Recovering Theological Hermeneutics : An Incarnational-Trinitarian Theory of Interpretation

by Zimmermann, Jens

• ISBN13: 9780801027277
• ISBN10: 0801027276
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-01
• Publisher: Baker Academic

Summary

In this study, Jens Zimmermann aims to recount the history of Protestant hermeneutics while taking seriously some of the issues raised by contemporary critical thought. He begins by considering some of the basic principles of Protestant biblical interpretation from the Reformation era, focusing particularly on the work of Martin Luther and Matthias Flacius. In the second section, he offers an appraisal of postmodern philosophical thought and its secular nature. Zimmerman concludes that while there is some validity to the issues raised by contemporary philosophers, a Trinitarian approach offers a viable method for recovering a theory of interpretation that is both philosophically sound and theologically informed.

Author Biography

Jens Zimmermann (Ph.D., University of British Columbia) is associate professor of English and Canadian Research Chair in Interpretation, Religion, and Culture at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. He has presented and published numerous articles on the hermeneutics of Calvin, the Puritans, Spinoza, Schleiermacher, Gadamer, and Levinas.

Table of Contents

Preface	7	(6)
Abbreviations	13	(4)
Part 1: Communion with God
Introduction	17	(30)
In the Beginning Was the Word: The Incarnational Hermeneutics of Martin Luther (1483--1546)	47	(31)
Puritan and Pietist Hermeneutics	78	(57)
Part 2: The Silencing of the Word
The Secularization of Theological Hermeneutics	135	(25)
Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics	160	(27)
The Ethical Hermeneutics of Emmanuel Levinas	187	(43)
Hermeneutics and Self-Knowledge: The Challenge of Radical Hermeneutics	230	(44)
Part 3: Recovering Theological Hermeneutics: An Incarnational-Trinitarian Approach
Incarnational Subjectivity	274	(11)
Self-Knowledge and the Incarnation	285	(22)
Incarnation and Aesthetics	307	(10)
Conclusion	317	(6)
Works Cited	323	(10)
Name Index	333	(4)
Subject Index	337