The Biblical Interpreter

It is ultimately the preacher who determines how the biblical text is used in the church. To assume that professional scholars alone can produce a definitive interpretation of the Bible for the church is to lose sight of that fact. Richard Rohrbaugh adds a new dimension to the process of biblical interpretation by providing a cross-disciplinary study which takes into account both the interpreter and the text being interpreted. The Biblical Interpreter makes the findings and insights of scholarship available in such a way that the preacher is given new resources for interpreting the text today. Drawing from sociology and the sociology of knowledge, as well as contemporary biblical studies, Rohrbaugh examines the Scripture in its agrarian social setting. This outlook is compared with how the text is usually interpreted in industrialized societies. The clash and contrast of these two world views dramatically illustrates the importance of seeing the Bible in its sociological setting if we are to understand its contents in our age.

Richard L. Rohrbaugh, a pastor in United Presbyterian Church, is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.