![\"Pneuma](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/JWWyckoff-PneumaLogos-9781608994830.jpg\")
John W. Wyckoff, Pneuma and Logos: The Role of Spirit in Biblical Hermeneutics <\/i>(Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010), 168 pages, ISBN 9781608994830.<\/b><\/p>\n\nJohn W. Wyckoff, Pneuma and Logos: The Role of Spirit in Biblical Hermeneutics <\/i>(Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010), 168 pages, ISBN 9781608994830.<\/b><\/p>\n
John Wyckoff\u2019s 1990 Ph.D. dissertation has finally come to print and is long overdue. In fact, it is perplexing how a scholarly treatise on such an intriguing topic was not snatched up by a publishing house in search of book candidates on controversial topics of perennial interest. Pneuma and Logos<\/i> is just such a book. It sharply focuses on a hermeneutical question that has commanded the attention of church fathers and theologians from the earliest times of theological reflection in the Church. Simply put the question is, \u201cDoes the Holy Spirit have a role to play in the interpretive process called hermeneutics<\/i>?\u201d A necessary follow-up question, if the first is answered in the affirmative, is \u201cHow and to what extent does the Holy Spirit facilitate a person\u2019s understanding of the Scriptures?\u201d<\/p>\n
Scholars and teachers interested in biblical hermeneutics are well aware that the central focus of this book is one well worth considering, if for no other reason than the Bible itself raises the question in passages like 1 Cor 2:10-15 and 2 Cor 5:5-17, not to mention John\u2019s gospel where the \u201cteaching\u201d function of the Holy Spirit is amply attested. Oddly, seldom do hermeneutical textbooks contain a substantive treatment of the question at hand. In his introduction to the problem, Wyckoff describes a paradox. Scholars representing a wide spectrum of Christian tradition recognize the importance and challenges of biblical hermeneutics. Many of these hold to a high view of Scripture as the inspired Word of God and posit an active role of the Holy Spirit in its production. Yet pneumatology has received short shrift when it comes to hermeneutical reflection. Our author seeks not only to speak to this neglect, but make a major move toward remedying it.<\/p>\n
In the space of five compact and well constructed chapters, Wyckoff conducts a historically-informed exercise in philosophical theology around the issue of the Holy Spirit\u2019s relationship to biblical hermeneutics. Chapter one clearly states and defines the nature of the problem, establishes the need for the present study, circumscribes its scope and describes its internal organization. Admittedly the complex and multifaceted character of hermeneutics will raise a host of issues and questions beyond the scope of this book, but the author is determined to stay focused on the primary question which he argues deserves our singular attention.<\/p>\n
Chapter two surveys the history of biblical interpretation from Early Church to the Reformation; the Reformation to the Enlightenment; and the Enlightenment to mid-twentieth century.<\/p>\n
As a teacher I thoroughly enjoyed this helpful historical survey of the Church\u2019s consideration of the Holy Spirit\u2019s relationship to hermeneutics because it also serves as a primer to the field of historical hermeneutics<\/i> in general. It provides a needed supplement to most textbooks in hermeneutics. Wyckoff conducts an overview of the major schools of biblical interpretation, their major figures and a succinct statement of their contribution to the field. Students will especially appreciate the summaries that appear after each historical period and the author\u2019s conclusions at the end of the chapter. He lingers over major figures such as Origen, Chrysostom, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Turretin, Schleiermacher, Barth etc. to highlight their specific contributions to hermeneutics and specifically how they related the Spirit to a believer\u2019s understanding of Scripture. Numerous choice quotes from the early Church Fathers and theologians demonstrate their high view of Scripture owing to their conviction of its divine origin and inspiration. It is this theological conviction which naturally led to their hermeneutical consideration of how the Holy Spirit continues to function as a mediator of Divine truth through the Scriptures. Nevertheless, while most affirmed this role of the Holy Spirit, some denied or deemphasized it. The author provides sharp insight into why this was so by revealing the theological, philosophical and epistemological presuppositions at work.<\/p>\n
