Gospel and Spirit: Issues in New Testament Hermeneutics

For those who believe the Scriptures are the inspired word of God with a message relevant for living today, nothing is more crucial than understanding sound principles of interpretation. Disagreement arises when people and groups differ over how one gets at that message and what that message is. In this collection of essays and lectures, Dr. Gordon Fee offers hermeneutical insights that will more effectively allow the New Testament to speak on its own terms to our situation today.

This is not a collection of subjective, theoretical essays on the science of interpretation; rather, these essays target issues of practical—and sometimes critical—concern to Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and anyone interested in letting the Bible speak to today's situation. Fee brings to the task what he himself advocates: common sense and dedication to Scripture. Readers already familiar with some of these essays, like "Hermeneutics and Common Sense: An Exploratory Essay on the Hermeneutics of the Epistles," will welcome its reappearance. Others will appreciate the challenge of essays such as "The Great Watershed—Intentionality and Particularity/Eternality: 1 Timothy 2:8–15 as a Test Case"—an essay defending the role of women in ministry—or "Hermeneutics and Historical Precedent—A Major Issue in Pentecostal Hermeneutics." Anyone wanting to wrestle with key issues in New Testament interpretation will want to read this book.

"Gordon D. Fee, an established and influential New Testament exegete, provides a superb analysis of a wide range of hermeneutical issues with a wholesome combination of scholarship, insight, good sense, and passion. These cogent essays deal carefully and patiently with those concerns that are so important in genuine faithfulness to the authority of the Bible in the life of the Church today. Thus, they deserve a wide reading not only in the Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions but also in the wider Church as well."
—David M. Scholer, Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Early Church History, North Park College and Theological Seminary