The Nominees Are. . . .

My editor Neil writes to say,

I’m posing the “finalists” — not including “faithful subversion” — to the marketing-and-covers group. We’re under pressure to get this to the sales people yesterday so I’m asking for your indulgence — I’ll check e-mail later to see what the group finds the most marketable and will have to finalize tomorrow a.m.

Here’s what I’m sending:

(1) Practicing Interpretation / Reasoning Biblically in the Postmodern World

(2) Signs of Scripture / Practicing Biblical Interpretation in a Postmodern Age

(3) Biblical Sense / and Postmodern Sensibility

(4) Faithful Interpretation / Making Postmodern and Biblical Sense

9 thoughts on “The Nominees Are. . . .

  1. Of these choices, I like the second and fourth ones best. Either is what you’re about here: Faithful interpretation, as ongoing practice.

  2. I like number 3 “Biblical Sense / and Postmodern Sensibility”, but I don’t know how marketable it would be. Number 1 “Practicing Interpretation / Reasoning Biblically in the Postmodern World” would be my overall choice.

    (Although I liked “faithful subversion” better… 😉 )

  3. I think #2 is definitely the best, followed by 3, 4, and then 1. “Reasoning Biblically” just doesn’t do it for me at all.

  4. I like the full title for #2, but I’m not convinced that “Signs of Scripture” is the best choice as a standalone title, especially for readers who don’t know your work well (since readers who know you well aren’t likely to depend on the title for whether or not to buy it). I think #3 is my favorite, for the tasks a title needs to accomplish, though #1 is my favorite if we were assuming all your readers already knew your work. For #4, again I like the subtitle, but it loses potency for me since most readers don’t care what the subtitle is.

  5. Of the titles as listed, I’d vote for #4. #3 might work with a little tweaking, e.g., “Signs and Wonder: Practicing Biblical Interpretation in the Postmodern Age” — that is, if there is an element of “wonder” in the book.

  6. Titles are a booger-bear aren’t they? I submit a dissertation next week, landing on my 5th title (and still not completely satisfied) – THE MEANING OF SCRIPTURE: THINKING THEOLOGICALLY ABOUT
    SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
    STEPHEN E. FOWL AND KEVIN J. VANHOOZER. For what it’s worth I like #1. I think having the terms “practicing” and “reasoning” together will intrigue the reader and thus allow you to flesh out the relationship of these two things in the book itself.

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