A precious book that presents a learned proposal for the figural interpretation of the Synoptics and John.
This is a book to be savored, not rushed through like fast food. At one point, Hays describes the benefit of reading John’s narrative ‘attentively.’ This book demonstrates Hays’s attentive reading of the evangelists interpreting and using Scripture… Hays’s work will be useful for those studying one or more of the Gospels and for those researching the use of the Scriptures of Israel in the NT. Failure to engage with Hays would be a mistake.
This is a superb and important book for a truly Christian way of understanding the Scriptures.
There is subtlety and depth here, achieved only through extensive awareness of Israel’s Scriptures and the ways they can be reconfigured in the Gospels.
Combined with the detailed analysis of possible verbal correspondences in various texts, Hays offers a richly theological reading of the Gospels that will be of great benefit to preachers.
Hays promises the reader an examination of the Evangelists’ hermeneutics and delivers so much more—the veritable foundation, outline and central details for a biblical theology of the Gospels.
The conclusions [Hays] draws will empower contemporary believers to see the messianic threads of the Bible as an ongoing mission. This is a fine, convincing work of scholarship on a delicate theological topic.
A lucid, perceptive, well-researched, and accessible book
What cannot be overstated about Hays' book is the fresh way in which his methodology elucidates nuanced meaning in the Gospels as echoes of the larger story of Israel while also offering plain interpretation of standard passages. Hays' work in figural echoing is innovative, whisking a Gospel reader into other parts of scripture against standard hermeneutical practice such as grammatical-historic approaches.
Everyone should read Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels; it is a masterpiece in figural interpretation.
In this much anticipated project, Hays does for the Gospels what he previously and famously did for Paul. He investigates how the four evangelists, each in a distinctive way, operated as biblical interpreters, bearing witness to Jesus and his gospel in light of the Old Testament’s witness.
This is a remarkable book for the many fresh lines of interpretative possibilities that Hays presents.
