The Hermeneutics of Doctrine. By ANTHONY C. THISELTON.

Abstract

Over forty years Professor Thiselton has contributed massively to English theological education by bringing together his philosophical training and his New Testament scholarship, and showing how the modern discussion of hermeneutics from Schleiermacher and Dilthey to Gadamer and Ricoeur can enlarge and enliven Christians’ theological understanding of Scripture. The 1920s German revival of interest in the theory and problems of interpretation, and its mid and late twentieth-century reception in France and North America, have been mediated in Britain by Dr Thiselton’s patient and accurate exposition of the key thinkers, his careful sifting of the uneven mass of modern publications, and his judicious pointers to how much a traditional Christianity can absorb from these debates while disputing those aspects of postmodernity most destructive of belief. So much of his work has been on the boundaries of New Testament exegesis and doctrine that it was natural for him to follow up his excellent exegetical commentary on 1 Corinthians by turning his well-digested philosophical resources to the doctrinal tradition. The result is a bulky work which remakes the case for appropriating this mainly European thought (pp. 3–173) before explaining the major themes in Christian doctrine from creation through anthropology and soteriology (six chapters) to Christology, the Holy Spirit, God as Trinity, Church and ministry, Word and sacraments, and eschatology (one chapter each). That distribution is indicative of Dr Thiselton’s Protestant background and commitment, but also signals the areas where his suggestions are most fruitful. A fine chapter on the image of God (ch. 11) is followed by two on sin: ‘The Hermeneutics of Misdirected Desire’, and ‘Toward a Hermeneutic of the Fall and Collective Sin’. Biblical perspectives and the history of doctrine are brought to bear in ways that will surely help clergy wondering what to say (or failing to say anything sensible) about sin today.