and glories of Christ, Sargent asserts that the primary importance of 1.10-12 is its orientation of the prophetic witness towards the eschatological community as an act of service. Similarly, rather than offering a theological narrative of continuity between Israel and Christian communities, 1.10-12 may be seen to suggest a narrative of profound discontinuity in which the community in the present is elevated above God's people of the past.

The use of Scripture in 1 Peter has been subject to much extensive analysis in the last thirty years. In Written to Serve Benjamin Sargent offers an up to date and comprehensive analysis of how 1 Pet 1.10-12 offers a 'hermeneutic,' providing an insight into how Scripture is interpreted in the letter. Sargent also argues that the relation of 1.10-12 has been misunderstood. Rather than offering a Christological hermeneutic with a focus on the suffering and glories of Christ, Sargent asserts that the primary importance of 1.10-12 is its orientation of the prophetic witness towards the eschatological community as an act of service. Similarly, rather than offering a theological narrative of continuity between Israel and Christian communities, 1.10-12 may be seen to suggest a narrative of profound discontinuity in which the community in the present is elevated above God's people of the past.