Andreas J. Köstenberger

I have handled my fair share of textbooks over the years. I've also used a variety of Bible commentaries, Bible dictionaries, theology resources and biblical study tools. But I have never come across a more comprehensive and accessible resource for handling the Word of God than "Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology" by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson. This new 900 page book has truly set a new standard show more when it comes to Christian academic resources. In its thoroughness and detail, usability and accessibility, scholarship and piety, this work is simply unmatched. And I am not alone in this assessment, the book's opening 13 pages contain no less than 39 endorsements from a wide range of leading evangelical scholars. And the fact that this is a hermeneutics textbook makes such widespread acclaim all the more surprising.

While the book is designed for the classroom, I read through the book from the standpoint of an educated layman looking for a resource on interpreting Scripture. This book proved to be more than just a resource tool, it is a virtual stand-alone hermeneutics course in and of itself, with a limitless supply of suggested books and articles for additional reading and self-study.

The book unfolds Köstenberger and Patterson's "hermeneutical triad" as an overarching approach to interpretation. This triad consists of history (archeology, culture, manners and customs, and other historical matters), literature (canon, genres, linguistics), and theology (biblical theology). But before getting into the heart of the book, the authors reveal their philosophical approach to interpreting Scripture, which I find incredibly helpful:

"[W]e don't start with words; we start with the canon. For example, this is also how we would interpret, say, a play by Shakespeare. We don't just analyze the words in a given sentence; we first try to learn more about Shakespeare, his background, the time in which he wrote, surveying his major works, and so on, before finally settling on a particular play. Even then we might read a good summary before eventually delving in and starting to read the play. When we encounter a given word with which we are unfamiliar, we would not stop reading, because we are more concerned about following the general flow than identifying individual word meanings. Thus we don't start with analyzing the details of the biblical text (word study); we start with the whole (canon).

"What is more, we also don't start out pretending the Bible is just like any other book, because we don't believe it is. Rather, our purpose here is not to study just any form of human communication; our purpose is to study the Bible-the inerrant, inspired Word of God.... Ultimately, this is God's canon, conveyed in the genres intended by God, and communication of God's discourses using God's words (without of course denying human instrumentality , style and authorship). Thus, we don't introduce the notion of the Bible being "special" at some point later in the interpretive process (as if it were immaterial to the early stages of general hermeneutics) but put it front and center in the organization of the book." (pg. 25-26)

I hold that both of these points are incredibly important. We have to encounter God's Word from a big picture approach that pays attention to authorial intent, but we also have to recognize the Divine Author behind the text.

After explaining their method, the authors more right into focusing on each element of the triad. A brief overview of the history of hermeneutics is given and then the matters of history, archeology and the historical context of the times of the Bible are discussed at a fairly high level, but with many particular examples. This is helpfully fleshed out in a "sample exegesis" section which concludes most chapters. The research into how the Canaanites viewed the god Baal (the god of storms) helps us appreciate what is at stake when Elijah announces that Yahweh has suspended all rain (and all storms).

After discussing the role that history plays, the authors then devote the lion's share of the work to the discussion of literature. The canon, its development and current shape, is explored as to how that should shape our interpretation, and a brief theology of the OT and the NT are sketched. The minor prophets offer an example where both the message of the books themselves need to be understood as well as their particular literary arrangement as "the book of the twelve". I really appreciated this emphasis on canonical interpretation, which the authors define as: "a faithful effort to hear the way in which God addresses his people in and through the text of Scripture as it testifies to God in Christ" but it is not so much a method as "a practice of theological reading" (pg. 157).

The discussion of Genre covers OT historical narrative, poetry and wisdom literature, prophecy, NT historical narrative, parables, epistles and apocalyptic literature. Some genres are covered more in depth than others, with epistles and prophecy perhaps getting pride of place. The discussions give numerous examples and flesh out the why and how in an extremely clear and careful manner. Wise cautions and helpful insights abound. No real theological biases are detectable except perhaps a bias against full preterism. The authors don't rush to make judgement calls on how everyone must read prophecy or view Revelation, either. At times I felt they must be historic premil, yet they stressed the symbolic nature of Revelation, as per its genre. The discussions take care to root themselves as much as possible in analysis of the biblical text rather than forcing foreign genre considerations onto textual data. I found the dicsussion of parables extremely helpful and balanced, not advocating a rigid "one-point" approach to parables yet not aiming for a no-holds-barred allegorical free-for-all, either.

