The Practical Value of Old Testament Exegesis

Practical exegesis means reading the biblical story for the good of both church and society. Two practices of reading Scripture are explored here: 1. African and North American Christians reading together as a learning community, in order to ask more adequate questions of the text and thus develop a richer understanding of truth; and 2. biblical interpretation as political ethics, with particular attention to how the Bible focuses on the daily economic lives of ordinary people, “the poor and vulnerable.”