T&T Clark Sacred Language, Sacred World: The Unity of Scriptural and Philosophical Hermeneutics

Review Sacred Language, Sacred World addresses the question, """"when interpreting scripture, what does it mean to have commitments?"""" In the course of offering various answers, it also aims to overcome false separations between things that belong together. Thematically, it argues that scripture, tradition and reason are identical, in the sense that all of these things, when treated in theology, are different ways of investigating the same insight. Disciplinarily, it shows that World Christianity, Philosophical Theology and Biblical Interpretation belong together: Kimbanguist interpretation of the Bible in the Belgian Congo is skillfully woven together with detailed (and novel) interpretations of Heidegger and Gadamer. In an era of sometimes damaging over-specialisation in academic inquiry, Broggi boldly crosses borders and queries familiar nostrums. This important book, displaying great independence of mind, places philosophical classics in the service of theological interpretation of scripture. --Nicholas Adams, University of Birmingham, UKBroggi's creative engagement with Heidegger and Gadamer generates a thought-provoking and potentially fruitful way of understanding how reason presents itself in (and so may absent itself from) religious traditions. --Stephen Mulhall, Oxford University, UK Product Description Heidegger and Gadamer are typically read by different theologians. Heidegger tends to be read by philosophical theologians examining his contribution to matters of doubt, existential finitude, and atheism. Gadamer tends to be read by those with an interest in interpreting the Bible, especially by those with more confessional or epistemically optimistic sensibilities. In both cases, Heidegger and Gadamer have well-established associations with specific theological positions. Joshua Broggi challenges this arrangement by re-reading the primary texts as theological resources; he defends an alternative theological appropriation of their philosophical work through a close engagement with portions of their argument. What emerges from Broggi's examination is an account of the unity of tradition, reason, and scriptural language. This account goes beyond claims of their relatedness, which are uncontroversial, and advances the stronger argument that they name the very same thing. Although initially counterintuitive, the central task set by both Heidegger and Gadamer is the investigation of that one phenomenon. This argument challenges the pervasive image in which Christians rely on tradition to reason about the meaning of scripture. It puts into question the injunction that theologians should balance the resources of scripture, tradition, and reason. Broggi offers an account of Christian life as more fundamental than certain entities which are distilled out of it, namely: scripture, tradition and reason. About the Author Joshua D. Broggi is a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, UK.'