Biblical Hermeneutics Between Text and Reader : A History of Interpretation
Arie W. Zwiep presents a comprehensive account of biblical interpretation from classical antiquity to the twenty-first century. Covering both Jewish and Christian traditions, he traces the historical development of biblical hermeneutics across changing intellectual, theological, and cultural settings, engaging seminal figures such as Augustine, Luther, Schleiermacher, Gadamer, and Ricoeur. He argues that meaning emerges through the dynamic interaction of text, reader, and context, rather than residing exclusively in any one of these dimensions.
Methodologically, the author combines historical reconstruction with conceptual analysis. He examines major interpretive practices, influential thinkers, and shifting paradigms of understanding, situating developments in exegesis within their wider social, religious, and philosophical environments. The theoretical framework is informed by philosophical hermeneutics, particularly the view that understanding is historically conditioned and takes shape through the encounter between text and reader.
Arie W. Zwiep demonstrates how successive interpretive models - from allegorical and patristic readings to Reformation approaches, historical criticism, and contemporary reader-oriented theories - reflect changing assumptions about authority, language, history, and meaning. At the same time, he highlights enduring hermeneutical questions that transcend particular periods and traditions.
His principal scholarly contribution lies in offering an integrated history of interpretation that brings exegetical, historical, theological, and philosophical perspectives into a single analytical framework. By mapping the evolving relationship between text, reader, and context across more than two millennia, the author provides a synthetic account of continuity and change in biblical interpretation and a critical orientation to contemporary hermeneutical debates.
Customer Reviews
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
