This collection assembles essays by eleven leading Catholic and evangelical theologians in an ecumenical discussion of the benefits and potential drawbacks of todays burgeoning corpus of theological interpretation. The authors explore the critical relationship between the earthly world and its heavenly counterpart.

Ground-breaking volume of ecumenical debate featuring Catholic and evangelical theologiansExplores the core theological issue of how the material and spiritual worlds interrelateFeatures a diversity of analytical approachesAddresses an urgent need to distinguish the positive and problematic aspects of todays rapidly growing corpus of theological interpretation

Hans Boersma holds the J. I. Packer Chair in Theology at Regent College, Canada, and is co-director (with Matthew Levering) of the Center for Catholic-Evangelical Dialogue. As well as this volume and a forthcoming publication on Gregory of Nyssa, he is the author ofHeavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry (2011),Nouvelle Théologieand Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery (2009), andViolence, Hospitality, and the Cross: Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition (2004). Prof Boersma is a member of the Langley Immanuel Christian Reformed Church.

Matthew Levering is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton, USA, where he is also director of the Center for Scriptural Exegesis, Philosophy, and Doctrine. Co-editor since 2003 of the theological journalNova et Vetera, he has also recently joined the editorial team of theInternational Journal of Systematic Theology. Prof Levering has served as Chair of the Board of the Academy of Catholic Theology since 2007 and co-directs the Center for Catholic-Evangelical dialogue alongside Prof Boersma. His numerous books and publications include most recentlyThe Feminine Genius of Catholic Theology (2012),Jesus and the Demise of Death (2012), andPredestination (2011). Forthcoming publications include volumes on St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas and on the theology of Augustine.

Introduction: Spiritual Interpretation and Realigned Temporality 1HANS BOERSMA and MATTHEW LEVERING

Part IReading the Fathers 11

1 In Many and Various Ways: Towards A Theology of Theological Exegesis 13BRIAN E. DALEY, SJ

2 Theres Fire in That Rain: On Reading the Letter and Reading Allegorically 33LEWIS AYRES

3 Origen against History? Reconsidering the Critique of Allegory 53PETER W. MARTENS

4 This Is the Day Which the Lord Has Made: Scripture, Manumission, and the Heavenly Future in Saint Gregory of Nyssa 75HANS BOERSMA

Part IIReading Scripture 91

5 Imperial Lover: The Unveiling of Jesus Christ in Revelation 93PETER J. LEITHART

6 Translation and Transcendence: The Fragile Future of Spiritual Interpretation 109DAVID LYLE JEFFREY

7 Readings on the Rock: Typological Exegesis in Contemporary Scholarship 129MATTHEW LEVERING

Part IIIReading in Contemporary Context 155

8 The Self-Critique of the Historical-Critical Method: Cardinal Ratzingers Erasmus Lecture 157MICHAEL MARIA WALDSTEIN

9 Profi ling Christ: The Psalms of Abandonment 173FRANCESCA A. MURPHY

10 Reading the Book of the Church: Bonhoeffers Christological Hermeneutics 189JENS ZIMMERMANN

11 Ascending the Mountain, Singing the Rock: Biblical Interpretation Earthed, Typed, and Transfigured 207KEVIN J. VANHOOZER

Index 231