Kevin Vanhoozer

From Theopedia

American 20th century
Name: Kevin Vanhoozer
Birth: 1957
Death:
Church tradition: Presbyterian
Theological school:
Influences	Influenced
Robert Gundry, John Frame, Augustine, John Calvin, Karl Barth, Paul Ricoeur

Kevin J. Vanhoozer is currently Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. From 1990-98 he was Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at New College, University of Edinburgh. Vanhoozer received a BA from Westmont College, an M.Div from Westminster Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England having studied under Nicholas Lash.

Multimedia The Stage, the Story and the Script (MP3), Asbury Seminary Chapel, March 15, 2007 Doing Church: the Theater of the Gospel (MP3), Asbury Seminary Chapel, March 16, 2007 The Strange New Status Symbol of the Cross (MP3), Wheaton College Chapel, March 19, 2008 What has Vienna to do with Jerusalem? Barth, Brahms, and Bernstein’s Unanswered Question (Real Media)

Vanhoozer's The Drama of Doctrine was named best book in theology in the 2006 Christianity Today Book Awards. In this book, Vanhoozer proposes a way of doing theology that corresponds to its subject matter: doctrine is direction for the fitting participation of the individual and the church in the ongoing "theodrama," the reconciling action of the triune God. Theology is faith seeking understanding of the theodrama, but understanding demands not only that we comprehend but that we also perform the Scriptures, the script that forms and transforms the people of God.

In his work Is There a Meaning in this Text? the Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge, Vanhoozer gives an in depth response to the challenges of Deconstruction to biblical hermeneutics. Primarily, he engages the thinking of Derrida, but Fish and Rorty also receive much attention. In doing so he lays out his own hermeneutical proposal which applies not only to special biblical hermeneutics but general hermeneutics as well. Vanhoozer develops a theory of communicative action which, among other concepts, that relies strongly on the speech-act theory of Austin. A biblical text is a communicative act which involve locutions (the text itself), illocutions (the stance of the author to the locution, i.e. questioning, asserting, promising etc.) and perlocutions (the goals that the author hopes to accomplish through the text). Among the conclusions that Vanhoozer draws from viewing a text as a communicative act are the involvement of the author, text and reader in the process of interpretation. The intended meaning of the author can be discerned to a certain degree from the text. The text (langue and parole) is not an arbitrary "playground" but part of a covenantal relationship between all people. As a result the intention of the author can be adequately decoded. A third consequence is that the reader/interpreter has a responsibility to honor the intentions of the author and try to interpret the text in a way which re-creates the author's intended meaning. This responsibility is coupled with a freedom to determine the significance in the context of the interpreter's community.

Contents 1 Publications 1.1 Constructive works 1.2 Edited works 2 External links 2.1 Online writings

[edit] Publications

[edit] Constructive works

• The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. Westminster John Knox, 2005.
• First Theology: God, Scripture & Hermeneutics. IVP, 2002.
• Is There a Meaning in this Text? the Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Zondervan, 1998.
• Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. Cambridge, 1990; reprint, 2007.

[edit] Edited works

• Consulting editor, New Dictionary of Theology. Revised, IVP.
• Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Influence Trends. Baker, 2007.
• With Martin Warner, Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology: Reason, Meaning and Experience. Ashgate, 2007.
• et al. Hermeneutics at the Crossroads. Indiana University Press, 2006.
• Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Baker, 2005.
• Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge, 2003.
• Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of God. Eerdmans, 2001.
• The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion. Eerdmans, 1996.

[edit] External links

• Vanhoozer on Trinity's faculty page
• Experience the Drama (PDF), an interview with Vanhoozer about his book The Drama of Doctrine
• Interview by Guy Davies, Sept 21, 2007
• Book Review: Is There a Meaning in This Text?, by Vern Poythress (Westminster Theological Journal)
• Discourse on Matter (PDF) Jonathan Erdman interacts with Vanhoozer's essay "Discourse on Matter: Hermeneutics and the ‘Miracle’ of Understanding" in Hermeneutics at the Crossroads (2006). Vanhoozer revists the issue of authorial intent in light of Barth, Gadamer and the developments of philosopical hermeneutics.
• Kevin Vanhoozer: first theology, an informative review of Vanhoozer's First Theology
• Meaning, intention, and application: Speech act theory in the hermeneutics of Francis Watson and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, by Scott Blue (Trinity Journal)
• Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer's Books Receive Christianity Today Book Awards

[edit] Online writings

• The Promise of Consensus: Towards a Communicative Hermeneutic (PDF)
• Types of Postmodern Theology (PDF), an excerpt from the Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology
• The Inerrancy of Scripture
• Hyperactive Hermeneutics: Is the Bible Being Overinterpreted
• Theological Education and the Church: The School of Theodrama (PDF), from "International Theological Education for the 21st Century," 2004
• Vanhoozer's response to Kostenberger's review of The Drama of Doctrine