Handy, but difficult
This book does give a good overview of hermeneutics. Although I found the book difficult to read, it is still worthwhile to use.
The reason for difficulty is the fact that Schneiders uses a lot of repetition of words. What would have been handy in the book is to use schemes to prove or to justify statements as opposed to only text.
4 stars for effort...
Sandra Schneiders has in this work provided students and theologians alike with an invaluable resource on hermeneutical study, and post-modern Biblical scholarship. Her attempt to work with the text from an existentialist experience is refreshing considering the complete secularisation of Scripture by other authors. However, when engaging her example hermeneutic of suspiscion, I asked myself, "Is this Christian existentialism or is it Feminist existentialism." Once again, infant Christianity appears as the butt of a scholastic enterprise that projects current ideology onto ancient text, and what makes this all the more difficult is that it involves at times imaginative reconstruction. Despite its reflection of popular white middle class ethic, this book is a handy resource, if only for its dealings with 'scientific methodology', and Schneiders' immense notions of spirituality refreshingly engage Sacred text, filling a vacuum in modern academic theology.
THE TEXT of TEXTS!
It is so good to see The Revelatory Text back in print! It is one of the most important primary reference tools for the study of scripture available. The writing style is rich in language and challenging in the application of exegetical principles. Schnieders also provides the standard by which most theology schools and seminaries structure their understanding of sacred scripture within a historical context. Her language has now become the common form of expression in theological conversations today. The only difference between this re-printed version of The Revelatory Text and Schnieders' first edition is the second preface. Since Schneiders wrote a classic the first time, she now only needs to comment briefly on it.
