An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning

Bernard Ramm's Protestant Biblical Hermeneutics, published in 1956, attracted a broad spectrum of Bible readers and set the tone of biblical interpretation for a whole generation of evangelical students. An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics could have a similar role for this generation at the end of the twentieth century. Almost every assumption that Ramm made has been challenged and tested by the winds of modernity and post-modernity. The severity of the changes from earlier patterns of thinking is reflected in the subtitle to this book, The Search for Meaning. This book is distinctive from others on hermeneutics in that the authors, rather than writing from a single viewpoint, hold differing opinions on many issues. There are more areas where they agree than disagree, including the authority of Scripture and the primacy of authorial meaning; but where they disagree is precisely where the issues are most crucial for the future. So the readers are invited , in effect, to eavesdrop on a vibrant dialogue between two scholars and to reach their own conclusions. Despite the convivial tone, the readers must not mistake how great the stakes are. In a culture that prizes individuality and personal freedom, the primary question is no longer 'Is it true?' but rather 'Does it matter?' hence the question of relevancy has taken precedence over the questions 'What does the text mean?' This book therefore confronts the question of meaning and shows how evangelicals may still clearly hear the Word from God amid the cacophony of the age.