Author: Kaiser, Walter C.
Genre: Hermeneutics
Tags: Dispensationalism, Doctrine / Theology, Modern Authors / Theological Issues
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
We have all used Walter Kaiser’s writings over the years (especially his Toward and Exegetical Theology). This book was originally published by Moody Press in 1985 and has since been reprinted by Wipf and Stock Publishers in 2001. The subject of the use of Old Testament passages (prophetical, typological, theological, and practical) by New Testament writers is still a most debated hermeneutical topic. It is one of the topics currently dividing dispensationalists. Kaiser does not call himself a dispensationalist except in the use of the word only. But Kaiser has always been good on the grammatical/historical method of interpretation. Key to this book is his insistence on authorial intent of the OT writers, and also the single meaning of a text. He writes, “The axiom of interpretation that makes communication possible is ‘no passage in any literature has more than one sense’ unless that literature signals us that we are dealing with phrases with double entendre [intention], enigmas, or the like.” Adherence to this principle keeps the NT writer or the reader/exegete from reading his own ideas into the text by some principle other than the grammatical/historical principle. We cannot divorce the NT writer’s OT reference from the single meaning of that OT author. The NT writer may be referring to a fulfillment or a principle or an application, but none of these is valid unless it is built upon the sure foundation of what the OT writer meant.