Mere Christian Hermeneutics

“Praise for Mere Christian Hermeneutics I select one highlight among many luminous points in this book: Mere Christian Hermeneutics offers a reformed catholic paradigm for reading divinely inspired, canonical Scripture in the context of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church and within a christological, historically attuned, and eschatologically oriented Protestant framework. And this is only one theme it rehearses. Could this be Kevin Vanhoozer’s most brilliant book yet? Tolle, lege, crede!”

Gregg R. Allison

“constructive way forward. Mere Christian Hermeneutics is a creative yet biblically disciplined proposal worthy of close engagement by everyone who is serious about reading Scripture as the Word of God. This is a stellar contribution to Vanhoozer’s promising “mere Christian” theological project. Highly recommended!”

Uche Anizor

“Kevin Vanhoozer once more draws deep connections between reading practices old and new, theological confessions catholic and reformed, and hermeneutical insights literary and “literal.” The result: literal + figural = transfiguring interpretation. This theological tour de force is generously marked throughout by a wonderful wisdom and lyrical largesse. Case studies on light in Scripture raise, as it were, “literally fascinating” questions. This book will not resolve all the church’s fractured interpretive debates, but may it illuminate her pilgrimage through the ongoing struggles of biblical interpretation in our time.”

Richard S. Briggs

“In Mere Christian Hermeneutics, Kevin Vanhoozer constructs a bridge across the modern divide between exegesis and theology. He suggests a rapprochement that presses for engagement with both literal and spiritual (“transfigural”) readings. With his characteristic engagement and facility with ancient and modern interpreters of Scripture, Vanhoozer problematizes disinterested readings and seeks to demonstrate the existential stake all readers have in biblical interpretation. A bold clarion call from an eminent scholar for Scriptural reading as a spiritual endeavor.”

Jeannine K. Brown

“been the leading evangelical scholar of Christian theological interpretation of Scripture. With this volume he finally delivers what so many of us have been waiting for: the mature fruit of his long labors. Vanhoozer understands that church, theology, and hermeneutics all need each other as fellow creatures and servants of God’s living word. In this “reformed catholic” proposal, we see all the puzzle pieces brought together by a lover and lifelong student of Christ’s powerful speech. It is a fitting completion of Vanhoozer’s “mere Christian” trilogy; it will immediately become a touchstone for pastors, theologians, and biblical scholars. Above all, it directs readers’ gaze to the face of Christ, shining with the Spirit’s light. The glory that once shone on Tabor through the human flesh of Jesus is one and the same as the glory that shines even now through the human words of Scripture. Vanhoozer helps us to see what was true all along: namely, that transfiguration encapsulates our life with God through his word—whether spoken aloud, written in ink, or incarnate in flesh and blood.”

Brad East

“redemptively irresponsible. Mere Christian Hermeneutics calls on its readers to ascend the mount of a transfigured text, to see Jesus just as he is. The church and its members—and academics too!—would do well to go hiking with Professor Vanhoozer up this mountain. Who knows? Perhaps we will be transfigured as well. I certainly hope so.”

Mark Gignilliat

“Christians are formed through Scripture to be literate citizens of the gospel who bear witness to the light of Christ in the world as they are transfigured into the likeness of Christ. This clarion call is a must-read for pastors, seminary professors and administrators, and all who care about deep Christian formation.”

Kristen Deede Johnson

“but in daily ascents to the Holy Scriptures where each member of the Godhead glitters theological brilliance onto the pages of our embodiment: honing our biblical and theological interpretation, transfiguring our desires, and transforming our agency closer to his likeness.”

Matthew D. Kim

“Biblical scholars treat all sorts of theological themes. Why then is historical-critical biblical scholarship not enough by itself? In this major study, the eminent theologian Kevin Vanhoozer answers this question. With the erudite rigor and gentlemanly patience for which he is known, he sifts through a vast array of approaches and arguments. I love his emphasis on Christ’s transfiguration, an event that literally reveals the theophanic and eschatological power of God’s Word in history, requiring the eyes of faith and calling forth divine-human communion.”

Matthew Levering

“Vanhoozer ranges widely and thought-provokingly in this lucid and challenging book. It will surely become a landmark in discussions of what it means to read the Bible theologically.”

R. W. L. Moberly

“beginning exegetical theologians and capacious enough to invigorate mature practitioners of the craft, all readers will be revived to kneel at the feet of God’s voice in Scripture and become faithful respondents, “canonically aware and redemptively responsible.” This is a beautiful book that will become, I wager, a giant in the field because it so faithfully points to the light of Christ.”

