Kevin Vanhoozer

Kevin Jon Vanhoozer (born March 10, 1957) is an American theologian and current Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodernism.

Biography

Vanhoozer received his M. Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University where he studied under Nicholas Lash. His inter-disciplinary dissertation was titled Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur: A Study in Hermeneutics and Theology and was published in 1990 (reprint 2007) by Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0-521-04390-5).

He joined the faculty of TEDS in 1986, but during two periods since has taught elsewhere. From 1990 to 1998, he was Senior Lecturer at New College, University of Edinburgh; from 2009 to 2012, he was Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College.^[1][2]

He and his wife Sylvie have two daughters.^[3]

Academic contributions

Vanhoozer has written several notable books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology,^[1] which won the Christianity Today 2006 Book Award for best book in theology, and Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine,^[1] which won the Christianity Today 2015 Book Award for best book in theology. He has edited several others, including the Gold Medallion Book Award winner Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible,^[4] The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology, and, with Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends.

In his work Is There a Meaning in this Text?, Vanhoozer gives an in depth response to the challenges of Deconstructionism to biblical hermeneutics. Primarily, he engages the thinking of Jacques Derrida, but Stanley Fish and Richard Rorty also receive attention. Vanhoozer develops a theory of communicative action which relies strongly on the speech-act theory of J. L. Austin and in which a biblical text is seen as a communicative act involving "locutions" (the text itself), "illocutions" (the stance of the author to the locution, e.g. questioning, asserting, promising, etc.) and "perlocutions" (the goals that the author hopes to accomplish through the text).

Among the conclusions that Vanhoozer draws from viewing a text as a communicative act are the involvement of the author, text, and reader in the process of interpretation. The intended meaning of the author can be discerned to a certain degree from the text. The text (langue and parole) is not an arbitrary "playground" but part of a covenantal relationship between all people. As a result, the intention of the author can be adequately decoded. Another consequence is that the reader/interpreter has a responsibility to honor the intentions of the author and try to interpret the text in a way which re-creates the author's intended meaning. This responsibility is coupled with a freedom to determine the significance in the context of the interpreter's community.

Works

Books

• Vanhoozer, Kevin Jon (1990). Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur (Ph.D). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5213-4425-8. 
• ——— (1998). Is There a Meaning in this Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN 978-0-3102-1156-3. 
• ——— (2002). First Theology: God, Scripture & Hermeneutics. Downers Grove, IL: IVP. ISBN 978-0-8308-2681-0. 
• ——— (2005). The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-6642-2327-4. 
• ——— (2010). Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5214-7012-4. 
• ——— (2014). Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine. Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-6642-3448-5. 
• ———; Strachan, Owen (2015). The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos. ISBN 978-0-8010-9771-3. 
• ———; Treier, Daniel (2016). Theology and the Mirror of Scripture: A Mere Evangelical Account. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN 978-1-7835-9400-9. 
• ——— (May 2016). Pictures at a Theological Exhibition: Scenes of the Church's Worship, Witness, and Wisdom. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. 
• ——— (October 2016). Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos. 

Edited works

• ———, ed. (1996). The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4117-9. 
• ———, ed. (2001). Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-4902-1. 
• ———, ed. (2003). Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5217-9062-8. 
• ———; Bartholomew, Craig G.; et al., eds. (2005). Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0-2810-5780-1. 
• ———; Smith, James KA; et al., eds. (2006). Hermeneutics at the Crossroads. Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-2532-1849-0. 
• ———, ed. (2007). Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0-8010-3167-0. 
• ———; Warner, Martin, eds. (2007). Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology: Reason, Meaning and Experience. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-5324-0. 
• ———; Bartholomew, Craig G; et al., eds. (2008). Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0-2810-6101-3. 
• ———; Lugioyo, Brian; et al., eds. (2014). Reconsidering the Relationship between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology in the New Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-1615-2719-7. 
• ———; et al., eds. (2016). New Dictionary of Theology (2nd exp. & rev. ed.). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN 978-0-8308-2455-7. 

Articles

• ——— (March 2005). "Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics". Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 48 (1): 89–114. 
• ——— (Fall 2015). "Putting on Christ: Spiritual Formation and the Drama of Discipleship". Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care. 8 (2). 

Online writings

• The Promise of Consensus: Towards a Communicative Hermeneutic (PDF)
• Types of Postmodern Theology (PDF), an excerpt from the Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology
• Hyperactive Hermeneutics: Is the Bible Being Overinterpreted
• Vanhoozer's response to Kostenberger's review of The Drama of Doctrine

Audio

• The Stage, the Story and the Script (MP3), Asbury Theological Seminary, March 15, 2007
• Doing Church: The Theater of the Gospel (MP3), Asbury Seminary, March 16, 2007
• The Strange New Status Symbol of the Cross (MP3), Wheaton College, March 19, 2008
• What has Vienna to do with Jerusalem? Barth, Brahms, and Bernstein's Unanswered Question (RealMedia)

References

External links

• Vanhoozer's page at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• Experience the Drama (PDF), an interview with Vanhoozer about his book The Drama of Doctrine
• Interview by Guy Davies, Sept 21, 2007
• Book Review: Is There a Meaning in This Text?, by Vern Poythress
• Meaning, intention, and application: Speech act theory in the hermeneutics of Francis Watson and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, by Scott Blue (Trinity Journal)

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