Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation

Everyone who has ever discussed the Bible has more than likely been faced with the response, "Everybody has their own interpretation." Is every interpretation the result of someone's particular perspective or personal point of view? Is there no basis upon which we can discover and hold to a "correct" interpretation? Biblical interpretation is facing a crisis. More and more authors are surrendering to the influence of Postmodern relativism. This malady is not limited to non-evangelicals. The pervasiveness of postmodern perspectivism propagated through the notions of presuppositions, preunderstanding, world views, horizons, paradigms, historicism, and a host of other approaches that are often confusing and frustrating to the committed Christian who simply wants to understand God's word are forcing many evangelicals to question the very possibility of an objective or correct interpretation of the Bible. Unless evangelicals can articulate and reasonably defend a notion of objectivity that reaches beyond one's own historical context and personal perspective to declare a Gospel that is true and relevant for all people, in all cultures, in all times, Christianity will continue to be viewed as simply another point of view among the host of conflicting choices. Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation analyzes and explains the current crises of objectivity and presents a reasoned defense of objective interpretation that directly confronts the relativistic claims of postmodern relativism. Thomas A. Howe has been an ordained minister since 1976 and since 1973 has served in both a lay capacity and as minister of youth and pastor in local churches in Georgia and Florida. In 1993, Thomas joined the faculty of the newly formed Southern Evangelical Seminary where he is the Professor of Bible and Biblical Languages and Director of the Apologetics Program. Thomas has also served as Adjunct Professor of New Testament for the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Extension at Charlotte, North Carolina, teaching introduction to New Testament Greek. While at Southern Evangelical Seminary, Thomas has had the responsibility of teaching all levels of Greek and Hebrew, Introduction to Hermeneutics, Advanced Hermeneutics, Philosophy of Hermeneutics, Introduction to Logic, History of Western Philosophy,and other classes. Thomas Howe has co-authored two books with Dr. Norman Geisler: Gambling: A Bad Bet, published by Fleming H. Revell Company in 1990, and When Critics Ask, published by Baker Book House in 1992. In 1991 Thomas received the National Scholarly Achievement Award in Biblical Studies, and in 1993 he, along with Dr. Geisler, received the Final Nominee Gold Medallion Book Award in Theology/Doctrine Category for When Critics Ask. In 1998, Thomas was the first Ph.D. graduate from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina. His Ph.D. work at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary was in Philosophy of Religion with concentration on the relationship between philosophy and biblical hermeneutics. His dissertation is titled, Objectivity in Hermeneutics: A Study of the Nature and of the Role of Presuppositions in Evangelical Hermeneutical Methodology and their Impact on the Possibility of Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation. His doctoral dissertation built upon the work that was done on his master's thesis dealing with the nature of meaning: Toward a Thomistic Theory of Meaning. Thomas has had more than twenty years of Bible teaching and research in hermeneutics, theology, and philosophy which has particularly equipped him for this task.