Free PDFs of eight of Carson’s books and more than 300 of his other articles and reviews are available here (explanation here).
We’ve added a free PDF of this recent article by D. A. Carson to his bibliography:
”Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Yes, But . . . .” Pages 187-207 in Theological Commentary: Evangelical Perspectives. Edited by R. Michael Allen. London: T&T Clark, 2011.
Carson’s opening sentence:
Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS) is
partly disparate movement,
partly a call to reformation in biblical interpretation,
partly a disorganized array of methodological commitments in hermeneutics,
partly a serious enterprise and
partly (I suspect) a fad. (p. 187, formatting added)
He offers a “Yes, but . . .” reflection on six propositions:
- TIS is an attempt to transcend the barren exegeses generated by historical-critical methods, and especially those readings of Scripture that are “historical” in the sense that they are frankly anti-supernatural interpretations determined by post-Enlightenment assumptions about the nature of history. (p. 188)
- More broadly, TIS aims to bring biblical studies and theology closer together. (p. 192)
- TIS accords greater credibility to pre-critical exegesis—-patristic, medieval, reformational—-than to contemporary exegesis, and especially to patristic readings. (p. 196)
- TIS aims to be God-centered as opposed to human-centered (including human-hermeneutical-rules-centered). (p. 202)
- TIS commonly insists we ought to read Scripture through Trinitarian lenses. (p. 204)
- TIS tends to see Scripture less as a set of propositions disclosing God than as the story of God and his saving plan of redemption. (p. 205)
Conclusion:
I am inclined to think that what is most valuable in TIS (and much is), is not new; what is new in TIS varies from ambiguous to mistaken, depending in part on the theological location of the interpreter. (p. 207)