This project addresses a void in scholarship concerning the impact of biblical texts in the history of Christianity. Given the specialties and subspecialties of their field, historians of Christianity seldom venture into the discipline of biblical scholarship. Likewise, biblical scholars, although they are certainly attuned to historical developments, typically focus on the life setting in which the text was produced, not on the appropriation and application of the text in subsequent history. My project seeks to bridge this gap of inquiry. Through it scholars should discover new ways of thinking about the function of sacred texts within the cultural communities that engage and appropriate them. Historians of Christianity, biblical scholars, and theologians will obviously find some things that are familiar to them in their respective disciplines, but this work of synthesis is intended to broaden their interdisciplinary horizons. Just as important, a nonprofessional audience will gain an appreciation for the complex ways in which scripture has functioned throughout history. Taking into account the three major Christian traditions and selecting episodes that illustrate a cross-section of interpretive strategies, I describe and explain how- selected individuals and groups within the Christian tradition encountered, grappled with, and were shaped by a sacred text.