In this multi-faceted volume, Christian and other religiously committed theorists find themselves at an uneasy point in history-between premodernity, modernity, and postmodernity-where disciplines and methods, cultural and linguistic traditions, and religious commitments tangle and cross. Here, leading theorists explore the state of the art of the contemporary hermeneutical terrain. As they address the work of Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Derrida, the essays collected in this wide-ranging work engage key themes in philosophical hermeneutics, hermeneutics and religion, hermeneutics and the other arts, hermeneutics and literature, and hermeneutics and ethics. Readers will find lively exchanges and reflections that meet the intellectual and philosophical challenges posed by hermeneutics at the crossroads.
Contributors are Bruce Ellis Benson, Christina Bieber Lake, John D. Caputo, Eduardo J. Echeverria, Benne Faber, Norman Lillegard, Roger Lundin, Brian McCrea, James K. A. Smith, Michael VanderWeele, Kevin Vanhoozer, and Nicholas Wolterstorff.
Contents
Preface Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Acknowledgments
Introduction Bruce Ellis Benson, James K. A. Smith, and Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Part 1. Philosophical Hermeneutics Revisited: Miracles, Resuscitation, Questions
1. Discourse on Matter: Hermeneutics and the "Miracle" of Understanding Kevin J. Vanhoozer
2. Resuscitating the Author Nicholas Wolterstorff
3. Gadamer's Hermeneutics and the Question of Relativism Eduardo J. Echeverria
4. "The Knowledge That One Does Not Know": Gadamer, Levertov, and the Hermeneutics of the Question Christina Bieber Lake
Part 2. Derrida and Deconstruction: Haunted Hermeneutics and Incarnational Iterability
5. Hauntological Hermeneutics and the Interpretation of Christian Faith: On Being Dead Equal before God John D. Caputo
6. Limited Inc/arnation: Revisiting the Searle/Derrida Debate in Christian Context James K. A. Smith
Part 3. Literature's Contribution to Christian Understanding: Pointing, Witnessing, Exchanging
7. Meeting at the Modern Crossroads: Fiction, History, and Christian Understanding Roger Lundin
8. The Hermeneutics of Deliverance: Robinson Crusoe and the Problem of Witnessing Brian McCrea
9. John Calvin's Notion of "Exchange" and the Usefulness of Literature Michael VanderWeele
Part 4. The Ethics of Interpretation: Improvisation, Participation, Authority
10. The Improvisation of Hermeneutics: Jazz Lessons for Interpreters Bruce Ellis Benson
11. Ethical Hermeneutics and the Theater: Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice Ben Faber
12. (Revelation, Interpretation) Authority: Kierkegaard's Book on Adler Norman Lillegard
Contributors
Index
