Reading with a Passion

by Jeffrey L. Staley

Book Overview

In this account of literary approaches to the Bible, Jeffrey Staley shows how people's life experiences relate to what they read in the Scriptures. He illustrates his argument from theories of autobiography, where recent literary and feminist critiques provide him with tools for reflecting upon his childhood on a Navajo reservation and his family's five generations of contact with the Navajo people in northern Arizona and New Mexico. Using Tony Hillerman's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 082641432X
• ISBN13: 9780826414328
• Release Date: June 2002
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

sparkles with the narrative pace of good literature

"Staley's book compels us to reconsider the entire goal and genre of bibilcal criticism. Grounded in sophisticated and capacious theoretical analysis, intimate knowledge of the critical issues pertaining to the Fourth Gospel, and perceptive, remarkably self-revealing autobiographical reflection, Staley's interpretive wager sparkles with the narrative pace, philospohical depth and unsettling power of good literature. If this is 'reading with a passion,' let us have more of it." From a forthcoming review in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, by Douglas Burton-Christie

I think that every biblical scholar ought to read this book

I think that every biblical scholar should read this book, and every scholar of religion should read it, because I know of no better place that one can EXPERIENCE the problematics and possibilities of reading texts--either ancient or modern--and experience the issues of interpretation. Staley's book is one that INVITES rereading. And the rereading experience will bring a new reading experience simply because of how the book is designed. I can honestly say that this book comes as close to the experience of reading hypertext in the computer world as I ever expect one can come in printed form. Extraordinary both in terms of its unusual and stimulating content, and in its high quality and insightfulness. Buy it; read it--many times. I have; I will. Denny Clark, Albertson College, ID