Kevin Vanhoozer

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Kevin Jon Vanhoozer
Born (1957-03-10) March 10, 1957 (age 67)
California, USA
OccupationBiblical academic
Years activeContemporary
TitleResearch Professor of Systematic Theology at
Reformed theology, theology of culture

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

).

He joined the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 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 returned to TEDS in 2012.

Vanhoozer is the Senior Theological Mentor for the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians and Senior Fellow in Systematic Theology for the C. S. Lewis Institute. He and his wife Sylvie have two daughters. He maintains a web page, "The Theophilus Project", at www.kevinjvanhoozer.com.[3]

Douglas Sweeney and Daniel Treier edited a Festschrift in his honor, Hearing and Doing the Word: The Drama of Evangelical Hermeneutics, published in 2021 by T&T Clark (

) and consisting of essays by his former teachers and students and present colleagues.

Academic contributions

Vanhoozer has written several books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology,

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 that relies strongly on the speech-act theory of J. L. Austin
, 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

Edited works

Articles

Online writings

Audio

References

  1. ^ a b c "Experience the Drama". Tiu.edu. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2013-07-13.
  2. ^ Donato, Chris. "Welcome Back, Vanhoozer". TEDS News & Events Page. Trinity International University. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  3. ^ TEDS CC5060 Lecture, Deerfield, IL 09/12/2007
  4. ^ 2006 Gold Medallion Book Awards Winners - Bible Reference & Study category Archived February 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

External links

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