The historical background supplied by Chapter two is just the foundation and perspective needed to evaluate contemporary scholars in their treatment of this same question. Wyckoff samples widely from a broad stream of Christian tradition, including numerous Protestant and Catholic scholars. Nevertheless, he sharpens his focus on evangelical scholars who view the Scripture as the work of the Holy Spirit through inspiration. The question to examine is whether these same scholars posit a role for the Spirit in the hermeneutical process. He broadly divides these scholars into two camps: those that deny or limit the Holy Spirit\u2019s role and those that affirm and emphasize it. Once again, which camp one finds oneself in depends on theological and philosophical presuppositions regarding the nature of Scripture itself and how one understands what transpires when a person reads or seeks to understand it. Our author exposes us to scholars who all, to one degree or another, affirm that the Holy Spirit has a place at the hermeneutical table. However, they fail to agree concerning his portion and exact placement. Wyckoff next explores why these scholars posit the necessity of the Spirit in the hermeneutical enterprise. The answer to the question is found in the sinfulness of man and its inherent limitations; limitations that are both ontological and epistemological and must be overcome if God is to communicate his divine truth. What follows is a carefully nuanced theological discussion of the epistemological role of the Spirit as it relates to and merges with the doctrines of divine inspiration and illumination by the Spirit. The consensus that emerges is one that clearly affirms the Spirit\u2019s contemporary role in aiding humanity in understanding the Scriptures. What becomes equally clear is that, due to the transcendent reality being considered, scholars find it nearly impossible to conceptualize or describe this role with any specificity. Dr. Wyckoff should be commended for venturing out and working toward conceptualization no matter how elusive or difficult.<\/p>\n
Wyckoff devotes the lion\u2019s share of Chapter three to hermeneutical questions and controversial issues that erupt when asking, \u201cIf the Holy Spirit assists the reader in understanding Scripture, \u2026how does the message differ from that understood by ordinary means?\u201d (p.65). The student of hermeneutics is introduced to such issues as the sensus plenior<\/i> and its relationship to the message intended by the author, the challenges of hermeneutical methods that deny the need or relevance of original authorial intent, and mediating positions that seek to affirm the importance of both the author\u2019s meaning and the \u201cGod-intended meaning\u201d supplied by the Spirit. Some may balk at the author\u2019s attempt to find a satisfactory position that allows for \u201cspecial revelation\u201d mediated by the Spirit, one which the author \u201cmay or may not have fully understood.\u201d Our anxiety should subside when we read Wyckoff\u2019s qualifier. Such special revelation via the Spirit enables the interpreter \u201cto gain fresh insight into the meaning of the text\u201d\u2026 but \u201cthis does not include new revelation\u201d that is divorced from and alien to the meaning of the text originally intended by the biblical author. Nevertheless, our author works hard to articulate the character of this \u201cspecial revelation.\u201d A variety of terminology is used: \u201cultracognitive\u2026 beyond ordinary human comprehension.\u201d It is what Torrance called \u201cSupreme Truth\u201d that constitutes Scripture\u2019s \u201cspiritual meaning.\u201d It communicates an experiential knowledge of the heart (p.72) which is inherently spiritual (pneumatikos<\/i>), calling for the mediatory role of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately the illumination via the Spirit communicates the person and work of Christ himself. Consistent with Johannine pneumatology, the Spirit\u2019s illumination is fundamentally Christocentric.<\/p>\n
Even if convinced that the Spirit has the hermeneutical role described above, the question of how<\/i> still remains. Our author devotes most of the remaining two chapters in responding to the challenge of explaining how the Sprit provides illumination. While admitting he is seeking to explain a \u201cmystery,\u201d he nonetheless asserts that imperfect articulation is better than none at all. And so Wyckoff looks to the metaphors of Scripture itself as a window into the mystery of pneumatic activity in the hermeneutical task. He lists such verbal metaphors as \u201cenlightening\u201d(Eph 1:19), \u201cguiding\u201d (Jn 16:13) and \u201cunveiling\u201d (2Cor 3:12) as instructive and discusses models that help conceptualize how the Spirit conveys or transmits understanding. After critiquing and rejecting two inferior models, the author adopts the teacher metaphor as the most helpful and instructive. His choice is prompted by the prevalence of this metaphor in Scripture and the epistemological contexts that surround it. It also underscores the cooperative participation between interpreter and the Holy Spirit in the hermeneutical process. The testimony of numerous scholars establishes a broad consensus that it is a collaborative effort that does not marginalize the input and involvement of the Holy Spirit or the interpreter. Moreover, the task is synergistic in the fact that Spirit and his illumination works \u201cthrough the normal processes of human understanding.\u201d These are the critical procedures of biblical exegesis and hermeneutical principles. Among these principles the one that I believe is ripe for elaboration and further reflection is \u201cresponsiveness.\u201d This principle points to the Spirit\u2019s impact on the reader volitionally. What is not completely clear is whether the reader\u2019s response is an internal or external one, and whether it is a prerequisite for illumination or its attendant result.<\/p>\n