The discussion on analyzing the language of literature was extraordinarily helpful. The authors emphasize looking at how the larger sections of the text relate to one another (discourse analysis) rather than just doing word studies. They give a helpful overview of some technical points of Hebrew and Greek (as well as English) grammar, and even point out occasional problems with the lexical approach of even such classic works as Kittel's TDNT, and stress the role of context and semantic range in determining meaning. They also include a helpful section covering 12 exegetical fallacies with plenty of examples to illustrate the discussion. They also discuss figurative language and how we can recognize and interpret it.

The book then shows how to put everything together. The third tier of the triad, theology actually begins this process by stressing that we make our theological connections based on the text, which is the essence of biblical theology. After discussing the nature and method of biblical theology, the book closes with an exceedingly helpful chapter that offers a method for preaching through the various genres and applying the message of the text to the lives of people today. This chapter includes a discussion of Bible software tools and commentaries and other resources, but spends the bulk of the time discussing how to preach through all the various genres that were discussed earlier in the book. Cautions, challenges, methods, and sample outlines make this section especially practical and useful in the context of a daily ministry. An appendix is also included that has a short list of the best commentaries to get on each book of the Bible as well as other important resources to have handy.

My biggest critique of the book would be that it doesn't go on to cover in detail absolutely everything I would want it to! But that is hardly fair, and it would make for a more unmanageable and unwieldy tool. I do have one bit of criticism, however. I would have liked to see the "how to" section at the end, with the example of how to preach through the genres more clearly called out from the sections covering the genre. For example, the section covering Proverbs in the chapter on Wisdom literature doesn't deal with some of the pastoral concerns such as whether proverbs apply universally to all situations or not. Yet this concern is addressed in the how to section in the last chapter. I think a clearer link would have served those of us who will use the book more as a reference work than a seminary text book. My only additional quibble is that the assignments and bibliography from the previous chapter blend right in with the introductory objectives and outline for the next chapter. The formatting of the book just seems a bit odd in that regard.

Mentioning the bibliographies leads me to one more positive feature of the book. Each chapter has a selected bibliography for additional reading, and then in the footnotes, specific articles or books are called out that will be pertinent to the topic at hand. The footnotes and bibliography are usually helpful and accessible, rather than merely technical and scholarly.

As the book closes, the authors warn their readers against just putting this book on the shelf and ignoring this material. Instead the reader is encouraged that this book can "serve as a point of departure for a lifetime of studying and preaching or teaching the Bible" (pg. 727). I would most heartily concur. This book deserves pride of place on the shelf of anyone studying, preaching or teaching the Bible. Even where one may have a different theological bent or a disagreement with the authors, the book still will prove useful.

"Invitation to Biblical Interpretation" truly is a must-read, need-to-get book. It is evangelical scholarship at its best, and cannot be ignored. If you are not employing the techniques and practices put forth in this book, you owe it to yourself, at the very least, to read it and justify why you are not. This book can't do the hard work of faithful exegesis for you, but it can set you in the right direction and prevent you from stumbling at all the wrong places. You really need to get this book!

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Publications for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review. show less

"Early Christianity was a mess with scores of contradicting gospels and different beliefs about who Jesus was. It wasn't until hundreds of years later that the orthodox squashed out opposing views and rewrote the NT manuscripts". Such is the charge that Köstenberger and Kruger tackle in this short work. They argue (I) early Christianity was remarkably United around the core identity and actions of Jesus, (II) the disagreement on the NT canon was localized to peripheral books and the 4 show more Gospels enjoyed widespread privileged status as early as the beginning of the 2nd century and (III) the textual reliability of the NT collection far and away outsrips any contemporary work.

It's important to go into this book with the right expectation. Essentially, this is a condensed summary of the authors' work in three controversial areas of Christian origins: plurality of beliefs in the early church, origin of the NT canon, and textual criticism. I did not know this and having already read Kruger's work on the canon and Daniel Wallace's work on textual criticism, the arguments came off as surface level. DO NOT GET ME WRONG, it's a great overview book, but if you are already familiar with Kruger or Köstenberger's work in these areas, I would not recommend it. If you are looking for a starting place in these controversies, I would absolutely recommend it and further, follow the rigorous footnotes for detailed discussion on every point made.

