Richard L Rohrbaugh

It is ultimately the preacher who determines how the biblical text is used in the church. To assume that professional scholars alone can produce a definitive interpretation of the Bible for the church is to lose sight of that fact. Richard Rohrbaugh adds a new dimension to the process of biblical interpretation by providing a cross-disciplinary study which takes into account both the interpreter and the text being interpreted. The Biblical Interpreter makes the findings and insights of scholarship available in such a way that the preacher is given new resources for interpreting the text today. Drawing from sociology and the sociology of knowledge, as well as contemporary biblical studies, Rohrbaugh examines the Scripture in its agrarian social setting. This outlook is compared with how the text is usually interpreted in industrialized societies. The clash and contrast of these two world views dramatically illustrates the importance of seeing the Bible in its sociological setting if we are to understand its contents in our age. Richard L. Rohrbaugh, a pastor in United Presbyterian Church, is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

The authors build on their earlier social-scientific works and enhance the highly successful commentary model they developed in their social-scientific commentaries. This volume is a thoroughly revised edition of this popular commentary. They include an introduction that lays the foundation for their interpretation, followed by an examination of each unit in the Synoptics, employing methodologies of cultural anthropology, macro-sociology, and social psychology.

Building on the unique format and success of their Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, Malina and Rohrbaugh extend their framework to the Fourth Gospel. Unlike the usual historical, exegetical, or theological commentaries, this rich and engrossing work catalogs the pertinent values, conflicts, and mores of ancient Mediterranean culture. Its Gospel outline, detailed textual notes, and reading scenarios bring life to the social circumstances the Gospel text relates about childhood, money, divorce, military service, farming, family life, cities, demons, patronage, and a host of other aspects of the ancient world. The Fourth Gospel, the authors disclose, addresses an alienated anti-society, fundamentally at odds with the predominant culture. With its format, charts and photos, this social-science commentary is the ideal companion for the study of the Fourth Gospel.