I have had this book in my Amazon basket for way too long. Unfortunately it had slipped to the third page of my books to buy and I had forgotten about it, until an Amazon price change reminded me it was there (I saved a whole 4 pence on the previous price)!

So this book is a look at various fallacies of biblical exegesis. It is the kind of book any serious student of scripture should read, and the author is very careful to limit his criticism to criticism of method, without getting caught up in defending his own theological persuasions. Indeed he even criticises his own published work, which seems very fair.

The book is divided into sections - firstly on fallacies around language (words especially), then around grammar, then logical fallcies and presuppositional fallacies and such like. The structure works well enough, although by the end I was wondering whether there was another way to structure the material. On reflection, I cannot think of anything better though. the problem is simply that there are too many ways we can err.

I felt that some knowledge of Greek helped me in the reading of this book. The author transliterates all the Greek words he discusses, but he does not actually translate any (and does the same with German once too). Fortunately I understood everything I needed to, but I felt a translation would make this book more accessible to students of the Bible with no knowledge of Greek, who are not working from the Greek but might be evaluating the arguments of people who are saying things like "ah well, in the original Greek we see this word play..."

Some of my favourite pet peeves were covered nicely in this book, and many others I had not considered. And the fact that I can think of other pet peeves that were not covered is not a bad reflection on the book, because the point is to give us the exegetical tools for avoiding falling into error. And inasmuch as that is what the book is attempting, it achieves just that. ( )

Donald A. Carson is currently a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Prior to arriving at Trinity in 1978, Dr. Carson taught at Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary, Northwest Baptist Theological College, Richmond College and Central Baptist Seminary. He received his Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary and his Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from Cambridge University. His areas of expertise entail biblical theology, the historical Jesus, postmodernism, pluralism, Greek grammar, Johannine theology, Pauline theology, and questions of suffering and evil. He has authored or edited more than 45 books to date

One of the many books he has written is “Exegetical Fallacies,” which is a collection of exegetical conclusions which are demonstrated by D.A. Carson to be invalid for various reasons. The material contained in the book was first delivered as a lecture and then later published. The author admits that there are an abundance of New Testament fallacies listed because that is an area of his expertise and experience.

The purpose of the work is to demonstrate improper methods of exegesis that will challenge one toward a more disciplined approach of studying and interpreting Scripture. Carson has a strong belief that Scripture, given by God, demands thorough and critical exegesis in order to adequately justify one’s opinion. One of the challenges evident in evangelical study is the variety of theological conclusions. This does not cast doubt on Scripture but on one’s hermeneutical and exegetical practices. Carson expresses his desire to see mature scholars move to a greater unity in doctrinal areas by giving adequate time and setting aside preferences and insecurities, thereby focusing on solid exegesis to arrive at valid conclusions.

The author admits that the focus on so many negative examples can be a dangerous path to travel without perspective and humility. This kind of book can also be a source of frustration about the probability of one’s own exegetical mistakes. The author delimits his focusing on exegesis, “actually interpreting the text,” as compared to hermeneutics, “the nature of the interpretive process” emphasizing the errors of the practitioner. It is not a comprehensive work but provides no less than 56 examples to challenge one to become more critical in reaching exegetical conclusions.

The first section of Carson’s book focuses on sixteen fallacies related to word studies. He begins by identifying the “root fallacy” where individuals try to explain the meaning of a word by explaining the roots of the word. Carson provides one example where various scholars take the word “ὑπηρέτας” and draw various conclusions from its roots “ὑπό” and “ἐρέτης” to arrive at the meaning of the word providing an erroneous meaning. He provides three caveats related to this issue. He warns that words have a specific range of meaning and that the meaning of a word potentially is bound up in its individual parts. Even though Carson points out some false conclusions of etymological study he affirms its usefulness. Some of the examples can be a little difficult to understand for someone unfamiliar with the original languages. Many other examples are highlighted by Carson and he concludes the chapter by emphasizing the importance of context in determining the best meanings of specific words.

