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Is There a Meaning in This Text?: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge

Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Author)

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Binding: Hardcover
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN#: 9780310211563

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Description: Is there a meaning in the Bible, or is meaning rather a matter of who is reading or of how one reads?
 
Does Christian doctrine have anything to contribute to debates about interpretation, literary theory, and postmodernity? These are questions of crucial importance for contemporary biblical studies and theology alike.
 
Kevin Vanhoozer contends that the postmodern crisis in hermeneutics--"incredulity towards meaning," a deep-set skepticism concerning the possibility of correct interpretation--is fundamentally a crisis in theology provoked by an inadequate view of God and by the announcement of God’s "death."
 
Part 1 examines the ways in which deconstruction and radical reader-response criticism "undo" the traditional concepts of author, text, and reading. Dr. Vanhoozer engages critically with the work of Derrida, Rorty, and Fish, among others, and demonstrates the detrimental influence of the postmodern "suspicion of hermeneutics" on biblical studies.
 
In Part 2, Dr. Vanhoozer defends the concept of the author and the possibility of literary knowledge by drawing on the resources of Christian doctrine and by viewing meaning in terms of communicative action. He argues that there is a meaning in the text, that it can be known with relative adequacy, and that readers have a responsibility to do so by cultivating "interpretive virtues."
 
Successive chapters build on Trinitarian theology and speech act philosophy in order to treat the metaphysics, methodology, and morals of interpretation. From a Christian perspective, meaning and interpretation are ultimately grounded in God’s own communicative action in creation, in the canon, and preeminently in Christ. Prominent features in Part 2 include a new account of the author’s intention and of the literal sense, the reclaiming of the distinction between meaning and significance in terms of Word and Spirit, and the image of the reader as a disciple-martyr, whose vocation is to witness to something other than oneself.
 
Is There a Meaning in This Text? guides the student toward greater confidence in the authority, clarity, and relevance of Scripture, and a well-reasoned expectation to understand accurately the message of the Bible.
 
Is There a Meaning in This Text? is a comprehensive and creative analysis of current debates over biblical hermeneutics that draws on interdisciplinary resources, all coordinated by Christian theology. It makes a significant contribution to biblical interpretation that will be of interest to readers in a number of fields. The intention of the book is to revitalize and enlarge the concept of author-oriented interpretation and to restore confidence that readers of the Bible can reach understanding. The result is a major challenge to the central assumptions of postmodern biblical scholarship and a constructive alternative proposal--an Augustinian hermeneutic--that reinvigorates the notion of biblical authority and finds a new exegetical practice that recognizes the importance of both the reader’s situation and the literal sense.

"Seldom does one come across a book that combines, as this one does, breadth of learning, depth of analysis, and clarity of expression. Defenders of authorial intention typically caricature thinkers who argue in favor of the indeterminacy of meaning. Not so Vanhoozer. It is clear that he not only understands opposing arguments, but appreciates their value and has learned from them. This alone makes his own thesis very persuasive. Even those who disagree with him will recognize that this impressive and literate volume is to date the most capable defense of the author. And beyond that, readers will find the book a thorough education in several areas of modern thought."
--Moises Silva

"What starts off as a contemporary hermeneutics to justify the move from biblical text to systematic theology becomes a full-blown, highly sophisticated, theological hermeneutics. Vanhoozer is one of the few contemporary scholars who takes a balanced measure of postmodern thought within an unflinching Christian confessionalism. Here you will find neither mere traditionalism nor faddishness. This book points the way forward--the Christian way forward--out of the contemporary hermeneutical morass."
--D. A. Carson

"I warmly welcome Kevin Vanhoozer's Is There a Meaning in This Text? Vanhoozer is one of the small band of thinkers who understand the subtleties and complexities of contemporary hermeneutics well enough to draw on more literary and semiotic aspects constructively, while also affirming the role of the author(s) of texts as active agents in the communicative process. He rightly concludes that all authentic hermeneutics, properly understood, reflect a Christian theology of the incarnation, the cross, and the Trinity. This is a hard-hitting book; but in the present climate, many of its targets deserve to be hit hard."
--Anthony C. Thiselton

About the Author
Kevin J. Vanhoozer (PhD, Cambridge University) was senior lecturer in theology and religious studies at New College, University of Edinburgh and is now research professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
Is There a Meaning in This Text?: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge

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