Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels

In this profound work, Hays suggests that the writers of the Gospels "reread Israel's Scriptures" in order to mine them for shades of meaning that inform and enlighten the Christ story. He discusses the long history of debate around the formation of the New Testament and the Gospel writers' use of the Hebrew scriptures in their narratives, suggesting they could have taken some of the references to Moses out of context in order to create their story. He defines this as "reading backwards, reinterpreting Israel's Scripture in light of the story of Jesus." Taking readers through the four Gospels, the author suggests how a creative rereading of the text illuminates the Jesus story and positively links Christ's life and ministry to the hopes and aspirations of Israel's prophets. He explains the "figural reading" that the Gospel writers used to reanimate their own stories of Christ with the messianic call in the Hebrew Bible. The Gospel story then becomes for Christians a valid continuation of the Jewish narrative, the culmination of their hopes and dreams. The conclusions he draws will empower contemporary believers to see the messianic threads of the Bible as an ongoing mission. This is a fine, convincing work of scholarship on a delicate theological topic. (June)