New Horizons in Hermeneutics

Rating:
Summary: A monumental work
Review: For advanced students in biblical hermeneutics, this book is indespensible. No more comprehensive analysis of the history and present state of this field is available anywhere. Thiselton traces the more significant developments in hermeneutics in great depth from Schleiermacher up to the present day. In the earlier sections, Thiselton has a tendency ramble. His style becomes significantly more concise, particulalry as he moves toward the contemporary era and the impact of general literary studies on biblical hermeneutics. One of the problems with most discussions of hermeneutics is that they stay almost exclusively on the theoretical level, and rarely venture into application of the methods dsicussed. Thiselton's work is somewhat uneven on this count. The application of some methods is presented and critiqued, while in other areas the biblical text never comes into view. Thankfully, Thiselton does move in determined fashion toward his own hermeneutical perspective, outlines his principles clearly, and offers a preliminary application to some Pauline texts. Biblical studies students will be frustrated that developments in hermeneutics are not more consistently related to the history of biblical exegesis. The hermeneutical assumptions and implications of source and form-criticism, for example, are never discussed directly. These criticisms aside, Thiselton has taken on an immense task and, while his execution is not perfect, there is likely no scholar in the world who could surpass his performance in this vook.

Rating:
Summary: A monumental work
Review: For advanced students in biblical hermeneutics, this book is indespensible. No more comprehensive analysis of the history and present state of this field is available anywhere. Thiselton traces the more significant developments in hermeneutics in great depth from Schleiermacher up to the present day. In the earlier sections, Thiselton has a tendency ramble. His style becomes significantly more concise, particulalry as he moves toward the contemporary era and the impact of general literary studies on biblical hermeneutics. One of the problems with most discussions of hermeneutics is that they stay almost exclusively on the theoretical level, and rarely venture into application of the methods dsicussed. Thiselton's work is somewhat uneven on this count. The application of some methods is presented and critiqued, while in other areas the biblical text never comes into view. Thankfully, Thiselton does move in determined fashion toward his own hermeneutical perspective, outlines his principles clearly, and offers a preliminary application to some Pauline texts. Biblical studies students will be frustrated that developments in hermeneutics are not more consistently related to the history of biblical exegesis. The hermeneutical assumptions and implications of source and form-criticism, for example, are never discussed directly. These criticisms aside, Thiselton has taken on an immense task and, while his execution is not perfect, there is likely no scholar in the world who could surpass his performance in this vook.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult but excellent discussion of how texts have meaning
Review: This is not a work for beginners. While biblical hermeneutics are in view, it really concerns how we interpret any text. Thiselton has one major concern: are there standards of meaning that go beyond any particular society and embrace all humanity, or not? Thiselton argues throughout the book that there are, while thoroughly and (I think) fairly presenting the alternative viewpoint(s). His major supports include the later Wittgenstein, the speach-act theory of Austin and Searle, and (to a lesser extent) the eschatological vision of Pannenberg. His major targets are the deconstruction of Derrida and Barthes, the pragmatism of Rorty and (some but not all) liberation theologies, and the reader-response theory of Fish. In a typically understated British way, he cheerleads for the one side and pans the other through the whole book. In both modes, however, Thiselton keeps an impressive critical distance (most of the time) in admitting both to the strengths of those he opposes and the weaknesses of those he supports. While difficult, I know of no better one volume treatment of the subject. A thorough and discerning work for the serious student.