Hermeneutics in Romans: Paul's Approach to Reading the Bible

by Timo Laato, Bror Erickson (Translator), Weslie Odom (Translator)

“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:25-26)Eternal life is found within the pages of Holy Scripture, both in the Old Testament Torah referred to as “the Law” in this exchange between Jesus and the lawyer, and in the New Testament written in the wake of Christ’s resurrection. But as Jesus points out, it matters how you read Holy Scripture, and this is where the art of hermeneutics, the study of interpretation, makes its entrance. In Hermeneutics in Romans, Dr. Timo Laato returns to the old Lutheran maxim that Scripture interprets Scripture. Usually this maxim meant that portions of Scripture that were clear should be used to shed light on portions of Scripture that are unclear. Dr. Laato takes it even one step further. He turns to Romans to study the hermeneutical principles that Paul used to interpret the Old Testament in that epistle. This results in a dynamic view of the Bible, rescuing hermeneutics from the dead atheistic presumptions that have governed academic hermeneutical research since Kant. Not only does Dr. Laato’s approach make immanent sense on the face of it, it breathes life into the study of Scripture and delivers eternal life to the reader in Jesus Christ, who proves to be the ultimate hermeneutical key.

159 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 8, 2021

Reviews

[Philip Bartelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a step in a new direction for 1517 publishing. It is not the usual popular, lay level theological book for the casual reader, but seems to be geared with theologians in mind explicitly given the extensive use of Greek and Hebrew. Laato, a scholar of note and intellectual powerhouse, presents quite a compelling argument for Christ as the hermeneutical key to reading the OT. To do this he uses Paul's view of the OT as demonstrated in the book of Romans. In this way the book functions as a light commentary on Romans and a book on hermeneutics at the same time. Laato's emphasis on Romans 9-11 will be particularly interesting for those from the Reformed tradition. For Lutherans, Laato's comments on Romans 10:1-4 were especially enlightening and thought provoking. Overall, a good book. My only criticisms are editorial in nature: the use of endnotes as opposed to footnotes made reading the book very difficult, especially since Laato notes extensively. Also the sheer size of chapter 4 was a bit unwieldy (almost 60 pages) and could have been broken up to match the size of the other chapters.