Emphasizing meaning as "effect" rather than merely "message", Powell shows how biblical texts may legitimately take on multiple meanings in a variety of contexts. The first part of the book uses examples drawn from popular literature and culture to engage in a practical way the kinds of questions that scholars bring to their study of the Bible. The second part of the book is devoted to approaching the Gospel of Matthew as a work of literature that readers may enter -- and be affected by -- as they might any other kind of text. The third part of the book is an extended study of one passage from Matthew's Gospel -- the story of the magi -- in which Powell finds an excellent opportunity to teach readers to engage in -- and to challenge! -- the enterprise of biblical scholarship.
