Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Vern Sheridan Poythress is professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary. He has six earned degrees, including a PhD from Harvard University and a ThD from the University of Stellenbosch. He is the author of numerous books on aspects of biblical interpretation and science.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Multi-perspectivally enjoyable,
This review is from: God-Centered Biblical Interpretation (Paperback)
Poythress attempts to develop a hermeneutic of Scripture that is radically God-centered--and in this book he surely succeeds. He argues convincingly that communication, meaning, language, and interpretation all involve triadic perspectives which image the Trinitarian God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This was a refreshing and incredibly informative book. Although Poythress shows hints of reader-friendliness by employing imaginary dialogues (e.g., with Herman Hermeneutic and Dottie Doctrinalist), his thinking and writing are complex enough to cause the reader to go through the arguments a couple of times. Many times the readers is left wanting further elaboration, as the material provides so much potential for deeper study. In other words, each chapter could easily be turned into a book (something Poythress himself recognizes). In conclusion, I highly recommend the work and encourage others to adopt Poythress' (along with Frame's) multi-perspectival approach to theology and other disciplines and write the other books this one begs for!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Trinitarian!,
By Berek Qinah Smith (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: God-Centered Biblical Interpretation (Paperback)
Poythress tackles the issue of Biblical hermeneutics in this book. He seeks to introduce the reader to a Trinitarian approach to interpreting the Bible. He comes up with a whole bunch of triads, which are very similar to Frame's triad in the _Doctrine of the Knowledge of God_. With the triads of purpose, imaging, etc. Poythress shows the analogical nature of human knowledge and language. Of course, the human body and psyche, I believe, are also analogically related to the Trinitarian God. Also, Poythress gets much from Kenneth L. Pikes work (and triangles).Overall, I think it is very much worthwhile. I was surprised at how *Biblical* Poythress was. He recognized equally and fairly the dangers of both postmodenrism and modernism. This is a good read if you want to know more about the Trinity. If you want a more detailed, longer, and more technical form of this, there is Poythress' *The Supremcy of God in Interpretation* (available, I think, from WTS [215-886-099]). The reason that I only give it 4 stars is because I found the discussions among Dottie Doctrinalist, Amy Affermationist, Oliver Objectivist, etc. very annoying. They were unnecessary, I think. But, you may find them helpfull. Yet another reason that I didn't quite enjoy the book was that *every* diagram in it was 2D. Squares, triangles, circles, they are all 2D. The world, God's creation, is always 3 dimentional! 2D objects feel unreal and less personal. Well, if these type of things don't bother you, you may find it to be a five star book.
3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly written,
By compsci student (san diego, ca) - See all my reviews
This review is from: God-Centered Biblical Interpretation (Paperback)
This book is written in very dense academic prose. I wouldn't recommend it, especially to the layperson.
Poythress needs to understand that his audience may not have several upper-level degrees like he does. He's obviously smart, but has the usual downfall of academic types: the inability to convey complex ideas in an easy-to-grasp way. I find the most well-presented theological books can convey valuable ideas to 3 audiences: the non-Christian, the simple Christian, and the learned Christian. I can't see how the first two groups would even remotely get the book. Which is too bad, the subject of interpretation/hermeneutics should be much more widely understood in the church. There are some interesting points, but I wish he would define his terms better. He throws around philosophical terms as if people should already understand them. Also, when he presents Scripture verses, he doesn't really bother to explain how he gets and idea from a verse. He just assumes that anyone can see a verse supports his idea. I really wanted to like this book, but I'll be looking for a better book on the subject.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
