Biblical Hermeneutics:
Five Views
Stanley E. Porter & Beth M.
Stovell (eds.)
Illinois: IVP Academic, 2012
Reviewed by Yahu
Vinayaraj
This book provides an introduction to the variety of
different methods of biblical interpretation. It contains a survey of the key issues of
biblical hermeneutics using the literary categories of “behind the text,” “within
the text,” and “in front of the text.” “Behind
the text” is a traditional approach through which the scholars locate the text
within the ‘original’ context and the original readers of the text in that
historical context. “Within the text”
was the modern approach that looked within the constitution of the text itself.
It was a shift of focus from the
evolutionary model to a communication model of hermeneutics. Emphasis on the
autonomous text, but led to a focus on textual unity. This “In front of the
text’ model on the other hand, discusses the effect of the text on the reader.
This model is more reader-centered and attends the issue of the interaction
between the text and the interpreter.
The book offers five views of biblical hermeneutics: (1) Historical-Critical/
Grammatical; (2) Literary/ Postmodern; (3) Philosophical/ Theological; (4)
Redemptive-Historical and (5) Canonical. The historical-critical method view
seeks for insights for interpretation from taking a critical view of the
history behind the text, on the one hand, and utilizing a grammatical analysis
of the text, on the other. This approach includes various forms of critical analysis
such as source, form, redaction, tradition and textual criticism. The literary/
postmodern view assumes a considerable fluidity between the text, reader, and
the author. There is no meaning innate in the text. Thus in this method, the
politics of interpretation is very important.
The proponents of the redemptive-historical view follows the
theological interpretation of the reformers. They argue that the role of Christ
in his redemptive work is central to interpreting the whole of Scripture,
whether the Old or the New Testament. The canonical method argues for the necessity
of reading the entire canon in relationship to each part of the canon. Thus the
Old Testament should be read in light of the New Testament and the New Testament
in light of the Old Testament. This framework influences the goals, procedures
and results of a canonical approach to biblical hermeneutics. Philosophical-theological
method locates biblical hermeneutics in a postmodern context. It is more concerned
about the philosophy of the hermeneutics.
This book does not offer any conclusion to the question of
hermeneutics (that is impossible in a book), but provides us a very useful survey
of different approaches in the history of biblical hermeneutics. This is a
useful book for all those who are interested in the practical interpretation of
the Bible.
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