The Drama of
Evangelical Hermeneutics

Augustine and Scripture

This presentation assesses how Augustine’s theology of Scripture aligns with evangelical understandings. Lee investigate Augustine’s positions on the historicity of the Bible, the weight of tradition, authorial intent, and Scripture’s narrative shape. he concludes that although Augustine diverges on surprising points from evangelical positions, he shares a familiar commitment to the authority of Scripture and the centrality of Christ for biblical interpretation.

Will the Goof Prevail? The Hermeneutics of Textual Criticism

Text critics working on the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament have often favored textual emendations that permit texts to make immediate sense to them without pursuing with sufficient rigor the possible senses of the text as it stands as a piece of ancient literary art. The excellent text critic requires always to be, at the same time, an accomplished literary critic.

New Testament Quotations of the Old as Divine Speech Acts.

Using Vanhoozer’s work on speech act theory, this paper explores the divine authority of the Old Testament quotations in the New as deriving from a new speech act rather than from strict correspondence to the Hebrew Old Testament source text. Considering Old Testament quotations in the book of Hebrews in light of Vanhoozer’s work demonstrates how the quotations are fully authoritative regardless of their relationship to the extant Hebrew MT source texts.

Reading Between the Lines: On Discerning the Implicit Messages of Scripture

The call of synchronic literary approaches to pay attention to the implicit messages of texts — to read between the lines — is welcome. As is apparent in some recent studies of the book of Samuel, however, attempts to divine the implicit messages of scripture sometimes lead to outside-the-lines readings that disregard the explicit interpretive guideposts of the texts themselves. The present essay seeks to show the serious theological consequences of such misreadings and to commend readings that attend to both the explicit and implicit messages of scripture.

Thomas Aquinas and the Book of Jeremiah

In this lecture, Levering examines Aquinas’s commentary on three passages in the Book of Jeremiah where the prophet cries out to God or undergoes severe personal tribulation: 15:10-21; 20:7-18; and 37-38. Vanhoozer argues that for the theologian, “The model of drama brings into focus the centrality of communicative action, both human and divine.” Leverning focuses on Jeremiah’s complaints and tribulations in order to explore this communicative action. The drama consists in the costliness of bearing God’s word.

John Calvin and the Theological Interpretation of Scripture.

This presentation will examine the theological principles that formed the foundation of John Calvin’s interpretation of Scripture, and identify several continuities and discontinuities between Calvin’s approach and the Theological Interpretation of Scripture. Most importantly, Calvin agrees with evangelical proponents of TIS that the Bible is fundamentally the Church’s book and should be read theologically in light of the historical-redemptive message of God’s grace as fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Baptized Biblical Interpretation: The Place and Function of the Creed

Abstract forthcoming.

The Drama of (Imputation) Doctrine: Original Guilt as Biblical and Systematic Theology

Taking my cues from Kevin Vanhoozer’s theological interpretation, this paper rehabilitates the doctrine of original guilt as a faithful reading of biblical texts and broader canonical judgments. Building on a theological exegesis of Rom. 5:12–21 and 1 Cor. 15:21–22, I develop a wider doctrinal basis for imputed guilt in light of infant baptism and infant death. I conclude that the immediate imputation of Adam’s guilt lies near the heart of the gospel.

Scripture in Sound

No one has done more than Vanhoozer to demonstrate the potential of drama to enrich biblical interpretation. This is an attempt to show what one of his other great passions - music - can contribute to the hermeneutical task, when it opens up and embodies the Scripturally mediated dynamics God’s salvific and reconciliatory action. This will be done, first, with respect to music’s aurality – music as a heard art form, and second, with respect to a phenomenon heavily implicated in music: resonance.