Kings and Priests

Book excerpt: The history of modern biblical interpretation is checkered with attempts to rethink and resituate readers theologically and ethically. At least two tendencies emerge in these remedial proposals, both of which animate this project: (1) many accounts privilege either divine action (theology) or human, ecclesial response (ethics); (2) few proposals have availed themselves of the potential hermeneutical resources of a more extensive biblical theology. This study offers a theological and ethical account of Christian readers of Scripture--one that brings together these two apparently divergent poles--through the deployment of a biblical theological motif: royal priesthood. The designation of the people of God as a royal priesthood, conditioned and informed by the offices of king and priest, carries with it themes that frame the hermeneutical situation in such a way that accounts well for the integral relation of divine agency and ecclesial response, theology and ethics.