The Two Horizons: New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical Description

Plot

Recent theological and biblical studies have been much concerned about questions of linguistics and hermeneutics. How does language convey meaning? How can a person today interpret Scripture or any other ancient document written in a culture far different from our own? Many in the evangelical community have tended to view hermeneutics as an effort to subordinate the plain message of Scripture to unbiblical philosophical categories. As a result, these critics have argued,, human preferences are substituted for divine authority, and the ordinary understanding of the obvious meaning of the Bible is taken out of the hands of the everyday reader, who is no longer permitted to assume that the text means what it says. Thus the problem becomes not one of scholarship alone, but has implications for the whole of the Christian life. Anthony Thiselton writes from within the evangelical community, but he recognizes that genuine scientific biblical study cannot be done without raising questions of hermeneutics, and questions of hermeneutics cannot be raised without raising questions about the nature of knowledge, the use of language, and the scientific presuppositions operative in the mind of the interpreter. The hermeneutical problem can be seen as that of trying to fuse two horizons: that of the original writer, who formulated what he had to say out of a particular historical and intellectual context, and that of contemporary interpreters, who also have a field of vision in which they respond to what they read. the book gives an excellent survey of hermeneutics and also assesses the limits of the contribution philosophy can make to our interpretation of the Bible. The issues raised here are numerous and complex, but Thiselton brings to his examination a considerable facility for clear exposition of difficult ideas, coupled with a critical insight which gives the work a remarkable unity.