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SCM Studyguide to Biblical Hermeneutics, David A. Holgate and Rachel Starr, London: SCM Press, 2006, 224 pp.
David Holgate is the Vice Principal and Dean of STETS, the theological study centre for Anglicans, Methodists and United Reformed divinity students in the UK. Rachel Starr, a former staff member of STETS, is a doctoral candidate at ISDET in Argentina.
On David Holgate’s blog the publication is described as “An emergent approach to biblical interpretation”. By “emergent” is implied the Emerging Church Movement, which seeks to reinterpret the church, theology and hermeneutics in a postmodern way. It has been strongly criticized by conservative evangelicals such as Don Carson and John MacArthur. In the same year that this book was published, IVP published Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, which provides a completely different approach to biblical hermeneutics.
The opening sections of the book deal with the influence of the Bible, its authority and canon. These are dealt with in an open-ended way. For instance readers are invited to think about books, songs or films they would like to add to an extended canon (p. 34).
The largest section is on tools for exegesis. This includes such diverse topics as discourse analysis, narrative criticism, form criticism, tradition criticism and impact history (the history of the effect the text has had on readers). Although readers are encouraged to engage in different ways with the text, liberationist hermeneutics are regularly referred to.
A further chapter deals with reader-response criticism. This includes the idea of reading as a community. The authors quote Bauckham, stating that such communities should “allow for the Jeremiahs and the Luthers”. The presence of such people naturally makes if difficult for the group to function together (p. 119).
Following this there is a section of Committed Readings, which concerns approaching scripture with a particular viewpoint. For instance identifying the readers own worldview or using the social sciences to analyse texts (as for example in the work of Philip Esler.
The final sections deal with the process of dialogue with the text and a commitment to liberationist and life-affirming interpretations of the Bible.
Unfortunately the book contains quite a number of textual errors. For instance on the opening page the web link for Roman Catholic interpretation does not exist, the reference to Soulen and Soulen should be Handbook of Biblical Criticism and not Handbook of Biblical Interpretation.
The publication reflects some of the strengths and weaknesses of postmodernism. It offers a wide range of options for interpreting the Bible, encourages an involvement with the text and avoids dogmatism. The publication itself seeks to be interactive with its readers, with some 77 “Try it out” sections giving personal exercises to experience what is being explained.
David Ford, Profesor del Nuevo Testamento, Fundación Universitaria Seminario Bíblico de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia