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Protestant Biblical Interpretation; A Textbook of Hermeneutics

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Ramm's book is a foundational textbook for anyone who wants to begin a study of hermeneutics. Unlike many of the newer books, this one does not have a particular slant other than the basic approach of grammatico-historical protestant interpretation. For those desiring to read Moises Silva and Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.'s book or Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Ramm must be read first. Remember Vince Lombardi's instructions: "gentlemen, this is a football." This is what Ramm does: "Gentlemen, this is hermeneutics."

In the world of biblical academia, there has been as assorted array of books that pivot on the topic as diverse as well as important as biblical hermeneutics. In that respect, only few books rise above the others and were hailed as classics in this field.

One of them is "Protestant Biblical Interpretation". Written by a scholar in his own right, it touches on a wide array of subjects within the science of hermeneutics - ranging from a history of interpretation in Christendom (allegorical, literal, etc), the basic rules of Protestant interpretation, to the devotional and practical use of the Bible.

One unique feature of this book is that it touches on Protestant hermeneutics in an objective manner in which no theological position is sited or defended or even antagonize in any way. It basically teaches on the historical-grammatical method of exegeting the Word of God.

Surely a book that has rendered a valuable service to the Body of Christ in the past 50 years. Any avid Bible student will surely benefit from its insights!

Bernard Ramm's book almost has to be viewed as a tale of three halves. The title is extremely apposite both in terms of the subject matter that is covered but also in the approach that is taken. The approach is very much one of an even handed survey of all methods of interpretation that can be classified as Protestant. In fact towards the end the author made mention of the `approach that we have been promoting' and I had to think quite hard as to which of the methods discussed was actually the one the author favored. It must also be said that whilst this book is fairly dry and scholarly in approach it is not overly technical. It abounds in references to others works and bibliographies but it does not require significant existing knowledge of the subject matter in hand.

The effect of this distinctive approach had a very different effect upon me for the three major themes that the book carried. The first third is a survey of the historic schools of interpretation. This spanned from the work of the early fathers through to modern philosophic schools. Some of the work on early interpretation I found historically interesting. The work on more modern schools will be less useful to someone avowedly conservative.

The second third is a very detailed and systematic analysis of conservative protestant hermeneutics. As a reference work the degree of distinction obtained is incredible. For example the section on `theologies verses theology' raised a concept I had known but never found a way to verbalize. However if viewed as a `how to' or motivational treatise it was painful in the extreme. This is probably a 'must read' for someone heavily in hermeneutics; however it is hard work.

The third section however was a look at typology, prophecy and parables. This section was simply excellent. Ramm's even handedness here shone brilliantly. He was able to point out flaws and inconsistencies in, for example, the literalists allowance of types that would almost certainly raise barriers if written by a different author. He essentially argues for a millennial and literal approach whilst simultaneously urging a greater appreciation of those passages that do require more spiritualized interpretation. His ability to clearly handle subtle issues requiring finesse make this one of the few texts I have read that have a chance of (slightly) changing someone's thinking on this subject.

One closing comment to make is that whilst this book was printed in 2004 that is the fifth printing of the third revision; the original is a nineteen fifties book. I generally have no problem with aged texts; however some of the sections on historical progression and trends definitely show their age.

Bernard Ramm has done an exemplary job of painting the broad strokes of protestant hermeneutics. He does work quite a lot with the history of interpretation, and less with the technical aspects of it but that is not only to be expected with a book on hermeneutics (rather than exegesis), it is essential to the understanding of how doctrine developed. When we see the hermeneutical mistakes of those in the past, and the damage it has caused (for instance, though not in this book, Augustine's switch to Amillennialism and with it allegorical interpretation of prophesy opened the door to the 1000+ years of darkness of biblical scholarship under the dominance of the Catholic church, not to mention the mess it has made with people's understanding of the gospel even now [i.e. Lordship Salvation] see Dave Anderson's articles in number 28-29 of the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society) it not only sobers us into being more careful with our hermeneutical approach to Scriptures, it makes us more aware of our strengths and weaknesses in theology and exegesis. Read this book and take it very seriously (or better yet, take Hermeneutics from Dr. Radmacher through distance learning at Western Seminary). Don't assume, like everyone does, that the way you've always been taught is the truth. Learn some hermeneutics and go to the Word to find out.

This book is not really so much a hermeneutics textbook as it is a history of hermeneutics textbook. Very little is offered in the way of figures of speech, or any method of interpretation whatsoever.

However, the author's insight and background into the history of Biblical interpretation is very thorough and exceptionally well-done. This book is worth the purchase price for these insights alone. However, if you are looking for a more helpful book, at least as far as what the Bible has to say about how to interpret itself, I would recommend D. R. Dungan's work.

If you are going to read this book, you better have alot of time to look up the meaning of words and a solid understanding of hermaneutics. This is not a book for beginners. The author is very wordy and scholarly in his approach. I see the value of looking at mistakes of interpretation down through the years. However, I just had to wade through alot that I didn't really understand to get that.