Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 55:2 (Fall 1993)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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WTJ 55:2 (Fall 1993) p. 343

Book Reviews

Anthony C. Thiselton: New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming Biblical Reading. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992. xii, 703. $29.99.

About a decade ago Anthony C. Thiselton produced a major work in philosophical hermeneutics, The Two Horizons (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), which focused particularly on the Continental hermeneutics of Heidegger, Gadamer, Bultmann, and the new hermeneutic. Building on this earlier work, Thiselton has now written another major work of even greater significance. New Horizons in Hermeneutics serves as an advanced textbook in hermeneutics. It undertakes the mammoth task of including “a description and critical evaluation of all the major theoretical models and approaches which characterize current hermeneutical theory, or which have contributed to its present shape” (p. 1). As the subtitle indicates, the book has a particular interest in how major hermeneutical theories may apply to biblical interpretation.

After introductory chapters briefly describing the major types of hermeneutical approaches, the book provides separate chapters on a host of different areas: semiotics and deconstruction (chap. 3); the hermeneutics of tradition among the church fathers (chap. 4); the Reformation and the rise of the modern era (chap. 5); Schleiermacher (chaps. 6–7); existentialism and speech act theory (chap. 8); “metacriticism” and the universality of hermeneutics in Gadamer and Pannenberg (chap. 9); Paul Ricoeur (chap. 10); socio-critical theory (Habermas and Apel) and socio-pragmatic hermeneutics (Richard Rorty) in chap. 11; liberation theologies and feminist hermeneutics (chap. 12); literary theory, including new criticism, formalism, structuralism, deconstruction, and intertextuality (chap. 13); reader-response theories (Iser, Eco, Holland, Bleich, Culler, Fish) in chap. 14. The concluding chaps. 15 and 16 suggest ways in which a multiplicity of models may prove fruitful in the interpretation of biblical texts.

The work is valuable not only for its scope, but for other noteworthy strengths. First, it endeavors to classify the many currents in hermeneutics, so that one may find one’s way through the variety of positions. Second, it endeavors to describe all the different approaches fairly and sympathetically, even in cases where the description remains brief. It helps readers to understand the underlying concerns that drive theories, including theories that at first glance might look outrageous to many.

Third, it suggests ways in which all of the theories may prove useful in biblical studies. It provides a number of specific examples of how a given theory might work when applied to a biblical text. The book helpfully suggests that some genres of texts may invi...

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