THE READER(S) AND THE BIBLE(S) ‘READER VERSUS COMMUNITY’ IN READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
THE READER(S) AND THE BIBLE(S) ‘READER VERSUS COMMUNITY’ IN READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

Summary/Abstract: The paradigm shifts that have taken place in the field of literary criticism – particularly in the twentieth century – have challenged traditional views of the relationship between author, text and reader. With the different forms of reader-response criticism, the emphasis has been placed on the reader and on the meaning that he or she brings to the text. In our study, this emphasis is discussed in the light of the community’s role in a particular type of interpretation, namely the interpretation of the Bible. After a general presentation of the history and types of reader-response criticism, this article would limit its discussion to the reader of the biblical text and the role his or her interpretive community plays in the process of interpretation. Through the relationship between a Christian – as believer and ‘reader’ – and the interpretive community (i.e. the local manifestation of the Church), the community becomes the place where both worship (liturgy) and interpretation take place.

• Details
• Contents