by D. A. Carson
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Product Description
Assuming that the reader possesses a working knowledge of Greek, this book identifies the common grammatical, lexical, cultural, theological, and historical mistakes Bible exegetes can make. In Fundamentalist Journal, Robert Yarborough reviewed Exegetical Fallacies this way: "Carson has furnished a pithy and practical manual of many of those mistakes to which all of us who deal with the text in earnest fall prey." Paperback.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Exercise Care In Selecting Words, 2008-09-11
Exegetical Fallacies has a limited purview in that it does not consider brilliant exegesis, but woeful and fallacious errors. 'Ignorance is not a virtue', states DA Carson, Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. But don't be surprised if some of your favorite verses appear in this attempt to pay attention to biblical correctness.
Don Carson asserts that unwarranted notions can be costly. Theologians have developed an extensive vocabulary to combat this phenomenon. Grouping the erroneous assumptions into four categories, Carson combines the theological import of each fallacy to its specific area of exegesis. There are, to his reckoning, 1) Word-Study Fallacies 2) Grammatical Fallacies 3) Logical Fallacies 4) and Presuppositional and Historical Fallacies.
Carson mitigates the necessity of this type of study when he identifies that the generation of conservative Christians before the present one, faced charges on the reliability of the Scriptures, but with the advent of rapid technological advances, the skills and demand for precise and well constructed defenses of the faith have increased, and the need to be conversant with the ever-increasing database of critical Christian knowledge is imperative to biblical scholars as himself. 'Modern study of the Gospels pays particular attention to the interplay between tradition and redaction.'
FF Bruce, The Message of the New Testament.
Mistakes common to all believers are perpetuated by the overwhelming availability of vaunted and popular Christian literature, and the tyranny of untested assumptions is proliferated by our failure to cope with being robbed of the emotive, psychological advantage we assume we have gained by attaching foreign meaning and unusual interpretations to the God-breathed Word. Carson does much to correct the naivety of exegetes in our pursuit to discover the meaning of words and phrases of Scripture. Insisting that only by inductive study and proper contextualization can we exact proper conclusions, he indicates that a working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew plays a much more important role than often suggested. The lack of comparative materials also suggests that these studies are the realm of the most learned, as their thoroughness constitutes the closest thing to gaining a proper understanding of the intent of the words.
'A third level of the same problem was painfully exemplified in three articles about the blood in Christianity Today (Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, 'Blood: The Miracle of Cleansing'; 'Blood: The Miracle of Life'; 'Life in the Blood' - all issued 1983). What a wonderful picture (we were told) of how the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from every sin, 1 John 1:7. In fact, it is nothing of the kind. Worse, it is irresponsibly mystical and theologically misleading. The phrase 'the blood of Jesus' refers to Jesus' violent, sacrificial death. In general, the blessings that Scripture show to be accomplished or achieved by the blood of Jesus, are equally said to be accomplished by the death of Jesus (e.g. justification: Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-9; redemption: Rom 3:24; Eph 1:7; Rev 5:9). If John tells us that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ purifies us from every sin, he is informing us that...' pg 35 The efficacy of the cross is subjected to crass application and denudes the glory of redemption.
Exacting semantics and accomplished linguists are required to overturn these kind of fallacious teachings. Says Carson: 'In some instances an intrinsically unlikely or ill-attested meaning receives detailed defense and may even become entrenched in the church.' pg 38 Explaining how this is done, he provides acute critical insight: 'First, they argue that translators of the Septuagint and New Testament writers have invested agape love with special meaning to provide an adequate expression by which to talk about the love of God; and only this accounts for the word's rapid rise to prominence in our literature. But this argument has been overturned by the diachronic study of Robert Joly, who presents convincing evidence.' pg 51 The problem at church level is how to unlearn the intricate web of deceit spun by those whose popular views serve their agenda in gaining converts and financial profit.
'But my concern at the moment is his selective use of biblical evidence. He turns to John's writings and cites those passages which in some way relate knowing God or believing in God to keeping God's commandments and loving others. But he fails to cite those many passages, both in John's writings and elsewhere, that show there is also propositional content to Christian belief. The fallacy lies in his implicit supposition that the presentation of selective evidence constitutes proof.' pg 54 Sufficient evidence that even a learned scholar is capable of the most common menace of 'proof-texting'.
'One of the most common errors preachers make in the area of literary genre occurs in their handling or Proverbs. A proverb is neither a promise nor case law. If it is treated that way, it may prove immensely discouraging to some believers when things do not seem to work out as the promise seeks to suggest.' pg 137
See Carson's excellent presentation on deception from pgs 112 -115.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent book., 2008-05-11
This book is invaluable. I learned things here that I had never heard anywhere else that truly helps with interpreting the word of God.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
exegetical fallacies, 2008-04-01
Product was purchased used. was in new condition. Excellent addition to my library.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Superb Supplement to Serious Biblical Study. Buy I, 2008-01-15
`Exegetical Fallacies' by research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, D. A. Carson, is a marvelous book for professionals and serious amateurs who wish to make a mark for themselves in the fields of Biblical research, exegesis, hermeneutics, and pastoral service. With some caveats, it is also invaluable for anyone who simply wishes to study the Bible for themselves, and does a lot of reading in commentaries on scripture.
