Text and Psyche
Experiencing Scripture Today
paper ed., Chiron Publications, 2002. 144 p.
Available through Caversham Booksellers, 98 Harbord Street, Toronto
Tel. (416) 944-0962
and through Chiron Publications

by Schuyler Brown

Traditional doctrinal and historical interpretation both rely heavily on rational analysis. But from the disciples at Emmaus to the beginnings of the present century, it has been the impact of scripture upon the human heart that has changed human lives. In recent decades this impact has been strengthened by advances in linguistic and literary theory, by such disparate influences as feminism, structuralism, Jungianism, deconstructionism, the analysis of archaic imagery and myth, the recovery of Gnostic texts, and finally an openness to pluralism, whether ethnic, geographic, religious, or interpretive.

All of these factors are treated here with a brevity and a comprehensiveness which convincingly show that the reader of scripture has a creative and not merely a passive role; that texts are not simply storehouses of knowledge but rather a "vineyard" (Hugh of Saint Victor) to be tilled for the reader's nurture and pleasure.

Schuyler Brown has a doctorate in theology from the University of Münster with a specialization in new Testament exegesis, and a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute. He is Professor Emeritus of New Testament at the University of Saint Michael's College, Toronto, and Lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute in Zurich.

What they are saying about Text and Psyche:

"I have been waiting twenty-five years for this book. It deftly examines historical, literary, and psychological interpretations of texts, and then sketches a 'biblical empirics' that can reaffirm the revelatory function of holy writ. Either Christian biblical scholars incorporate elements of these new approaches or they will become terminally irrelevant to the real lives of their readers."

– Walter Wink
author of The Powers That Be

"To be a reader, says Brown, is to be penetrated by the text, not a critic – standing over and against the text. This book offers us the precious gift of respecting our doubts while reaffirming our faith. Through the images and symbols hidden in the word, it is the function of sacred text to reveal the personal yet universal truths that lie deep within ourselves."

– June Singer
author of Boundaries of the Soul

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