Book Review: "Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present" (by Gerald Bray)

Gerald Bray's Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1996) has become something of a classic work for those whose labor is teaching and preaching the Bible in the context of a local church. Here Bray presents a thorough summary of the history of hermeneutics from the pre-Christian era to modern times. He is guided by the conviction that the local church is the proper place for the reading, study, and application of the Scriptures rather than the academy, while acknowledging that the ongoing ministry of the church needs to be informed by the thoroughgoing scholarship of those who love and serve Christ in academic circles. This book is therefore both academically respectable and broadly accessible to pastors, leaders, and members of local churches. 

Bray begins with a treatment of various issues proper to hermeneutics throughout the ages (divine revelation, the nature of the canon, the relationship of the text to the life of the church, and tensions inherent in the interpretation of the Bible). He then surveys the history of biblical interpretation in three parts: from ancient times to the dawn of critical study, from the dawn of critical study to the entrenchment of the historical-critical method, and various late-twentieth-century alternatives to that method. He concludes by outlining what he thinks will be the immediate future of biblical interpretation and thus briefly touches on issues of linguistics, text criticism, the historicity of the Bible, and the growing global dominance of the English language in biblical and theological studies. 

Each major chapter is organized into several sections: an outline of the period or subject, a summary of the major figures relevant to that period, concepts and issues relevant to that period, the major hermeneutical methods utilized in that period, and an explication of one or more biblical texts that most influenced or characterized that period. 

Bray’s work follows well established lines and is therefore not ground-breaking, but it is a most-helpful summary of the history and complexities of biblical interpretation and I highly recommend it to all who are interested in the faithful interpretation and proclamation of the Word of God in the life of the church.