For the casual reader, please be prepared for some heavy duty study, thinking, and travelling to your best dictionary. It is not for naught that the author describes the book as a supplement to seminary level courses on Biblical exegesis. The author deals in some of the more arcane points of very technical subjects such as New Testament Greek vocabulary and grammar, theories of historicism, logic, rhetoric, and last but certainly not least, the Christian faith. As a rank amateur in the study of Greek, the author lost me at several points, and I did not fully appreciate his observations on the theory of writing history. However, I have serious academic credentials in the study of philosophy and logic, so I was in an excellent position to weigh his statements in those areas.
In spite of that rather heavy caveat, I still think this is a worthwhile book for practically anyone who reads works on the Biblical exegesis, since there are many points which any intelligent layman can easily understand. The author cites the danger of `distanciation' when doing a critical study of the Bible. This is the problem of weakening or losing faith by studying the scriptures with the same critical eye and the same analytical methods one may apply to the writings of Homer, Plato, or Euripides. I can appreciate the problem, but I own experience is that critical Bible study is not only necessary for correct understanding; it is actually a far stronger catalyst to faith than almost any other spiritual exercise. With some reservations, this is one of the things at which our Jewish friends really excel. So, the risk is there, but the rewards to faith for critical diligence far outweigh the risks.
The first chapter, `Word Study Fallacies', deals with cases which the lay reader, unfamiliar with Greek, will find easiest to understand. A simple example from a modern language may illustrate this `type'. If one took the translation of the German word `kindergarten' literally, one would assume it was a place where children were put to work raising carrots, pansies, and zucchini. The word is a compound of the German words for `children' and `garden'. And, in their inimitably poetic manner, the Germans turned this into a word for where children, not vegetables, are raised. One of the most distressing lessons from this chapter is the suggestion that some of the most authoritative theological dictionaries (compiled in Germany, of course) are guilty of some of these errors. Carson's description of these fallacies will not enable you to spot them immediately, but he does offer hints at how to sniff them out. One of my favorites, which I actually encountered in a class on `Matthew' is the meaning of the Greek word for `hypocrisy'. The instructor seriously warned us that this word simply did not mean for the ancient Greeks what it means to us today. It was actually a term, she said, from Greek drama, where the chorus or narrator presents an interpretation of the action on the stage. This is all true, but it is not how Matthew used the term. The evangelist used the term in a sense which is very similar to what we understand today. Of course, I was delighted to find that a good theological dictionary actually spelled this out, distinguishing classic Hellenic Greek usage from later Hellenistic usage in the New Testament.
The second chapter, `Grammatical Fallacies' gets far deeper into that Greek sentence construction and some of the more arcane facets of that great mystery, the aorist tense. Up until now, I have had not a clue about this construction, yet I constantly see Biblical commentators basing interpretations on the fact that a verb is `in the aorist tense'. Carson does not fully explain this technical subject, and this is one reason why the book is a supplement to course material which does explain the matter. Of course, we poor laymen must do what we can to catch up.
The third chapter, `Logical `Fallacies', is my cup of tea. This is what we study in a philosophy curriculum. Carson does a pretty good job of distinguishing formal from informal fallacies, although I suspect his language is borrowed from the linguistic discipline, rather than from the texts of the Logic teachers. I thought his description of four different meanings of `logic' may be slightly misleading. My unabridged dictionary has but one principle meaning of `logic' and one distinctly minor one. But this possible lack of rigor does little to reduce Carson's excellent descriptions of some of the more interesting formal in informal fallacies. To be clear, an introductory logic course DOES cover `informal' fallacies which are not purely the realm of `mathematical logic'. These are things like `ad hominom' arguments and arguments from authority. Interestingly enough, Carson does not mention `ad hominom', so I may conclude writers of exegesis do not indulge in them.
The fourth chapter `Presuppositional and Historical Fallacies' enters the world of historical writing, where I am again out of my element, but I found them illuminating anyway. I even found Carson's name of a fallacy, `cavalier dismissal' someone committed in a comment one of my reviews.
The author is humble about minimal scholarly notes, but I found they were quite good. My only regret is that the author did not offer suggestions on texts for studying Greek lexicography and grammar and symbolic logic.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Boring but needed information - A Biblical Studies Must (you may need to know Greek to get the most out of it), 2007-05-31
This book will have your head spinning with thoughts about the many sermons and personal lines of thinking that the author demonstrates as just plain fallacious. A hard read to get through, with a general knowledge of Koine Greek necessary for some of the thicker parts, this book is worth the hard work. A great reference for any Pastor, scholar, or devoted layman.
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