Amy Peeler

“From a giant in systematic thinking about the Bible comes a monumental and generous volume that promises to lead biblical and theological scholars from different traditions together in a task they share with all believers: to hear God speak in the Scriptures and thereby to be changed into the likeness of his Son. The title’s mere has little to do with modesty or limits, but trades on the word’s original sense of “pure” and “gleaming.” For Vanhoozer explores how reading Scripture is properly done in the service of entering into God’s glory. This goal orders his presentation around the reality of Christ’s transfiguration, with Scripture as the divine avenue for participating in this transformative truth. Creatively conceived, richly articulated, and faithfully penetrating, Vanhoozer’s book marks—for Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals alike—a converting invitation as much as a scholarly landmark.”

Ephraim Radner

“What a gift this book is to our age. It is not just an expansive survey of a vast field, nor just an invitation to cooperate and come to terms, nor just a curated ensemble of helpful techniques and methods. Beyond all that, Vanhoozer has set forth here a coherent and comprehensive vision for the interdisciplinary work of interpreting Scripture. Mere Christian Hermeneutics reaches the heights of clarity and throws light in all directions.”

Fred Sanders

“This book is what we need now. Before the turn of the century many of us struggled with the meaning of meaning, and Kevin Vanhoozer’s Is There a Meaning in This Text? helped us find a way through everything that was going on. Mere Christian Hermeneutics by Vanhoozer goes further and emphasizes the outcomes of Scripture study in terms of righteousness and loving and serving the Lord. The idea that there is such a thing as mere Christian hermeneutics—a shared interpretive perspective of all Christians everywhere from the resurrection to the second coming—needs attention. Vanhoozer helps readers grapple with the dynamics of and variations within this shared perspective by showing how frames of reference and reading cultures shift interpretation. Every student and every pastor needs to read Mere Christian Hermeneutics. I know how much it already has helped me.”

Gary Edward Schnittjer

“Vanhoozer is my favorite modern writer on hermeneutics, and this is my favorite book of his on the topic. Not only does he tackle the toughest questions, but he does so in a way that is both grounded in the literal sense and extends this literality to a transfigural theological reading. Employing the transfiguration, he shows us why we must interpret not only grammatically and historically but theologically and eschatologically. While theological interpretation has suffered from lack of clarity, this book shows why we must read theologically and how we ought to do so. My hope is that evangelical hermeneutics will be transfigured by this important and timely work.”

Patrick Schreiner

“Faithful interpretation of the beauty and depth of Scripture requires sensitivity to its literary, theological, and transformative elements; however, modern-day discipline-entrenched academics have fashioned these elements into tools of division, obscuring Scripture’s beauty with man-made towers of scholarly achievement. In Mere Christian Hermeneutics, Kevin Vanhoozer reminds us that interpretation is not a siloed endeavor for competing craftsmen but rather an exercise in knowing and seeing God in the face of Christ as God’s people read and are transformed by his Word. Building on biblical themes such as ascent and transfiguration, Vanhoozer masterfully constructs a proposal for a fully formed “literal sense” that takes seriously Scripture in all its beauty and depth as God’s address to us. If taken seriously, Mere Christian Hermeneutics can overcome the various divides that affect not only the academy but also the global church, drawing God’s people together under the light of Christ.”

Brandon D. Smith

“divides.”

Keith Stanglin

“According to Thomas Aquinas, it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate. Over the past several decades, Kevin Vanhoozer has distinguished himself as one of the brightest of lights in the constellation of Christian theology and has devoted himself to enlightening others through his teaching and writing. In the present volume, Vanhoozer delivers truths long contemplated to the reading public for its greater illumination. With the help of a clear distinction (between Scripture’s literal sense and its providential frame of reference) and a lucid analogy (Christ’s divine light is to his body as Scripture’s “transfigural” sense is to its letter), Vanhoozer illumines a pathway to reading Holy Scripture within the providential economy of divine light that shines most fully in the face of Jesus Christ and that summons us to hear his voice (Matt 17:5). Mere Christian Hermeneutics is a clarion call to faithful and fruitful biblical interpretation.”

Scott R. Swain

“Kevin Vanhoozer has a gift for revitalizing evangelical theology with imaginative paradigms. This hermeneutical magnum opus does it again! The transfiguration paradigm coherently extends his earlier thinking—on textual meaning, the drama of doctrine, and thus theological exegesis—yet sheds new light on an enduring challenge and a glorious reality: the canonical, Christological extension of Scripture’s literal sense.”

Daniel Treier

“Kevin Vanhoozer is someone who I am glad has shaped the reading cultures in which I participate. This present volume exemplifies all of the reasons for my gratitude: a meticulous attention to the theological nature of interpretation, a clear emphasis on the need for moral and spiritual transformation of the reader, and a resolute priority on the ontology of Scripture as guide for hermeneutics. Not only that, but here he both shows and tells: through an insightful engagement with Christ’s transfiguration and other figurally related biblical texts, Vanhoozer proves to us the rich promise of his theological vision. I am thankful for his intuitive influence on my work, and this book clearly illustrates why.”

Fellipe do Vale