Living Hermeneutics in Motion: An Analysis and Evaluation of Paul Ricoeur's Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics [Paperback]

Gregory J. Laughery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

Paul Ricoeur is one of the most prolific philosophers alive today. Many studies have been done on Ricoeur's philosophy, but very little on his theological trajectory and its connection to Biblical hermeneutics. Living Hermeneutics in Motion brings to light the diverse ways in which Ricoeur's hermeneutic revolutions concerning a meaningful text can be useful, specifically in the area of biblical interpretation. Situated within the modern- post modern interpretative tumult, this book is interested in ascertaining if Ricoeur's richly sedimented and hermeneutically complex orientation can offer an alternative to modernist "sharp boundaries" and postmodern "radical indeterminacy."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gregory J. Laughery is Senior Lecturer in Hermeneutics & Biblical Studies, L'Abri Fellowship.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of America (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761823034
• ISBN-13: 978-0761823032
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,281,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dr. Gregory J. Laughery worked with Francis and Edith Schaeffer at the Swiss L'Abri community in the early eighties, before taking a degree at the London School of Theology, and returning to L'Abri as a member of the staff since 1988. While working at L'Abri Greg also took a license and a specialization diploma in New Testament at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and a PhD at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

View his blog here:
http://www.livingspirituality.org/

He publishes in the areas of biblical hermeneutics, particularly lauded for his work on the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, Christian spirituality, as well as other relevant topics. His publications include: Living Spirituality; Living Hermeneutics in Motion: An Analysis and Evaluation of Paul Ricoeur's Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics; Living Apocalypse: A Revelation Reader and A Guide for the Perplexed; "Language at the Frontiers of Language," in After Pentecost: Language and Biblical Interpretation; "Ricoeur on History, Fiction and Biblical Hermeneutics," in 'Behind' the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation; "Evangelicalism and Philosophy," in The Futures of Evangelicalism, and several journal articles, one for example being, "Scripture, Science and Hermeneutics."

Greg lectures on many topics, notably Christian spirituality, the Interpretation of the Bible, and Science and Theology, from the perspective of a biblical worldview. While he focuses on theology, philosophy, and hermeneutics, Greg has the opportunity to tutor students as they come to the Swiss L'Abri seeking answers to many of life's serious and challenging questions. His times as a tutor and mentor, as well as his extensive academic research, provide the framework to write about his experiences of life in community with God and others.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paul Ricouer, by way of Greg Laughery: good!, December 11, 2002

By 

Paul Borgman (Magnolia, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Hermeneutics in Motion: An Analysis and Evaluation of Paul Ricoeur's Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics (Paperback)

In my reading of Paul Ricouer over the past decade, I became enthralled with this theologian/philosopher/literateur's sense of the text as something to be taken seriously, but also his wrestling with the question, "but how, in a world of shifting Theory and a healthy skepticism regarding "objective" readings?

Ricouer himself has raised and answered many of these questions, but I always felt the need for a more systematic overview of this thought. If only he (or someone) would present a more comprehensive/cohering view! And Greg Laughery has now done it, in his wonderful little book, "Living Hermeneutics In Motion" ("An Analysis and Evaluation of Paul Ricoeur's Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics"), University Press of America, 2002.

Laughery's review of the contemporary hermeneutical scene is clear and lively, and his contextualizing of Ricouer's thought extremely helpful. Most helpful, because the reader gains a better sense of just how compelling Ricouer's contribution really is.

And Laughery contributes to this hermeneutical dialogue with his own refreshing insight, particularly in regard to understanding biblical parables. The author's persistent interest in negotiating "boundaries"--of text and reader, of "fiction" and "history"--help place this work among the "must reads" for persons serious enough about biblical interpretation to be at sea. Greg Laughery's mediation of Ricouer will provide interesting if not entirely "safe" harbor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting look at Ricouer's views on Biblical interpretation, March 7, 2003

By 

Kevin Brian Seaver (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living Hermeneutics in Motion: An Analysis and Evaluation of Paul Ricoeur's Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics (Paperback)

This book situates the work of linguistic philosopher Paul Ricouer over against the imperious claims of modernism and the negating voices of post-modernism. Ricoeur, according to Laughery, offers a way out of the current impasse in Bible interpretation.

"Living hermeneutics in motion" points to Ricoeur's vision of the interpretive journey as a rigorous, dynamic process through the text to a new understanding, guided by and tethered by the text itself. The book explores Ricoeur's thinking on the nature of texts, methodology, and narrative. Laughery places Ricoeur in dialogue with a host of scholars in the field of interpretation theory.

Ricoeur prefers a dialectical approach over either-or positions. For example, he insists that Biblical discourse is grounded in actual events, but also claims that the event "disappears" in the inscribing of the text. The book also considers Ricouer's middle way through the extremes of historical criticism and structuralism, a postmodernist methodology which treats the text as a system of self-referring symbols. Ricoeur sees both as fruitful stages in the interpretive movement through the text.

According to Laughery, the strength of Ricouer's view is his insistence on the centrality of the text in Biblical interpretation. By confronting the reader with a real world, the text challenges her to reach a new understanding of God, self, and the world. This motion through the text is transformative.

Laughery's approach is balanced and informed by extensive scholarship. He also critques Ricouer at several key points, such as the proper role of authorial intent guiding interpretation. Caution: Readers with no French ability or only a smattering of French may be frustrated by the use of citations in French (this was originally a doctoral dissertation for a Swiss university).

All in all, however, "Living Hermeneutics in Motion" is a comprehensive survey of Ricouer's hermeneutical thought. Laughery presents a compelling case for taking seriously Ricoeur's contribution to Biblical hermeneutics, and organizes Ricoeur's non-systematic works on this subject in a way that should make it easier for others to build on.