booklogging

2006 Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody MA, 1-56563-989-8 238pp.US$19.95
Pierre Grelot is a French Roman Catholic of some considerable standing in exegesis and biblical theology and this is a nicely translated book. It reads as a sort of introduction to the way that symbolic language works and then uses biblical material to demonstrate as well as to show how the insights gleaned from considering how language and meaning work can help us to read out meaning from biblical texts in a responsible way. There is a nice treatment of the way that religious language works and of issues around metaphor and symbol. The discussion of figurative language (typology) and of the way that stories as a whole can function (intertextuality) were particularly helpful. The discussion of the depiction of evil and of Satan is helpful and could help move discussion in more conservative circles forward.

While I was reading this I kept finding myself thinking of GB Caird's Language and Imagery of the Bible, and beginning to think that Grelot's book might make a good additional or even substitution text for that very formative book. Grelot's book is shorter, but seems to cover more ground. There is a nice sense as it is read of the refining of thinking and the experience of reading over many years has enabled a succinct expression of important viewpoints in a way that is not hard to understand. That said, it is not an easy read in the sense that it may not be a text to start biblical studies with. And, like Caird's book, it does make use of insights and assumptions that some may find somewhat challenging, though nothing that moves beyond a broadly orthodox approach.

It might best be approached by skim reading and then homing in on areas of particular interest and even using it as a reference work. The shame is that there is no biblical index, which would have increased the usefulness of this as a reference work no end.

Labels: theology