Overview
To read the Bible well, we need to employ our imagination. This volume is the first book-length study that takes the Bible's imaginative nature seriously. It integrates insights from disciplines like neuroscience, metaphor theory and cognition, translation theory, the affective sciences, humor studies, and the interdisciplinary study of imagination itself into the academic and theological study of the Bible.
Knut Heim and Jeffrey Oetter show that reading with imagination is a critical hermeneutic of engagement that fosters close, deep, lusciously savored, and pleasurable readings of the biblical texts. Bringing current scholarship from a variety of disciplines to bear on biblical interpretation, this book explains that Scripture employs often subtle literary techniques--including figurative language, emotions, and humor--that require imagination to recognize and interpret. Imagination helps us develop genuinely biblical ideas that get us closer to the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit and the original authors, resulting in more accurate interpretations when paired with traditional approaches. Even textual aspects that have until now remained odd, foreign, and confusing can become occasions for imaginative engagement that reveal new meaning and significance.
A Hermeneutic of Imagination makes the case that reading with imagination is crucial for unlocking the Bible's full potential because it transforms academic study of the Bible into aesthetically inspiring, intellectually stimulating, emotionally rewarding, theologically rich, and spiritually transformative adventures of the mind that contribute to problem-solving and human flourishing today.
Knut Heim and Jeffrey Oetter show that reading with imagination is a critical hermeneutic of engagement that fosters close, deep, lusciously savored, and pleasurable readings of the biblical texts. Bringing current scholarship from a variety of disciplines to bear on biblical interpretation, this book explains that Scripture employs often subtle literary techniques--including figurative language, emotions, and humor--that require imagination to recognize and interpret. Imagination helps us develop genuinely biblical ideas that get us closer to the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit and the original authors, resulting in more accurate interpretations when paired with traditional approaches. Even textual aspects that have until now remained odd, foreign, and confusing can become occasions for imaginative engagement that reveal new meaning and significance.
A Hermeneutic of Imagination makes the case that reading with imagination is crucial for unlocking the Bible's full potential because it transforms academic study of the Bible into aesthetically inspiring, intellectually stimulating, emotionally rewarding, theologically rich, and spiritually transformative adventures of the mind that contribute to problem-solving and human flourishing today.
Table of Contents
1. Imagination and What It Has to Do with the Bible
2. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Allows Us to Enjoy the Literary Quality of Scripture
3. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Reveals the Theological Power of Scripture's Figurative Language
4. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Attunes Us to the Emotional Intentions of Scripture
5. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Draws Attention to the Humorous Dimensions of Scripture
6. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Informs Our Translation Theory and Practice
7. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Inspires Us to Conduct Our Academic Study of Scripture Theologically and to Undertake Our Theological Study Academically
8. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Expands Our Vision So We Embody the Moral Imagination of Scripture
Conclusion
Indexes
2. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Allows Us to Enjoy the Literary Quality of Scripture
3. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Reveals the Theological Power of Scripture's Figurative Language
4. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Attunes Us to the Emotional Intentions of Scripture
5. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Draws Attention to the Humorous Dimensions of Scripture
6. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Informs Our Translation Theory and Practice
7. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Inspires Us to Conduct Our Academic Study of Scripture Theologically and to Undertake Our Theological Study Academically
8. A Hermeneutic of Imagination Expands Our Vision So We Embody the Moral Imagination of Scripture
Conclusion
Indexes
Endorsements
“How refreshing to read a book that endorses imaginative and creative readings of Scripture! Heim and Oetter have given us renewed justification to look for the strange, the abnormal, and even the fantastical in the pages of the Bible and to celebrate the human mind’s ability to endlessly explore fresh possibilities of interpretation. They allow us to escape from narrow and constrictive readings and embrace humor, use of metaphor, and conflicting alternatives while firmly building on the imaginative contours of Scripture itself. This is a life-affirming, imaginative book that deserves a key place on your theological bookshelf!”
Katharine Dell, professor of Old Testament literature and theology, University of Cambridge
“Nobody told me that we need imagination to read the Scriptures. The stress was on thinking logically. Using our imagination might lead us astray. Yet failing to use our imagination might lead us just as far astray. So this is a really useful book to enable us to work out the vital role of imagination in the study of the Scriptures. It’s good on the theory, and it has lots of useful examples.”
John Goldingay, senior professor of Old Testament and David Allan Hubbard Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Fuller Seminary
“Heim and Oetter articulate a persuasive case for why reading the Bible with imagination is essential for faithful biblical interpretation. Significantly, they demonstrate that interpretation is inseparable from the act of imagination. Their work makes an important contribution to the field, offering fresh insight and refining existing interpretive paradigms. Grounded in relevant interdisciplinary theories and shaped by a deep reverence for Scripture, this book builds bridges between academic and ecclesial interpretive practices with clarity and conviction. Relevant to a broad audience—from students to academics and beyond—this work opens new avenues for unlocking Scripture’s full potential.”
Cami Brubaker, assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Bethel University
“The work of Heim and Oetter brings together the best of both literary and theological readings of the biblical text in an illuminating hermeneutic of imagination. While these usually separate strands of biblical interpretation have produced some insightful work, they have often been posed as alternative ways of reading. The brilliance of this work is the case made that imagination, wielded in a variety of modes, is the necessary ingredient for fully understanding the wide literary range of texts intended and handed on as theological witness. Imagination is convincingly argued as the needed quality through which literary texts intended as sacred witness can reveal their full power.”
Bruce C. Birch, dean emeritus and professor emeritus of biblical theology, Wesley Theological Seminary
“By exploring the Bible’s literary quality, figurative language, affective dimensions, and humorous capacity, the authors unveil the hermeneutic of imagination’s impact on translation theory and practice, the intellectual and theological enrichment of the academic study of the Bible, and the embodiment of Scripture’s moral imagination, thus enabling Scripture’s readers to excavate its power to transform. Persuasive and compelling, this book is a must-read for all who employ their imaginative capabilities to authentically unlock the Bible’s imaginative nature.”
Madipoane Masenya (Ngwan'a Mphahlele), professor emeritus, Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, University of South Africa (Unisa)
Author
Knut M. Heim
Knut Heim (PhD, University of Liverpool) is professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado, and the pastor at Deer Park United Methodist Church in Bailey, Colorado. He previously taught at The Queen's Foundation, University of Birmingham, and Trinity College, University of Bristol.