Divine Interpretation

By publishing these essays together for the first time, this collection widens access to a number of T. F. Torrance’s illuminating studies on the history of biblical hermeneutics. Moreover, by detailing Torrance’s extensive engagement with primary sources, which generally appear only in summary form across his writings, this collection reveals to readers how Torrance’s own theological hermeneutics were forged through deep fellowship with the communion of the saints.

The Holy Scriptures are fundamental for Christianity, providing the basis for faith and morality. They are supremely important because they contain divine revelation. Christians speak of them as the "Word of God." In this study Paul Helm, an experienced philosopher, brings his expertise to bear on such expressions as "infallible," "Word of God," and "propositional revelation," which are in common usage in contemporary Christianity. His aim is to help Christians know what they are claiming when they use these a similar words and phrases. He has performed an indispensable task for all who take the Bible seriously. Paul Helm is J.I. Packer Professor in Theology and Philosophy at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. Formerly he was Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion at King's College. He has also served as President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion. He the author of many books, including The Providence of God, Calvin and the Calvinists, and Eternal God.

In six closely-reasoned chapters, Joseph Gordon presents a detailed account of a Christian doctrine of Scripture in the fullest context of systematic theology. Divine Scripture in Human Understanding addresses the confusing plurality of contemporary approaches to Christian Scripture—both within and outside the academy—by articulating a traditionally grounded, constructive systematic theology of Christian Scripture. Utilizing primarily the methodological resources of Bernard Lonergan and traditional Christian doctrines of Scripture recovered by Henri de Lubac, it draws upon achievements in historical-critical study of Scripture, studies of the material history of Christian Scripture, reflection on philosophical hermeneutics and philosophical and theological anthropology, and other resources to articulate a unified but open horizon for understanding Christian Scripture today. Following an overview of the contemporary situation of Christian Scripture, Joseph Gordon identifies intellectual precedents for the work in the writings of Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine, who all locate Scripture in the economic work of the God to whom it bears witness by interpreting it through the Rule of Faith. Subsequent chapters draw on Scripture itself; classical sources such as Irenaeus, Origen, Augustine, and Aquinas; the fruit of recent studies on the history of Scripture; and the work of recent scholars and theologians to provide a contemporary Christian articulation of the divine and human locations of Christian Scripture and the material history and intelligibility and purpose of Scripture in those locations. The resulting constructive position can serve as a heuristic for affirming the achievements of traditional, historical-critical, and contextual readings of Scripture and provides a basis for addressing issues relatively underemphasized by those respective approaches.

In his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, Hegel treats the religions of the world under the rubric "the determinate religion." This is a part of his corpus that has traditionally been neglected since scholars have struggled to understand what philosophical work it is supposed to do. In Hegel's Interpretation of the Religions of the World, Jon Stewart argues that Hegel's rich analyses of Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Egyptian and Greek polytheism, and the Roman religion are not simply irrelevant historical material, as is often thought. Instead, they play a central role in Hegel's argument for what he regards as the truth of Christianity. Hegel believes that the different conceptions of the gods in the world religions are reflections of individual peoples at specific periods in history. These conceptions might at first glance appear random and chaotic, but there is, Hegel claims, a discernible logic in them. Simultaneously, a theory of mythology, history, and philosophical anthropology, Hegel's account of the world religions goes far beyond the field of philosophy of religion. The controversial issues surrounding his treatment of the non-European religions are still very much with us today and make his account of religion an issue of continued topicality in the academic landscape of the twenty-first century.

Theological Interpretation of Scripture often begins and ends in the academy even though it is intended to find its bearing in the heart of the church. This volume seeks to bridge that gap by showing how the exegetical methods of TIS are themselves spiritually formative and naturally intersect into the life of the church.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

Divine and Demonic in the Poetic Mythology of the Zohar offers a new interpretation of the Kabbalistic “Other Side,” exploring the intimacies and antagonisms of divine and demonic, and showing how the Zoharic literature contributes to thinking about alterity generally.