Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically [Hardcover]

'Mere Christian Hermeneutics puts theological interpretation on the offensive side of the ball. The various critical approaches spawned by the historicist hegemony of the last two centuries come with their methods and variegated vis-and agrave;-vis. The temptation is to situate theological interpretation within this scholarly fray, maneuvering it in conversation with or over against these competing options. Vanhoozer doesn't play by these rules because the stakes are too high. If God is the authorizing agent of all Scripture, Old and New Testaments, then everything changes. This confession of faith places all methods and approaches in service of this organon of Scripture's nature. From Vanhoozer's vantage point, Holy Scripture remains on the short side of the Mount of Transfiguration if readers are canonically unaware and redemptively irresponsible. Mere Christian Hermeneutics calls on its readers to ascend the mount of a transfigured text, to see Jesus just as he is. The church and its members--and academics too!--would do well to go hiking with Professor Vanhoozer up this mountain. Who knows? Perhaps we will be transfigured as well. I certainly hope so.''Biblical scholars treat all sorts of theological themes. Why then is historical-critical biblical scholarship not enough by itself? In this major study, the eminent theologian Kevin Vanhoozer answers this question. With the erudite rigor and gentlemanly patience for which he is known, he sifts through a vast array of approaches and arguments. I love his emphasis on Christ's transfiguration, an event that literally reveals the theophanic and eschatological power of God's Word in history, requiring the eyes of faith and calling forth divine-human communion.''For nearly three decades Kevin Vanhoozer has been the leading evangelical scholar of Christian theological interpretation of Scripture. With this volume he finally delivers what so many of us have been waiting for: the mature fruit of his long labors. Vanhoozerl³.