Theological Thinking and the Reading of Scripture: An Auseinandersetzung with Susannah Ticciati

This article considers the relationship between the Bible and theology via the work of Susannah Ticciati, who works with the Bible from the perspective of theology. An exposition of Ticciati's account of election and divine jealousy in Rom 9–11 and Deut 32 highlights the role that a postbiblical understanding of creation ex nihilo plays in Ticciati's readings of Scripture. Questions are raised about criteria whereby this sort of theological perspective can be recognized to illuminate, or to skew, a reading of the biblical text. The understanding of clean and unclean in relation to Israel's election in Lev 20 and Acts 10 is proposed as an issue that may pose difficulties for Ticciati's reading of election. Ticciati's work is seen to pose issues of theological hermeneutics in an unusually clear and interesting form.