Hermeneutics and the Church

Cover

Download PDF (40.4 KB)
 

Title Page, Copyright

Download PDF (98.8 KB)
 

Contents

Download PDF (22.7 KB)
pp. vii-viii

Acknowledgments

Download PDF (42.3 KB)
pp. ix-xii

This book has taken some five years to finish, but the questions behind it have concerned me for much longer. In my first homiletics course, I could not figure out how to bridge the gap between the biblical exegesis I had learned and the sermon I had to preach on Acts 22:3–11. Only after writing...

Abbreviations

Download PDF (39.0 KB)
pp. xiii-

Introduction

Download PDF (69.3 KB)
pp. 1-12

Scriptural interpretation is an enduring concern of the church and will remain so until the eschaton. There is no shortage of methodologies on offer and, for that reason, it might seem out of place for another book to be written that argues for a certain form of appropriate interpretive practice. Likewise...

1 Augustine’s De doctrina christiana

Download PDF (211.1 KB)
pp. 13-42

If, as the introduction argued, the goal is to allow Augustine to be an active dialogue partner with contemporary theology, a good way to allow him a say—to allow him to be a voice from outside—is to allow him to set the parameters of the discussion. It has already been decided, on the...

2 De doctrina christiana

Download PDF (200.4 KB)
pp. 43-70

De doctrina was important for the young Augustine: he seems to have released the first two books before he finished the work. The older Augustine, moreover, felt compelled to complete it. This demonstrates that the work is an entirety and that he did not mean for it to be split into two. If the...

3 Theological Hermeneutics

Download PDF (260.3 KB)
pp. 71-116

An initial problem confronts the contemporary theologian who wants to make use of De doctrina christiana as a hermeneutical text: on one hand, it looks similar to hermeneutical treatises written today—it contains philosophical concepts, discussions about the text and the reader...

4 Community, Hermeneutics, Rhetoric

Download PDF (255.1 KB)
pp. 117-158

While it has been established that Augustine’s hermeneutics, as espoused in De doctrina christiana, is what I have labeled an a posteriori theological hermeneutics, it remains to be seen just what ongoing interpretive practices inform De doctrina, that is, what communal location he presupposes...

5 De doctrina christiana and the Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Download PDF (284.3 KB)
pp. 159-208

The preceding discussion regarding the presupposed communal context of means that Augustine can now be placed in dialogue with a contemporary theologian who presupposes a similar communal context, who, in other words, has an a posteriori hermeneutics. In a recent work...

Conclusion

Download PDF (116.9 KB)
pp. 209-232

The previous chapters have allowed Augustine to be a living voice in dialogue with contemporary theological hermeneutics. During the course of the investigation, a number of points were highlighted, both with respect to..

Notes

Download PDF (244.4 KB)
pp. 233-274

Bibliography

Download PDF (161.9 KB)
pp. 275-297

Index of Ancient Texts

Download PDF (43.8 KB)
pp. 298-300

Index of Names and Subjects

Download PDF (56.9 KB)
pp. 301-303