"In the last third of the twentieth century a discipline has resurfaced within biblical studies that applies psychological and psychoanalytic insight to the study of the Bible, its origins, its content, its interpretation, and the history of its effects. The discipline is called 'psychological biblical criticism, keeping with the scholarly tradition of using the term 'criticism' to refer to strate gies for studying newly appreciated aspects of the Bible. The purpose of this volume is to present a history of the discipline, a definition of the field. and an agenda for its application to biblical exegesis and hermeneutics (the analysis and interpretation of the Bible)."