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Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old

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There are some books I can read in an evening or two and feel like I have a good grasp of what the book is all about. There are others that I can pour over hour after hour and still feel like I am only scratching the surface of the book. Evangelical Hermeneutics falls into the latter category. Though not an easy read, this book is rewarding.

Hermeneutics is one of the steps used in interpreting and studying the Bible. Specifically, the author defines it as "a set of principles for interpreting the Bible." Once a passage has been properly interpreted, meaning and application can be drawn from it. It stands to reason that if the principles of interpretation are wrong, the meaning and application are likely to be wrong as well. What the author seeks to show is how these principles have changed over the past decades and the effect that is having on Christianity today.

The author's goal for this book is fourfold:
-To discuss the recent changes in recent hermeneutics
-To show new meanings being attached to grammatical-historical interpretation
-To compare traditional grammatical-historical interpretation with new evangelical hermeneutics
-To identify the dominant principles of new evangelical hermeneutics

Robert Thomas believes strongly in the value of the traditional form of hermeneutics, known as the grammatical-historical method. Throughout the books he cites examples of modern theologians who have either wrongly applied grammatical-historical principles or have invented new methods of hermeneutics. More importantly, he shows the effects these people have had on the Christian world. He focuses specifically on several issues: feminism, open theism, missiology, theonomy and a few others. One of the more fascinating chapters deals with dynamic equivalence (which is a method of Bible translation) and how it is not as much a method of translation as a set of hermeneutical principles. Some of the other topics that caught my attention were preunderstanding and the New Testament use of the Old Testament.

There are several applications to my life and my faith that I have taken from this book. First, it has solidified my understanding of the principle of single meaning, which states that each passage in the Bible has one and only one meaning. Second, it has helped me see the value of the grammatical-historical method. Though this is the system I have adhered to in the past, I am now more confident that it is the most Scriptural method. Third, I see the importance of removing all possible preunderstanding before I examine a text. What I mean by this, is if I am going to examine what the Bible says about the role of women in ministry, I need to look at the passages to determine what they mean, not what they say about women's roles. It is a subtle but important difference. Finally, I have come to understand more clearly the Holy Spirit's role in helping me understand the Bible.

I can't deny that at times I felt lost in this book, primarily because the book presupposes a greater grasp of hermeneutics than I currently have. The other reason is that it spends a lot of time discussing the end-times and that is not a topic I have studied in great depth. The author also tends to use words without fully defining them. An example is the word "meaning" which he defines as "the author's truth intention." "Truth intention" is not a phrase I am familiar with, though perhaps if I was more familiar with hermeneutics I would be.

I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand how Scripture is supposed to be used. Realize, though, that it does help to have a solid understanding of hermeneutics before reading it. I suspect I will be returning to this book often as I study the Word.

This work is a wonderful explanation of a plague that is resting on the Lord's house in our time. To borrow from Dr. Thomas, this book explains the sea of uncertainty that the church has loosed herself onto by leaving behind the methods of Biblical interpretation that have secured it. We have begun handling our sword without care, and we are now paying the price. This text traces the methods that have been used to alter the principles that have secured our faith, and more, it charts a clear path back to the firm foundation of true understanding of the Scriptures. This book is a must read for all those who care about the interpretation of Scripture, whether a man is seminary trained or not, this book will have great value.

Dr. Thomas has touched a nerve with his book on hermeneutics. He comes from the 'old school' that takes Scripture as it reads rather than the practice so often today of projecting your 'pre-understanding' into the interpreting methodology. He follows Milton Terry's hermeneutic methodology which is more reliable and lets the Scriptures speak for themselves.

This is not for your 'novice' in the faith for he covers some very difficult areas of theology. But, what he has done is to put the ship back on course from the wild interpretations coming down the pike today! Some modern theologians will not like what he has to say of their handling of Scripture, but truth must be presented...even if it cuts to the quick!

I am so thankful for this excellent book!

There are many wonderful statements in this book. Thomas is an impressive scholar with a life time of study of the scriptures.

Unfortunately, this book seems to be more interested in pointing out everyone else's flaws with absolutely no awareness of the author's own.

Thomas spends over 500 pages lumping together people with whom he disagrees into one big category: the failure of preunderstanding. The book is a book about how everyone else has failed to interpret and study the Bible objectively because they have rejected Milton Terry's hermeneutical method, which isn't even necessarily true.

Its true. All the scholars he criticizes have failed to interpret scripture objectively. The problem is that Thomas doesn't seem to be aware that neither has he! Thomas has just as much preunderstanding when he approaches scripture as everyone he criticizes, but he never seems aware of it - at least not in this book.

Instead, Thomas excels at quoting someone he disagrees with, misconstruing that quote, and then ranting about how that person isn't objective, never realizing that his own preunderstanding has destroyed the authorial intent of the person he's quoting. Thomas regularly fails to understand the authorial intent of Moises Silva's statements on linguistics and interpretation. Thomas regularly fails to understand the authorial intent of Peter Cotterell and Max Turner in their book on linguistics and interpretation. And that's just the icing on the cake. Every single chapter is like that.

When it comes down to it, Robert L. Thomas is so busy pointing out the splinter of preunderstanding in everyone else's eyes that he is yet to have noticed the log in his own.

There's another review on the internet: just google "findarticle" and then search for his title.

At the request of a commenter, I've added a couple examples from the chapter on linguistics, but since they turned out to be so long, I've included them in a separate comment below. If you're interested in seeing first hand what I'm saying, definitely read the comment.

Robert Thomas has given a call to evangelicals to realize that in their ranks that some have been changing the rules for the worse, the rules that should be followed in interpreting the Bible. Hermeneutics, the set of rules or principles for proper interpretation of God's revelation, is SO FOUNDATIONAL to everything else that it can be argued that the concerns Thomas raises makes this work the most crucial one today, other than the Bible itself, because everything else is built on it.

There may be some refinements that others could make in this topic, and one could hope that Thomas or someone else will address these issues also in a more popular work, but this book should form a strong foundation for any such future efforts.

Without question, I believe that anyone concerned with accurately understanding what God has revealed to His creatures, needs to be aware of these concerns, and those in positions of influence to guide the Church, seminary and other professors, pastors, Christian leaders, CANNOT ignore its implications. They need to understand what has been happening and take action to shore up the foundation and protect the propositional truth that God has given us in His Word.

Robert L. Thomas gives a clear and precise evaluation on how todays evangelicals have shifted away from the traditional grammatical-historical hermeneutics of the Bible. This book is a must read for Seminary students and Pastors who are faithful to the Word of God through expositional preaching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great book! Every Christian should read this book and then read it again. Robert Thomas shines an abundance of much needed light on this extremely important issue.