The Need for a Gospel Centered Hermeneutic

  

A few days ago I introduced Graeme Goldsworthy's Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics which has just been released in paperback. I have just started reading the book, but was struck by the first paragraph from the preface which echoes some of my own propectives. Goldsworthy states:

"Since 1995 I have taught a fourth-year BD elective in hermeneutics at Moore Theological College. After a couple of years the college agreed to my request to a change in the course from a general study of hermeneutics to one designated as ‘Principles of Evangelical Hermeneutics.’ My main motivation in seeking the change was a pastoral one. I was concerned that the possession of the Bible by the people of God, the so-called people in the pews, was being eroded by the tremendous upsurge of interest in hermeneutics at the academic level. Not that the subject itself is illegitimate, but the regressive nature of much modern hermeneutics under the influence of the latest philosophical moods has contributed to the eclipse of the gospel in biblical interpretation. Sooner or later, the concerns of academia begin to affect the pastors and teachers exposed to them during their time as students, and are passed on through sermons and Christian education to the laity."