Recovering Theological Hermeneutics: An Incarnational -Trinitarian Theory of Interpretation

Endorsements: This book is a careful historical demonstration of the way in which hermeneutics was secularized yet continues to borrow on the capital of Christian theology. By exposing the problems inherent in secular hermeneutics and correcting the histories of philosophical hermeneutics on record Zimmerman points a way forward beyond secular hermeneutics. This is a bold project that should be read not only by theologians but more especially by those philosophers working in the wake of Heidegger Gadamer Derrida and Levinas. This book is an excellent addition to any course in philosophical hermeneutics. -- James K. A. Smith author of The Fall of Interpretation In Recovering Theological Hermeneutics Zimmerman offers a compelling argument for the claim that hermeneutics must be theological if it is to be truly hermeneutical. Through a fair and careful reading of premodern and postmodern hermeneutical theorists he shows their true kinship. Building appreciatively (though not uncritically) upon insights of Gadamer Levinas and Derrida Zimmerman draws from Bonhoeffer and Balthasar to construct an incarnational hermeneutic. Zimmerman provides us with a deeply Christian view of human understanding--one that results in nether hermeneutical triumphalism nor hermeneutical despair but affirms understanding as relational historical and ultimately based on Gods revelation. --Bruce Ellis Benson author of Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche Derrida and Marion on Modern Idolatry Recovering Theological Hermeneutics is an important contribution to hermeneutics. Zimmerman provides not only a detailed and convincing historical analysis but also an outline of theological hermeneutics that is ethical incarnational and thus in the best sense of the word truly evangelical. Far from naively idealizing a premodern point of view Zimmerman convincingly works through modern and postmodern thought. In so doing he shows the often-overlooked potential of the premodern Christian tradition without ignoring its difficulties and shortcomings--a challenge to both modern and postmodern theology and indeed philosophy. --Holder Zaborowsky Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg About the Contributor(s): Jens Zimmermann holds a Canada Research Chair at Trinity Western University. He is coauthor of The Passionate Intellect (2006) and coeditor of Being Human Becoming Human: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Social Thought (2010).