As many of you know, I do not have much formal theological training. My formal training has come in the areas of philosophy and the study of religion, or better stated, the study of how people are religious. I took a few theology classes at Central College of the Bible and the rest of my learning on the theological front has come via side readings. Some of our other authors are pastors with formal training or are in seminary or will be attending seminary after having some theological training at a Christian university. Despite my lack of formal training, I have attempted to do as much ala carte theological training on my own as my time, budget and changing interests allow.

Tangent to this lack of formal theological training, is a severe lack in a formal knowledge of hermeneutics. Ah, hermeneutics, that wonderful science of interpretation that everyone seems to go on and on about, and yet, there seems to be no unified method employed.¹ However, the lack of unified use or lack of good use of hermeneutics by people is not a good excuse to not learn or employ a good hermeneutical method.

Since knowing what one does not know is the first step in gaining wisdom and knowledge, I am attempting to imbue myself with a good hermeneutical method. To this end, I am picking though two books, The Hermeneutical Spiral and Grasping God’s Word.

In the coming months, I hope to have a post series on this post consisting of digested notes from the two books. I more than likely won’t cover much of Grasping God’s Word, as I need to mail it back to Casey in a few days. Stay tuned.

1. Disclaimer Please note that I am not speaking specifically towards anyone here. I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t made hermeneutical errors, ranging from Augustine, to Luther, to Calvin, to Arminius, to Piper, to Reese. If I disagree with you about theological positions, just know that I am not trying to slam you here. [↩]