Biblical Hermeneutics is a response to a request placed at the 2015 General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventists in San Antonio, Texas, to do further work on biblical hermeneutics. While this request was triggered by a particular question about ordination, the issues we face as a church in hermeneutics are much larger. Therefore, it is appropriate that the authors of this significant volume address the wide range of hermeneutical issues encountered by students of Scripture with a resultant harmony of theology and praxis.
After an introduction presenting a general overview, 14 chapters follow addressing the interpreter’s presuppositions (chapter 1); the trustworthiness of Scripture (chapters 2–4); Scripture and culture (chapter 5); faith and science (chapter 6); biblical interpretation (chapter 7), including how later Bible writers interpreted earlier passages (chapter 8); prophetic interpretation (chapters 9, 10); and the relationship between the gift of prophecy and sola scriptura (chapter 13). Other chapters present Genesis 1 as a test case for hermeneutics (chapter 11), a historical survey of Adventist presuppositions and methods (chapter 12), and an overview and evaluation of current trends in biblical interpretation (chapter 14). An appendix on “Methods of Bible Study” presents the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s official statement on the subject, voted in 1986 by the Executive Committee of the General Conference.
The historical and literary features of the text receive careful examination. In contrast to critical approaches that reconstruct the meaning behind the biblical text, or postmodern reader-response approaches that seek the meaning in the reader in front of the text, the authors endorse the decisiveness of the actual biblical text for its proper interpretation. This also requires the interpreter to identify from Scripture itself culture-related or conditional elements that were specific to Israel, as well as universal elements that are still normative for us today.
Each chapter is thoroughly researched and documented. The authors allow Scripture to shape their presuppositions, accepting Scripture as divinely conditioned but historically constituted, providing us with a trustworthy account of God’s will. They affirm the divine authority of Scripture and make clear that, for a proper understanding of the Bible, the interpreter needs to approach it with humility, an open mind, and an obedient heart.
The book explores current issues in greater depth and investigates important questions that have not received adequate attention in previous volumes. It thus advances our understanding of the hermeneutical process and may conveniently be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate theology students. Although written from an Adventist perspective, this book is, as its title indicates, a truly biblical hermeneutic. While academic in scope, this book is written in such a way that any serious student of Scripture will profit from it. As such, I highly recommend this volume for any person, be it a scholar, theologian, minister, or lay elder, who is seeking to better understand the meaning of the Bible in a way that is faithful to Scripture itself.
It is hoped that this volume will help others better understand the richness and beauty of biblical hermeneutics. It has the potential to lead scholars and theologians of all backgrounds toward greater unity in their biblical interpretation. Its chapters challenge us to allow Scripture to speak for itself rather than to superimpose outside categories or predetermined conclusions on the biblical text. May it help us continue to affirm Scripture as our “only creed,” the basis of our theology, message, and mission.
