Includes bibliographical references (p. 457-472) and index.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction: Reading Raisanen’s Biblical Criticism in Context -- 1. From Riccoldo to Reimarus to Raisanen -- 2. A Panorama of Natural Theology: The Chain of Interpretation -- 3. In the Shadow of Weber: Religion as Culture—Culture as Religion -- 4. It is All Signs: Reading Poststructuralism -- 5. Raisanen’s Wolfenbuttelian Turn: Dissolving the Old Systema -- 6. The Debate over New Testament Theology -- 7. A Chain of Interpretation or a Semiotic Cathedral? -- 8. The Rise of Christian Beliefs -- 9. From Quran Criticism to Sociological Reductionism -- 10. Conclusion: Chains of Interpretation -- Bibliography -- Index of Modern Authors -- Index of Subjects.

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Reading Heikki Räisänen’s hermeneutics in context, Timo Eskola explores the development of Western New Testament interpretation. Reclaiming a Wredean approach to the Scriptures, Räisänen focuses on tradition and interpretation. He builds on Weberian sociology, adopted through Peter Berger’s theories, and substitutes sacralized culturalism for biblical theology. After examining fourteenth century Quran-criticism and its impact on Reimarus, Eskola discusses the genesis of the revised history-of-religion theory that Räisänen developed when investigating the Quran’s relationship to the Bible. Sociology then becomes a link between standard historicism and poststructuralism as Räisänen reinterprets Berger’s sociology of knowledge. Räisänen’s sacralized culturalism finally becomes the theory from which his magnum opus The Rise of Christian Beliefs has been written.