Aleading biblical scholar’s landmark work challenges the historicalrealism that has dominated the discipline for more than two centuriesHow can a modern person, informed by science and history, continue torecite the traditional creeds and confessions of the Christian church?What does the Bible mean and how do we verify biblical truths? In thisgroundbreaking book, a leading biblical scholar urges readers to be morecreative interpreters of biblical texts, mapping out an alternative wayof reading that is not first and foremost about understanding whatthose texts would have meant for the original authors and readers.Limiting our study to the ancient meaning of the text, he argues, hasproduced either bad history, or bad theology, or both. One cannot deriverobustly orthodox Christian doctrine or theology from a mere“historical” interpretation of the Bible. Martin offers insteadtheological readings of the New Testament that are faithful to Christianorthodoxy as generally understood, but without attempting a“foundationalist” understanding of the meaning of the text. Hisprovocative and ambitious book demonstrates how theology and scripturecan remain vital in the twenty-first century.