The second section of his book examines grammatical fallacies, three which are connected with various tenses and moods and five fallacies related to various syntactical units. The aorist tense tends to cause many fallacies because of the belief that an aorist verb is only punctiliar in nature. Carson reveals several examples compiled by Frank Stagg which demonstrate how scholars have given too much weight to the aorist tense in their interpretations when the tense itself does not lend to such an interpretation. Another example provided by Carson is the use of definite articles in an English translation just because the Greek text has one. Carson is hopeful that grammatical fallacies will decrease as better tools such as GRAMCORD become available for use.

A third section of Carson’s book exposes eighteen logical fallacies. Several examples are listed where Carson breaks down an author’s argument into a syllogism which quickly reveals that the argument has not been handled in a valid way. Others confuse their present worldview and try to interpret Scripture through their own lenses. Many people tend to generalize a text and its meaning without the consideration of the rest of the Bible corpus.

The fourth section of the book covers three presuppositional and four historical fallacies. Carson introduces three different kinds of hermeneutical approaches. Traditionally, hermeneutics has been a science where the “interpreter is the subject and the text is the object” and the goal of the interpreter is to draw conclusions about the text. However, there is a great gulf between the interpreter and the text that is not adequately addressed. The new hermeneutic is aware of the great gulf and emphasizes the “baggage” an interpreter brings to the text that affects one’s questions and interpretations of the text. The danger of this new approach is the variety of meanings that a text can have depending on how one looks at it through a particular lens, which are relative to the interpreter. Some approach hermeneutics from this perspective with the metaphor of a spiral where the interpreter gains a closer and clearer perspective of the text through the continual interpretive process. The distance between the interpreter and the text is a valuable concept to grasp is one is to correctly interpret Scripture. Radical hermeneutics does not emphasize traditional hermeneutical theory and rules but focuses more on the interpreter and one’s interaction with the text than the text itself which places the interpreter’s viewpoint and conclusions above the meaning of the original authors of the books of the Bible.

One must recognize the distanciation between the interpreter and the text or one will bring personal theological viewpoints and force them on the text in unwarranted ways. Recognition of the historical differences will enable one to more appropriately see the text through the eyes of the original author. An historical fallacy is committed when one tries to reconstruct the history behind the biblical text without verifiable evidence from biblical or extra-biblical resources.

The last section of Exegetical Fallacies lists seven other fallacies for one to take caution in arriving at exegetical conclusions. Understanding literary genre plays an important part in interpreting different texts in Scripture. Without a proper understanding of how a specific genre should be interpreted it is easy for one to commit some error. Proverbs are interpreted different from poetry which is interpreted differently than prophecy, etc.

The three indexes focusing on subjects, authors, and Scripture are valuable in quickly accessing specific content in the book. A concluding bibliography would have been helpful although Carson does well in citing other significant works throughout the book.

D. A. Carson’s book challenges interpreters on any level from scholars to lay persons. It can appear a little overwhelming to see the variety of fallacies made by scholars and even Carson admits his own mistakes in the past. The value in this book is that it keeps interpreters humble and yet challenges them to become better in their skills so that God’s Word is handled appropriately as he intended not as interpreters intend.

valueble reference with plenty examples. ( )

Dr. Carson does a tremendous job with this book. The book is not much over 100 pages, but it really provides an engaging and insightful survey of the most common exegetical mistakes.

The examples provided are varied and the author provides wonderfully lucid explanations. I had to skip one of the chapters that dealt with Greek grammar, because it was too advanced for me to benefit from it. While the book is highly technical in some regards, the Dr. Carson does explains things very clearly and doesn't use more technical language than he needs to.

This book is a gem even for those who may never do any heavy-duty exegesis, and just want to be able to test what they hear from various preachers and commentators. Beyond that, though, anyone who is preaching or completes seminary should read this book at least once. It is a true classic. ( )

What you CAN'T read into the text of the Bible. Some of the things we want the Bible to say cannot be supported by honest intellectual investigation, this helps sort out the aceptable methodology from rejected ones.
With Fee's "How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth," it is a good introduction to the process of exegesis and hermeneutics. ( )