With the caveat that this is not an extremely detailed work, I found many of the arguments to be a little rushed. To their credit, the authors would often cite a more detailed discussion in the footnotes. The form of some of the arguments were not overly persuasive to me even though I agree with the conclusions; however, as mentioned in my previous review on "Is There A Synoptic Problem?", I think that if you are going to make a probability claim, it needs to include a properly justified p-value.

Overall 3.8/5 show less

This book urges Christian scholars to pursue excellence in their vocations without compromise. Excellence is grounded upon the excellence of God, God's grace, and Holy Spirit-enabled cultivation of virtues--the pursuit of holiness.

I liked how this book is divided into three major sections examining different dimensions of excellence: vocational (entailing such virtues as diligence, courage, passion, restraint, creativity, and eloquence), moral (integrity, fidelity, wisdom), and relational show more (grace, humility, interdependence, and love). Köstenberger does a good job of outlining the biblical basis for each virtue, explaining how each plays a role in the scholarly vocation, and demonstrating how the virtues build on one another. The different dimensions of excellence must be held in balance. I especially appreciated the book's foundation in the gospel and Köstenberger's final emphasis on what it looks like to be a loving scholar. "Love is capable of breaking down barriers to the gospel where rational arguments are unable to persuade." I was also quite motivated by his insistence on the importance of diligence for scholarly excellence (an area in which I am painfully lacking), and encouraged by his remarks on the possibility that creativity is a virtue which can be cultivated (as I don't tend to regard myself as a creative scholar or person in general).

At times I thought that more concrete advice, and a little less anecdotal discussion, might have been helpful in considering how to put virtues into practice. For instance, I would have loved to read some advice on how to sustain passion over the course of a dissertation! This is a great book for getting students to reflect on their callings, though, and I would gladly hand it to any first-year graduate student. show less

Summary: An introduction to the four gospels, providing accessible scholarship, introductions and commentary focused on Jesus, to whom each gospel witnesses.

How I wish I had this work as a young Christian reading the New Testament for the first time (the Old Testament would come later). I thought back as I read through this work how much I had missed in my early readings. Sure, I noticed the amazing, and sometimes perplexing, things Jesus taught and did. I noticed the similarities between show more the first three gospels, and some of the differences but had no sense of why they were different. Then there was John, which seemed so different. But I missed so much that Andreas Köstenberger highlights in this work, designed as a companion for new readers and students of the gospels.

In the introduction and first chapter the author sets out his basic premises for the book. He accepts these as accounts either by witnesses or based on eyewitness accounts that are trustworthy, coherent, and centered on the person of Christ. Rather than provided lengthy discussions of critical scholarship, the focus is on the text in its context. Citing the “quests for the historical Jesus” which often are reflections of the interpreters, Köstenberger’s approach is to allow each gospel to speak for itself, offering four complementary accounts of Jesus life, and he advocates the reading of all four gospels, proceeding in the canonical order.

After the introductory material, the author takes a chapter for each gospel. First he answers the questions of who is the person to whom the gospel is attributed, how they tell the story of Jesus, what their distinctive emphases are and the major contours or outline of the gospel. This is followed by passage by passage commentary of the text with helpful background, and occasional sidebars (for example on “The Herods in the New Testament”). At the end of each section, there is a Recap, summarizing the section and how this connects to the theme.

Köstenberger notes key structural features of each gospels, such as the five sections of teaching in Matthew, or the book of signs and book of exaltation structure of John. He calls attention to the “Markan sandwich” and alerts the reader to instances of this. He shows Luke’s concern for women and the outsider. He also offers a list of suggested resources for those interested in further study (although all of these were written by him!) and a thirty day reading plan to work through the gospels.

The book is a large format paperback that easily lies flat on a desk (or one’s lap) while you are reading your Bible. The commentary is easy to read and often offers applications. This is a great resource for anyone beginning to read the gospels, for anyone wanting to discover Jesus again, or perhaps for the first time.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less