Gaining a Heart of Wisdom

Announcing, Gaining a Heart of Wisdom by Barry A. Jones of Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Campbell University Divinity School.

Gaining a Heart of Wisdom helps ministers, students, and Christian readers bring together the best features of religious and critical approaches to reading the Bible. Jones describes a comprehensive model of theological interpretation using Psalm 90 and its prayer for a heart of wisdom as the focus. The book delves into the text through a series of conversations with the church, biblical scholars, Christian theologians, and the contemporary world. The result is an approach to biblical interpretation that is grounded in thechurch, informed by critical scholarship, guided by Christian faith, and directed toward discipleship and ministry.

Book Reviews

Pedagogical gold! Barry Jones has produced an illuminating and moving guide to theological interpretation, framed as a sustained exploration of Psalm 90, and drawing on categories developed by theologian Gabriel Fackre. Jones hoped to show his students how to appreciate both traditional and critical approaches to Scripture while also moving beyond them. He has succeeded admirably, and now I can thankfully use his book with my own students.

Stephen B. Chapman Associate Professor of Old Testament Duke Divinity School

More than a recent trend in biblical and theological scholarship, theological interpretation of Scripture is nothing less than the church’s engagement with the Bible as Christian Scripture and not merely as a collection of ancient Mediterranean religious texts. But how to practice this approach to reading Scripture is a daunting challenge for ministers trained in historical-critical interpretive methodologies (as well they should be). Barry Jones provides theological students and theologically educated ministers with a helpful apprenticeship in this art—not a theoretical introduction, but an invitation to join him in the actual practice of reading a particular biblical text theologically.

Steven R. Harmon
Associate Professor of Historical Theology
Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity

Barry A Jones, Gaining a Heart of Wisdom: A Model for Theological Interpretation of Scripture, Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, (May 15, 2019). 160pp. ISBN: 9781641730938