One of the most pressing challenges facing the church today is a continuation of an old theme: how to faithfully live out its purpose in an ever-changing world. This is an issue that church leaders and workers have wrestled with since the Pentecost and today it is no less of a challenge. So just how does the church reach the world for Christ today given that that world is made up of people who are shaped by the myriad issues, events and contexts of contemporary society? At the root of this challenge is the issue of how Christian faith communities interpret the Bible – its seminal and sacred text – and, crucially, how those interpretations shape its various modes of praxis. Traditionally, the study of biblical interpretation and the work of shaping church praxis, which was the responsibility of professional clergy whose views and pronouncements were given as final and objective, was applied in a ‘top–down’ manner which took little or no consideration of the contextual realities which shaped the lives of those to whom their work was directed.Footnote ¹ However, the influences of postmodern philosophy, with its deconstructive arguments and the shift in much theological work to a ‘view from below’Footnote ² emphasising issues of contextuality, have begun to critically challenge that approach. This has had important implications for the way we understand the relationship between the Bible and the historical trajectory of Christianity, particularly the way biblical texts are interpreted and applied by faith communities.

In The Bible in History, David Kling tackles this very complex issue. He builds his argument around the starting premise that much theological education today leaves students with little or no knowledge concerning the relationship between the Bible and Christian historical development or of how biblical texts have been variously interpreted and applied throughout history. Utilising a framework based on the analysis of historical events or developments to ‘focus on the role of a biblical text in a particular historical episode’ (p. 5), Kling discusses eight texts in order to reveal the myriad and often fascinating ways that these texts have been ‘appropriated by an individual or a community’ (p. 6). The strength of this book is not in the author's detailed analysis of the selected texts, which are solid and informative. He does not, as might be expected, draw any solid conclusions from the application of his method to present a resolution to the tensions mentioned earlier. To some, this may be a major weakness in the work, however I would disagree.

The strength and value of this book lies in Kling's honest wrestling with the subject of biblical interpretation in an attempt to create a dialogue concerning the dynamic relationship between culture, history, belief, scripture and church praxis. Historical influences such as culture and politics have always shaped the interpretation of scripture.Footnote ³ However, within the Western Christian tradition there has been too little introspection, self-critical honesty and courage when it comes to understanding faith stances and action in the world. Without critically informed and chastened faith stances, the hidden meanings and values which inhabit all forms of praxis are left to remain implicit and hidden.Footnote ⁴ Therefore, any serious disciplinary and transformative work which takes into consideration the cultural, historical, religious and theoretical convictions at play in modes of church praxis remains largely out of reach.Footnote ⁵

As Kling reaches an admittedly tentative closure to the study, he does so hoping that it has invited broader and deeper inquiry into the issue of the relationship between biblical texts and history. This lack of denouement is precisely because, as he notes, scripture functions reflexively in an ongoing and dialectical process of various influences: texts are transforming agents which also have recreated meaning, themselves shaped by human experience of historical events. Within this context of reciprocal circularity, Kling raises a crucial concern which also challenges the church to ask itself difficult questions related to how it interprets the Bible and, importantly, to what end. Therefore, the broad and deep inquiry into the area of concern that this book has raised is a vital one.