This question came to me via Spirit & Truth, a website I am privileged to have a part in. Question: Thanks very much for your TELOS series of Biblical Covenantalism. I stumbled upon this at just the time I needed it – and therefore believe God led me to your sight. The minister of our church is staunchly amillenialist, and I am involved in discussions with him. The question he will get me on, unless you can provide me with …
Author: Paul Henebury
Part Eight Last time I asked whether the facts speak for themselves. My answer was that they do not, they are freighted with interpretations, whether right or wrong. In Part Seven I called attention to the temptation of attaching ourselves to slogans and ideas from the world. Before proceeding along the lines I started with in the last post, I want first to take two common but deadly slogans which Christians use and look at them, for though they sound …
This (re)post is a “stand-alone.” But I think it is rather important in its own way. I apologize for the formatting. “When the Christian sets forth his outlook he will stress the kind of God to whom he is committed, the nature of the world in relation to God, and the nature of man as God’s creature. The Christian God is totally self-sufficient, and in Him there is an equal ultimacy of unity and diversity (being Triune). Everything outside of …
After a ridiculously long delay, I have started to finish off my series on the Parameters of Meaning beginning with this one on Typology. I believe these guidelines will help Bible students avoid many pitfalls in interpretation by setting limits on what constitutes legitimate hermeneutics. For those of you interested here are the previous installments: Parameters of Meaning – Introduction Parameters of Meaning – Rule 1 Parameters of Meaning – Rule 2 Parameters of Meaning – Rule 3 Parameters of …
Part Three Speech-Act Theory and Biblical Interpretation On a more positive note overall is the matter of whether language is merely descriptive or whether it can be said to actually do something. This gets us into the subject of language as “speech-acts.” This view has been defined as follows: Speech-act theory is a set of pragmatically based principles that were developed at the edge of philosophy and linguistics. The major assumption is that language is not so much concerned with saying …
Part Two Ricoeur Alongside Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur (d. 2005) stands as the most important philosopher of hermeneutics in the last hundred years. His work is often to be found discussed in evangelical circles today, and for that reason we shall devote a little more space to his work. Ricoeur is concerned with how language is used not with how it is structured.[53] As human existence is communicated through language, the study of the use of language is, therefore, the study …
Part One The Hermeneutical Landscape The philosopher of religion Gregory Clark admits that, “[some] sources regularly describe the variety of hermeneutical approaches practiced today as ‘dizzying’.”[22] In closing his article Clark writes: “Hermeneutics as a discipline is as wild and woolly as it has ever been, and its future shape and even its existence are impossible to predict.”[23] Reading the “movers and shakers” in evangelical hermeneutics today is a little foreboding. It might be well to start off then by …
I have divided this older but over-long piece into more digestible bits: In this essay I want to examine some of what is happening in the world of philosophical hermeneutics so that we can better understand the influences that are being seen in evangelical textbooks on the subject. Still more, we shall start to understand why evangelicals are jumping ship from grammatico-historical interpretation; a situation that threatens dispensationalism even more. Definitions: Hermeneutics, Exegesis, Application In any discussion, but especially in those involving …
Here’s an older piece which I thought worth bringing out for perusal. It’s fairly long, but I hope some folks will like it: Introduction The Christian must take his or her position upon the words of Scripture. Not after it has been granted that the Bible really is the very Word of God, but it must be the great presupposition, the ultimate commitment of every child of God. We must insist that there is, in fact, no alternative to the …
Here is a very informative link to what the justices of the Supreme Court have said, pro and con, about their 5 to 4 decision to legalize Gay Marriage. http://erlc.com/article/50-key-quotes-from-the-supreme-courts-same-sex-marriage-ruling The kind of “reasoning” employed by Justice Kennedy et al could and will be employed by pedophiles, polymorists, and even those who want to marry their dog. This is what godless law looks like. …
