Description: Unparalleled in its poetry, richness, and religious and historical significance, the Hebrew Bible has been the center of countless commentaries, perhaps none as unique as Thinking Biblically. This remarkable collaboration sets the words of a distinguished biblical scholar, Andre LaCocque, and those of a leading philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, in dialog around six crucial passages from the Old Testament the story of Adam and Eve, the commandment "thou shalt not kill", the valley of dry bones passage from Ezekiel, Psalm 22, the Song of Songs, and the naming of God in Exodus 3:14. Commenting on these, LaCocque and Ricoeur provide new insights into the meaning of the different genres of the Old Testament as they made their way into and were transformed by the New Testament.

LaCocque employs a historical-critical method that takes into account archaeological, philological and historical research. LaCocque expands this method to include the dynamic tradition of reading Scripture, opening his exegesis to developments and enrichments subsequent to the production of the original literary text. Ricoeur also takes into account the relation between the texts and the historical communities that read and interpreted them, but he broadens his scope to include philosophical speculation. His commentaries highlight the metaphorical structure of the passages and how they have served as catalysts for philosophical thinking from the Greeks to the modern age.

This extraordinary literary and historical venture reads the Bible through two different but complementary lenses, revealing the familiar texts as vibrant, philosophically consequential, and unceasingly absorbing.

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