Philosophical Hermeneutics

Got an email today from a guy looking to read a paper I wrote on Hans-Georg Gadamer, one of my philosophical heroes.  Unfortunately, I don’t have anything worthy of emailing out about him, or really even a primer on philosophical hermeneutics, but I did recommend a book, which I happen to love for it’s simplicity and brevity at explaining an extraordinarily complex philosophical system: A Teacher’s Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics.

Last night, as I sat at the Twins game, compliments of Andy Root, the two of us talked about how often frustrated we are by the lack of interest in philosophical hermeneutics among those we think need it most: biblical scholars.  That’s not to say that the people who populate Old Testament and New Testament departments at colleges, seminaries, and divinity schools don’t reflect hermeneutically on the text, because surely they do.  But we don’t think that they are familiar enough with the arguments generated by the line of Husserl–Heidegger–Gadamer–Ricoeur.

If you’re pursuing a PhD in biblical studies, do us all a favor and spend some time with those four thinkers.

And if you want to read more here about why I think this is so important, check out the automatically generated posts below.