This is an ambitious book, which situates narrative theology in the context of American pragmatism and argues the case for humility, patience, and prudence as the essential virtues of the engaged theologian. In the process Goodson gives trenchant readings of Spinoza and Locke, James and Peirce, John Howard Yoder and Benedict XVI. It is particularly valuable for the ways in which it brings together Hans Frei, Peter Ochs, Stanley Hauerwas, and Eugene Rogers as contemporary guides for those who would take seriously the “plain sense” of Scripture.

G. Scott Davis, University of Richmond

In this brilliant and original study, two apparent opposites meet and find that they are even better together than they were part. On the one side are narrative theologians, the ‘return to Scripture’ movement in American religious thought, like Hans Frei and Stanley Hauerwas. On the other side are philosophers, specialists in the tradition of American pragmatism, like William James. Thanks to Jacob Goodson, we may now say that these are two sides of a philosophically and scripturally grounded ethics and of a philosophically grounded scriptural hermeneutics. It is a significant achievement that should attract careful attention from theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers. Among its innovations are a new reading of William James’ pragmatism as the basis for a scriptural hermeneutic; a convincing theo-philosophic dialogue among the writings of Thomas Aquinas, Hans Frei, and William James; a new reading of the theology of Stanley Hauerwas; and an ethics of humility, patience, and prudence for students of nature and Scripture alike.

Peter Ochs, Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia

Drawing on an extraordinary range of philosophical and theological scholarship, Goodson provides the best account yet of recent theological developments associated with the turn to narrative in theology. His analysis of my work taught me a great deal. That it did so is but an indication of Goodson’s embodiment of the virtues of humility and patience, which he rightly argues are necessary for the reading of texts, and in particular, the text of Scripture. This is a major work.

Stanley Hauerwas, Duke University Divinity School