This volume on biblical hermeneutics, edited by Bruce Corley, Steve Lemke, and Grant Lovejoy, is offered up as a comprehensive introduction to interpreting Scripture. Its approach is different than many such volumes in that each chapter is written by scholarly expert in that field. Usually, one or only a few contribute to such a book. The book is divided into five parts presented in the logical order of how to study the Bible, biblical hermeneutics in history, the authority, inspiration, and language of Scripture, the genres of Scripture, and going from exegesis to proclamation. The book is aimed at students and ministers and has been widely used as a textbook.

The book begins with a fine primer for exegesis to help those with little background and to define the keywords any student will need to know in the subject. As with each chapter, the contributor provides a bibliography for further study. Chapter 2 explains the grammatical – historical method and puts this book on a firm conservative foundation. From there, inductive Bible study methods are explained.

The next section covers biblical hermeneutics in history in eight chapters. While that might be more history than some would want, it covers all the bases and is well done. Part 3 brings in the often-forgotten subject of the authority and inspiration of Scripture and introduces us to textual criticism.

One of the best sections of this book is part 4 where the genres of Scripture are discussed in seven chapters. To my mind, this is where the student most often needs help and they’ve gone out of their way in this book to provide it. Biblical hermeneutics that doesn’t go on to preaching is rather pointless, so the final five chapters teach us how to take the hermeneutic process and translate it into biblical preaching.

This book is a solid effort. I prefer it as a secondary resource as it complements well with other volumes that might have gaps. This volume is well worth securing.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.