Mere Christian Hermeneutics
Description
Reading the Bible to the glory of God.
In 1952, C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity eloquently defined the essential tenets of the Christian faith. With the rise of fractured individualism that continues to split the church, this approach is more important now than ever before for biblical hermeneutics.
Many Christians wonder how to read the text of Scripture well, rightly, and faithfully. After all, developing a strong theory of interpretation has always been presented by two enormous challenges:
- A variety of actual interpretations of the Bible, even within the context of a single community of believers.
- The plurality of reading cultures—denominational, disciplinary, historical, and global interpretive communities—each with its own frame of reference.
In response, influential theologian Kevin J. Vanhoozer puts forth a "mere" Christian hermeneutic—essential principles for reading the Bible as Scripture everywhere, at all times, and by all Christians.
To center his thought, Vanhoozer turns to the accounts of Jesus' transfiguration—a key moment in the broader economy of God's revelation—to suggest that spiritual or "figural" interpretation is not a denial or distortion of the literal sense but, rather, its glorification.
Irenic without resorting to bland ecumenical tolerance, Mere Christian Hermeneutics is a powerful and convincing call for both church and academy to develop reading cultures that enable and sustain the kind of unity and diversity that a "mere Christian hermeneutic" should call for and encourage
About the Author
Kevin J. Vanhoozer (PhD, Cambridge University) is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Before that he was Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including Is There a Meaning in this Text?, First Theology, The Drama of Doctrine, and Remythologizing Theology. He serves as theological mentor for the Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians, and is a member of the Lausanne theology working group on hermeneutics for Seoul 2024.
Table of Contents
Introduction: An Experiment in Biblical-Theological Criticism
- The Experiment: From Methods of Criticism to Criticism of Methods
- Divine Address: “Today, If You Hear His Voice . . .”
- Human Answerability: “. . . Do Not Harden Your Hearts”
- Ascending the Mountain: The Plan of the Book
Part 1: Reading the Bible in and out of Church
The Divided Domain of the Word
Chapter 1: Forming Reading Cultures: From Biblical Literacy to Gospel Citizenship
- Interpretive Communities, Constitutions, and Covenants
- Biblical Interpretation and the Formation of Christian Culture
- On the Making of Reading Cultures: Three Historical Examples
- Toward What Kind of Reading Culture?
Chapter 2: Exegesis in a Toolshed: A Conflict of Reading Cultures
- C. S. Lewis: Taking Biblical Interpreters to the Toolshed
- C. P. Snow: The Two Cultures
- Crosscurrents of Biblical Interpretation: A Brief History of a Recurring Tension
Chapter 3: Biblical Studies and Theology as Polarized Reading Cultures: The State of the Question
- Epochal Polarization: When Modern Biblical Interpreters Lost Interest in Theology
- Disciplinary Polarization: The Divided Domain of Biblical Interpretation
- Beyond Polarization: Taking Biblical Studies and Theology Back to Church
Part 2: Figuring Out Literal Interpretation
The Letter of the Text
Chapter 4: Defining Sensus Literalis (Part 1): From Grammatical Sense to Eschatological Reference
- Philology: Reading the Letter with Loving Attention
- Literality (Part 1): Construing the Sense of the Letter
- Literality (Part 2): Toward Which Frame of Reference?
- Framing Literal Interpretation: Of Secular and Sacred Imaginaries
- Framing Isaiah; Framing Hebrews: Is the Literal Always Earth-Bound?
Chapter 5: Defining Sensus Literalis (Part 2): From the Figural to the Trans-figural
- Tactics vs. Strategy: Where the Conflict Really Lies
- Mere Christian Figuration: Beyond Typology and Allegory
- Grammatical-Eschatological Exegesis and the “Trans-figural” Literal Sense
- A Reformed Catholic Paradigm: Christoscopic Interpretive Vision
Part 3: Transfiguring Literal Interpretation
The Light of Christ
Chapter 6: Shedding Light on Literality: Light Wrought
- Framing Creation: On Reading Genesis 1:3 Literally
- “What Light through Yonder Cosmos Breaks?” Genesis 1:3 in the History of Exegesis
- Making Known: A God-Bespoke Economy of Light
Chapter 7: The Transfiguration of Christ: Light Revealed
- The Meaning of Transfiguration and the Transfiguration of Meaning
- The Transfiguration in the Synoptic Gospels
- The Transfiguration in the History of Exegesis
- Transfiguration Transposed: The Glory of Christ in the Fourth Gospel
- The Transfiguration as Interpretive Framework: Five Theses
Chapter 8: Transfiguring the Literal: Light Refracted
- “The Prophetic Word Made More Sure”: Does Transfiguring Mean Reading Backward?
- A Tale of Two Mountains: Sinai and Tabor
- Letter and Spirit: Paul’s Reading of Moses’ Veiled Glory
- The Letter Unveiled: Transfiguring Interpretation Glorifies the Literal Sense
Chapter 9: Transfiguring the Reader: Light Reflected
- Wrestling with Texts (and Other Readers): The Struggle for Understanding
- Wrestling with God? Reading Jacob at Jabbok
- Varieties of Spiritual Interpretation
- With Unveiled Faces: Reading by Lamb-Light
Conclusion: Beatific Lection: Transfiguring Christian Reading Cultures
- The Experiment’s Results: A Summary Mountaintop Report
- “Listen to Him”: Attending to (and Answering) Light
- Whose Song Is It? On Seeking (and Finding) Christ in the “Wrong” Places
- An Ongoing Ascent: Mere Christian Hermeneutics as Witness and Worship
