Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

On the horizon of hope -- Carlos Granados and Luis Sâanchez-Navarro -- Scriptural interpretation in conflict : on the foundations and the itinerary of exegesis today -- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger -- Preliminary consideration : where we are and what we must do -- The state of the problem -- The task -- Examples of self-criticism of the -- Historical-critical method : the methodologies of Martin Dibelius and Rudolf Bultmann -- The main elements of the method and their presuppositions -- The philosophical origin of the method -- Basic elements of a new synthesis -- Biblical exegesis : a science of faith -- Ignace de la Potterie -- The Bible : human word and Word of God -- The Bible as human Word -- The Bible and the Word of God -- The relation between the two aspects -- What does Scripture have to say about this? -- The unity of the whole of Scripture -- The interpretation of sacred Scripture : a science of faith -- The problem -- The "science of faith" according to R. Guardini -- Michael Theobald's critical reaction -- Attempt at a synthesis -- Is a biblical theology possible? -- Paul Beauchamp -- The reality and the wish -- A theology of the two Testaments is necessary today -- Christian-Jewish relations -- The Gospel and cultures -- Biblical law and the violence of the world -- Jesus Christ and the two Testaments -- The challenge -- The commitment of the subject-reader -- The course of the research -- Ethics and aesthetics -- Obstacles -- Exegesis : reading the Scriptures in faith -- Bruna Costacurta -- Christ in contemporary exegesis : where we are and where we are going -- Klemens Stock -- Outline of the situation today -- Thesis 1: the gap between the pre-Paschal Jesus and the post-Paschal Christ has shrunk somewhat -- Thesis 2: the search for the "historical Jesus" continues -- Thesis 3: there is a growing distance from historical-critical exegesis from many sides -- Thesis 4: there are efforts to reclaim the Jewishness of Jesus -- Thesis 5: new approaches are also affecting how we see Christ -- Possible directions for exegetical work on Christ -- First guideline : less violence with the sources -- Second guideline : more trust in the unique form of the sources -- Third guideline : painstaking historical work -- Fourth guideline : the whole as the reference-point -- Christ in John and Mark -- All of God's relations to men are mediated to them through Jesus -- Mark is concentrated on the christological question -- Mark preserves the christological question -- The reception in the church of the dogmatic constitution "dei verbum" -- Albert Cardinal VanHoye -- Scripture and Word of God -- Scripture and tradition -- Revelation and communion -- Inspiration and believing community -- Biblical studies and theology -- Exegesis and the magisterium of the church -- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger original publications.