The Old Testament and Its Readers

Abstract

The paper begins with personal memories of Porteous from the author and another New College alumnus. It then goes on to explore the notion of the meaning of Old Testament texts and the role of the reader (particularly the ‘ordinary reader’) in the process of understanding them. This takes in readings from the perspectives of feminism, liberation theology and postcolonialism; reception history and the ‘afterlife’ of texts; and a discussion of the criteria by which an interpretation of a text may be considered ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’, and indeed if this is possible at all. A bibliography on this topic is appended.