A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics

by Jasper, David

• ISBN13: 9780664227517
• ISBN10: 0664227511
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-01
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

Hermeneutics defines the rules used to search out the meaning of Scripture. Throughout church history, interpreters have approached biblical interpretation in different ways, using different tools and methods. This book conveniently and accessibly surveys major biblical interpreters and approaches to hermeneutics from the patristic period to the present days. It provides a theoretical basis for understanding the processes of hermeneutics in different faith traditions.

Author Biography

David Jasper is Professor in Literature and Theology at the University of Glasgow.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(3)
Recommended Reading	4	(3)
CHAPTER ONE Texts and Readers: Reading and Writing	7	(18)
1. Introduction	7	(1)
2. Faith and Suspicion, Texts and Readers	8	(8)
3. Reading and Writing	16	(4)
4. The Hermeneutic Circle	20	(3)
Summary	23	(1)
Activities and Questions	23	(2)
CHAPTER TWO Midrash, the Bible, and the Early Church	25	(20)
1. Midrash and Rabbinic Interpretation	25	(3)
2. Hermeneutics in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament	28	(6)
3. The Establishment of the Christian Canon and the Argument from Tradition	34	(2)
4. The School of Alexandria and the School of Antioch	36	(3)
5. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430)	39	(4)
Summary	43	(1)
Activities and Questions	44	(1)
CHAPTER THREE From Scholasticism to the Age of Enlightenment	45	(24)
1. Medieval Hermeneutics: Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225-74)	45	(3)
2. Two Medieval Minds: Meister Eckhart and Thomas a Kempis	48	(4)
3. Christian Humanism: Desiderius Erasmus (1466/9-1536)	52	(4)
4. Martin Luther (1483 - 1536) and John Calvin (1509-64)	56	(6)
5. The Age of Reason	62	(3)
Summary	65	(1)
Activities and Questions	66	(3)
CHAPTER FOUR Friedrich Schleiermacher and the Age of Romanticism	69	(20)
1. The Bible and History	69	(5)
2. Johann Salomo Semler (1725-91) and the Canon of Scripture	74	(3)
3. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) and the Romantic Spirit	77	(4)
4. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Confessions of an Inquiring Spirit, 1840	81	(2)
5. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) and the Handwritten Manuscripts	83	(3)
Summary	86	(1)
Activities and Questions	86	(3)
CHAPTER FIVE The Nineteenth Century	89	(10)
1. The Critical Spirit and the Will to Believe	89	(2)
2. David Friedrich Strauss, DasLeben jew (1835-36)	91	(1)
3. The Quest for the Historical Jesus	92	(3)
4. Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911)	95	(2)
5. Science and Religion	97	(1)
Summary	97	(1)
Activities and Questions	98	(1)
CHAPTER SIX The Twentieth Century	99	(20)
1. Introduction	99	(1)
2. Karl Barth (1886-1986) and Rudolf Bultinann (1884-1976)	100	(4)
3. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)	104	(2)
4. Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002)	106	(2)
5. Paul Ricoeur (1913-)	108	(3)
6. Toward the Postmodern: Jacques Derrida (1930-)	111	(6)
Summary	117	(1)
Activities and Questions	117	(2)
CHAPTER SEVEN Varieties of Postmodern Hermeneutics	119	(14)
1. The Bible as Literature/the Bible in Literature	120	(2)
2. Liberation and Responsibility	122	(2)
3. Politics and Postcolonialism	124	(1)
4. From Intertextuality to Film, Art, and the Body	125	(5)
Summary	130	(1)
Activities and Questions	130	(3)
Conclusion	133	(6)
The Sacred Text and the Future of Writing	133	(3)
Final Questions	136	(3)
Bibliography	139	(3)
Index of Names and Titles of Works	142	(4)
Index of Subjects	146