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Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig G. Bartholomew, Daniel J. Treier and N. T. Wright (eds), Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI and London: Baker Academic/SPCK, 2005), pp. 896. $49.99.

doi:10.1017/S0036930606002390 Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig G. Bartholomew, Daniel J. Treier and N. T. Wright (eds), Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI and London: Baker Academic/SPCK, 2005), pp. 896. $49.99. With the ever-increasing proliferation of dictionaries and general resources in biblical and theological studies, it is difficult for any one work to stand out from the rest. Add to this the slick packaging and impressive array of scholars corralled by publishers to endorse the volume(s) and one may be forgiven for becoming more than a bit sceptical that a new release can make much of an actual contribution while avoiding the typical pitfalls of unevenness and oversimplification. With this situation in view, the present volume is, to greatly understate the matter, a very pleasant surprise. It has been well documented – and readers of this journal are well aware – that the last two centuries of biblical interpretation have been dominated by historical-critical concerns, and the mutual regard between theologians and biblical scholars has amounted to a sort of bemused indifference. Not only is the gulf between biblical studies and theology in the academy a wide one, but too often the concerns of the academy in general do not seem at all relevant to the churches. Thankfully, as Kevin Vanhoozer notes in his introductory essay on theological interpretation, various impulses are coming together to apply pressure for readings of scripture that nourish and sustain the life of Christian communities. He states that this volume ‘provides a Christian theological evaluation of the contemporary issues and approaches pertaining to biblical interpretation with a view to assessing how they enable the church better to hear what God is saying to church and world today’ (p. 22). The essays that follow cover well-chosen and strategic topics and are written by an impressive roster of scholars. Instead of enlisting postgraduates – an acceptable practice to which few would have objected – to fill in the content of the volume, we have Christopher Seitz writing on a canonical approach to scripture, John Webster on Karl Barth, and Joel Green on narrative theology. Marva Dawn writes an excellent essay on the nature of the principalities and powers, expertly summing up the contributions from both biblical studies and theology, most notably that of J. H. Yoder. There are a few entries with titles so broad – ‘History’, ‘Philosophy’, ‘Postmodernism and Biblical Interpretation’ – that one imagines that they can hardly say anything helpful, an expectation that is proved wrong time and again. Each of these is incisive and informative, however concise. Daniel Treier’s essay, ‘Doctrine of Jesus Christ’, one of the longer pieces that anchors the volume, is simply masterful. To continue to make special mention of specific entries would either be endless, or an injustice to those excluded – just to note that after