Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old

Recent cultural trends in evangelism pose threats to the way the Bible is interpreted and taught

In Evangelical Hermeneutics, Robert L. Thomas carefully chronicles and evaluates how Evangelicalism has emptied itself theologically by allowing novelty, experimentation and cultural trendiness to replace the historic, bedrock affirmations that characterize evangelical faith.

You will find Evangelical Hermeneutics a foundational work for:

• Understanding significant changes in evangelical hermeneutics

• Examining new meanings being attached to “grammatical-historical interpretation”

• Comparing traditional grammatical-historical interpretation with new evangelical hermeneutics

• Identifying the dominant principles of the new evangelical hermeneutics

It's a fascinating study that is not limited to an academic discussion. Divided into two parts, Thomas devotes the first 10 chapters to studying how:

• Long-standing definitions of words have been altered.

• The analogy of faith is misused and has grown more widespread

• The techniques of Bible translation have undergone extreme changes

• General revelation has increased in stature to the point of equaling special revelation

• Interpreters no longer limit each passage to a single meaning

• The application of Scripture has come to control interpretation of Scripture rather than vice versa

• The secular discipline of modern linguistics has elevated itself to a role of usurping the prerogatives of traditional exegesis

• The personal biases of the interpreter determines how the New Testament uses the Old Testament

• Literary genre can, in contemporary estimates, overrule traditional principles of interpretation

Each topic is treated in considerable detail including a helpful tabular summary of the points discussed. The chapters covering the principle of single meaning, and the New Testament use of the Old Testament are particularly useful as they illustrate the varied approaches taken by different interpreters.

The second half of the book comprises an additional 6 chapters which discuss the symptoms resulting from the departure from traditional historical grammatical hermeneutics documented in the first half. Thomas (with help from Paul W. Felix) examines the hermeneutics employed by progressive dispensationalism, evangelical feminism, evangelical missiology, theonomy, and open theism. In each case, the doctrinal deviations can be traced back to a shift in the foundational hermeneutics.

Don't let revisionist hermeneutics cloud your understanding of how the Bible is to be interpreted and taught. Make Evangelical Hermeneutics a permanent part of your PC Study Bible library today.