Inspiration and Interpretation of Scripture: What the Early Church Can Teach Us

All Christians in the early church believed in the divine inspiration of Scripture, yet they had a surprising diversity of viewpoints. In this book Michael Graves describes the nature of early Christian beliefs regarding divine inspiration and explores differences between ancient and modern assumptions on the topic.Graves examines the beliefs of early Christians about Scripture through both theoretical statements and concrete examples of early Christians' discussions of specific biblical texts. What emerges is a rich network of theological ideas about the Bible together with critical engagement with the biblical text. Graves shows how many of those early-church ideas can be essential guideposts for helping Christians today to read Scripture theologically and hear God's voice in Scripture.