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KEVIN J. VANHOOZER (ed.), Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005). Pp. 896. $49.99.
The editor, Kevin Vanhoozer, makes it clear that this is a theological dictionary; that is, it addresses topics from the perspective of a believing Christian with attention to the more sophisticated issues of theology and church practice. Many articles seek to be holistic by covering different aspects of religious studies in an effort to speak meaningfully to people who are active in the life of institutional churches.
The authors are well-educated evangelical Protestants. The editor states that they have a "passionate commitment to making this scholarship of use to the church," and that their viewpoint reflects the "ecumenical consensus of the church down through the ages and across confessional lines" (p. 19). This work was occasioned by the lack of such a Christian perspective in other scholarly tools, for "modern biblical studies has become a virtual 'theology free zone'" (p. 20), a strong indictment of many of us who are in biblical studies. Frequently, authors in the volume affirm postmodernism's criticism of the idea of objectivity in biblical studies, for this in turn permits them to speak boldly of how the use of traditional or evangelical Christian presuppositions can be viewed as intellectually acceptable in biblical scholarship. In a summary statement Vanhoozer declares, "DTB [Dictionary for the Theological Interpretation of the Bible] provides a Christian theological evaluation of the contemporary issues and approaches...