CONTENTS Endorsements Series Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Watching Luke Paint the Virgin 1. The Troubled Fortunes of New Testament Scholarship 2. The Wisdom of the Implied Exegete 3. Humpty Dumpty and the Range of Implied Readings 4. The Icon of Peter and Paul between History and Reception 5. What’s under the Microscope? 6. Living Memory and Apostolic History 7. Seeing the Son of David Epilogue: Seeing the Word of Life Works Cited Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Writings Index of Authors Index of Subjects Notes

At a time of deep disagreements about the nature and purpose of academic biblical studies, Markus Bockmuehl advocates the recovery of a plural but common conversation on the subject of what the New Testament is about. Seeing the Word begins with an assessment of current New Testament studies, identifying both persistent challenges and some promising proposals. Subsequent chapters explore two such proposals. First, ground for common conversation lies in taking seriously the readers and readings the text implies. Second, Bockmuehl explores the text's early effective history by a study of apostolic memory in the early church. All serious students of the Bible and theology will find much of interest, and much to discuss, in this first volume in the Studies in Theological Interpretation series..