Who are candidates for the Spirit\u2019s illumination of Scripture? Believers <\/i>of course are the primary recipients, Wyckoff acknowledges, but what about non-believers? His answer is one that requires careful theological analysis or readers might be led to false conclusions; perhaps by what is not stated more than what is. The author states plainly that some measure of the Spirit\u2019s enlightenment must be available to unbelievers or the gospel message would then have remained veiled and hidden from their understanding. How then could they be converted? Confusion may result when we fail to distinguish contexts. Unbelievers confronted with the gospel on the way to conversion, are not in the same situation as believers, regenerated by the Spirit, seeking to understand God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
Wyckoff\u2019s most novel and original work is clearly found in Chapter four where he presents a model and method for conceptualizing the work of the Spirit in the process of interpretation. Here is where he combines models of teaching gleaned from educational theory with the teacher metaphor for the work of the Spirit found in Scripture. Educators acknowledge three basic teaching\/learning paradigms: authoritative<\/i>, laissez-faire<\/i> and facilitator<\/i>. Our author carefully describes the role of the teacher, the mode and manner of teaching, and the anticipated outcomes or results under each paradigm. He then explores how one would view the work of the Spirit as teacher under each paradigm as it relates to the scripture-reader and the spiritual results of that educational transaction. The teaching\/learning paradigm of facilitator<\/i> is shown to be most reflective of the Spirit\u2019s work in the collaborative hermeneutical enterprise previously discussed. Educators and theologians alike will resonate with his conclusion that this paradigm facilitates learning that results in a higher order of knowledge, one that is both experiential and transformational.<\/p>\n
John Wyckoff has done the Church a great service in fostering theological and hermeneutical reflection on a timeless topic of continuing relevance. Pentecostals and charismatics, in particular, ought to be grateful for his strong insistence that hermeneutics is fundamentally pneumatic<\/i>; the Spirit retaining an active role in the interpretive process, one that is in continuity with (albeit distinct from) his inspiration of the Scriptures. Moreover, our author is to be congratulated for his courage to deal with the tough and sticky hermeneutical and theological questions that arise when one seeks to articulate the transcendent reality and work of the Spirit. In Chapter five he summarizes the results of his study with a humble acknowledgement of its limits and anticipates some criticism that is sure to follow. Nevertheless, he has pushed us forward in theological and hermeneutical reflection and refined and clarified our task of defining the Spirit\u2019s role in biblical interpretation. He has given us a workable model (Spirit as Teacher) that helps, but does not exhaust the nature of the task. He has even dared broach the subject of how the Spirit\u2019s illumination works. The most daring aspect of his proposal is to distinguish interpretation through normal human intellect on the one hand, and that aided by the Spirit\u2019s illumination on the other. In the latter he hints at a different epistemology that produces not only a \u201ccontemporary significance\u201d of Scripture, but a divine-human transaction whereby the reader-interpreter experiences the being of God himself. As controversial and abstract as this proposal may be, it is one cogently argued within the parameters of theological orthodoxy and anticipated or confirmed by more than a few theologians.<\/p>\n
Wyckoff is his own best critic and he ends his work with suggestions to refine and amend his proposal. The reader is challenged not only to critique that proposal, but through additional research, to refine it or even offer one of their own. In Pneuma and Logos<\/i>, Dr. Wyckoff has presented us with an illuminating work, an engaging proposal and a provocative challenge.<\/p>\n
Reviewed by James D. Hernando<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John W. Wyckoff, Pneuma and Logos: The Role of Spirit in Biblical Hermeneutics (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010), 168 pages, ISBN 9781608994830. John Wyckoff\u2019s 1990 Ph.D. dissertation has finally come to print and is long overdue. In fact, it is perplexing how a scholarly treatise on such an intriguing topic was not snatched up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2910,"featured_media":21168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1,3968],"tags":[3304,3981,2674,3982],"ppma_author":[4578],"class_list":["post-21167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indepth","category-pneuma-review","category-spring-2012","tag-john","tag-logos","tag-pneuma-2","tag-wyckoff","author-jamesdhernando"],"authors":[{"term_id":4578,"user_id":2910,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jamesdhernando","display_name":"James Hernando","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/JimHernando200703_crop-150x150.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/JimHernando200703_crop-150x150.jpg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2910"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21167"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/km7.a6a.mytemp.website\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=21167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}