Product Description

In this newly revised and expanded edition, Grant Osborne provides seminary students and working pastors with the full set of tools they need to move from sound exegesis to the development of biblical and systematic theologies and to the preparation of sound, biblical sermons.

Osborne contends that hermeneutics is a spiral from text to context a movement between the horizon of the text and the horizon of the reader that spirals nearer and nearer toward the intended meaning of the text and its significance for today.

Well-established as the standard evangelical work in the field since its first publication in 1991, The Hermeneutical Spiral has been updated to meet the needs of a new generation of students and pastors. Thorough revisions have been made throughout, new chapters have been added on Old Testament law and the use of the Old Testament in the New, and the bibliography has been thoroughly updated.

• Seminary students and professors

• Comprehensive.
• Up to Date.
• Includes illustrative charts and diagrams.
• Covers recent developments in criticism and other fields relevant to biblical hermeneutics.
• Moves from exegesis to theology to sermon preparation.
• Original edition won 1993 Christianity Today Critics' Choice Award.
• Now thoroughly revised throughout with two new chapters covering Old Testament law and the use of the Old Testament in the New.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34296 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780830828265
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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About the Author
Osborne (Ph.D., University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He also serves as series editor for the IVP New Testament Commentary Series.

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive and practical.
This book is aptly subtitled, for comprehensive it is! Osborne goes the length in this book from explaining how to study the Biblical text in its original language to advice on delivery of sermons.

A basic thesis he mentions a number of times throughout the book is that the goal of hermeneutics is not the commentary but the sermon. This textbook is very detailed and yet practical: almost everything he writes is aimed at how to write a relevant sermon for a congregation today.

Part one deals with General Hermeneutics. Here he addresses matters of context, grammar, semantics, syntax, and historical and cultural backgrounds.

In part two Osborne discusses extensively the different genre of the Bible which he divides as narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, apocalyptic, parable, and epistle. A preacher will do well to consult the different chapters when preaching on a text of a particular genre.

In Part 3, the author deals with Applied Hermeneutics. He writes about the place of Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology in the interpretation of Scripture. The second to last chapter is about contextualization-showing a congregation today how the text is relevant for them. The book comes together in the last chapter, "The Sermon," in which Osborne gives both theoretical and practical instruction in preparing the sermon and preaching.

Osborne promotes what is often called the textual-thematic (also known as textual- reconstructive or expository) sermon. He does not, however, totally reject the topical sermon.

This is a very good book. It would serve well as a textbook for a seminary course on hermeneutics. Considering its size (500 pages of dense type), a minister in a busy pastorate might be a bit intimidated to take it on. But then, that's what sabbaticals are for!

Provides a Solid Foundation for Biblical Interpretation
The size of the book may seem daunting to many (500+ pages), but the knowledge contained within will be worth your time if you are considering to properly study the Bible. This book pretty much covers the wide range of subjects necessary to properly interpret the biblical texts. It doesn't address each of these subjects in extensive details, but it does provide a solid foundation for further investigation. Most of the material contained within the book can be very dry - like any other textbook or instruction manual, but it is invaluable for properly studying the Bible. I would recommend reading the book straight through the first time, and then put it on your shelf as a handy reference tool.

Sink Your Teeth Into This....
This book by Dr. Grant Osborne is an excellent resource, particularly for the scholar or the pastor. Osborne shows the consequential relationships between the various types of theology, forms, genres, and styles that make the New Testament similar to other books despite being totally unlike any other book in terms of the fact it is God-breathed.

The most valuable part of the book in my opinion was the brief discussion of exegetical fallacies that permeate the teaching and preaching ministries of so many. Adopted from DA Carson, the fallacies demonstrated both human frailty and the necessity of learning. The reader would do well to get Carson's book as well, but this is a must-have resource for all concerned about New Testament truth.