Is There a Meaning in This Text? : The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge

Is There a Meaning in This Text? is a comprehensive and creative analysis of debates over biblical hermeneutics that draws on interdisciplinary resources, all coordinated by Christian theology. It revitalizes and enlarges the concept of author-oriented interpretation and restores confidence that readers of the Bible can reach understanding. The result is a major challenge to the central assumptions of postmodern biblical scholarship and a constructive alternative proposal-an Augustinian hermeneutic-that reinvigorates the notion of biblical authority and finds a new exegetical practice that recognizes the importance of both the reader's situation and the literal sense.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Ph.D., Cambridge University) is Blanchard Professor of Theology at the Wheaton College and Graduate School. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including The Drama of Doctrine and the forthcoming Remythologizing Theology.