Author: Blaising, Craig, Bock, Darrell L.
Genre: Theology - Dispensationalism
Tags: Dispensationalism
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock wrote this book in 1993 as a follow-up to their 1992 book, Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church. Blaising and Bock are the foremost spokesmen for the progressive dispensationalism point of view. This book reads as an encyclopedia of topics held by the progressive dispensationalists. Here is an advocate’s explanation of complementary hermeneutics, already-not yet view of the kingdom, New Testament priority, sensus plenior hermeneutics, and dual authorship.
Most interesting is the change from grammatical/historical interpretation to grammatical/historical/literary-theological interpretation. In chapter three, “Interpreting the Bible-How Texts Speak to Us,” Blaising writes, “Third, the literary-theological level highlights that fact that there is an abiding message and unity in the text, which is laid out literarily in various ways called genres. Each genre presents truth in its own way and makes unique demands for how it should be read. Reading the Bible requires an awareness of the changing nature of the terrain within the text, as well as an appreciation of the various angles used to present the truth . . . What emerges is what we will call the ‘historical-grammatical-literary-theological’ method. This four-fold description of hermeneutics is really what most mean when they speak simply of the historical-grammatical method” (p. 77). However, by the addition of “literary” they have added a more allegorical hermeneutic to the traditional “literal” approach.