Exegetical Fallacies

Rating:
Summary: Well written with lots of good information
Review: This book has four chapters, giving overviews of word-study, grammatical, logical, presuppositional, and historical fallacies. Each chapter in turn has some smaller sections in which Carson defines and discusses the particular fallacies of each general type. He provides quite a few examples.

Chapters 1, 3, and 4 require little or no knowledge of Greek, but I skipped most of chapter 2 (grammatical fallacies) because I didn't really know what he was talking about.

Carson is a very skillful writer who presents his points very logically and therefore convincingly. I would definitely recommend this book if you're interested in learning about the particular types and examples of different exegetical fallacies.

Rating:
Summary: Read and sit in the pew...
Review: This book is a must read for any Christian preacher, teacher, or student. At this book's heart is the necessity of correctly handling the Word of God. Scripture declares that those who become teachers have a greater judgment (James 3:1). In other words, those who seek to handle the Word of God must do so carefully and correctly. Carson writes, "we cannot lightly accept ... laxity in the interpretation of Scripture. We are dealing with God's thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly" (p. 15). This book calls us to careful, clear, and correct preaching and teaching of God's most holy Word.

Carson begins by looking at various "word-study fallacies." With words we preach, teach, communicate, and oftentimes confuse, mislead, and destroy. How we use words matters. One of the most common word-study fallacies is what Carson calls "semantic anachronism." This occurs when one takes a modern day use of a word and reads it back into earlier literature. How many preachers have read the meaning of the English word dynamite back into the Greek word dynamis? Such word-study fallacies are all too common in preaching.

Carson continues by examining various "grammatical fallacies." This involves such problems as the ever-abused Aorist tense in biblical Greek. The Aorist refers to an undefined event, which is often misconstrued to refer to an exact moment of time in the past. The meaning and usage of the word must be determined by its usage within the context not through preset categories. As a side note, this chapter is the most Greek intensive. One could follow Carson's thought but much of it would not be extremely helpful unless one knew Greek.

The third chapter looks at common "logical fallacies." He begins by arguing for the universality of logic (something which is hotly disputed today) and then proceeds to list various logical fallacies. While this list is helpful it remains incomplete. For an excellent guide to logical fallacies one should reference S. Morris Engel's "With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies." Throughout this chapter (and all chapters) Carson offers examples from Christian scholarship, which both violate and uphold the rules of logic. The poem "Why Are Fire Engines Red?" is worth the price of the book.

Next, Carson highlights various "presuppositional and historical fallacies." Everyone has baggage (both good and bad) when they approach the Biblical text. These are our presuppositions, which are unavoidable - everyone has them and can't get rid of them. The best thing to do is to recognize one's presuppositions and see how they color one's reading of Scripture. Carson argues that we must seek to distance ourselves from our recognized presuppositions in order to approach the biblical text afresh (a difficult task!). It is just as much a fallacy to read our theology into the text, as it is to assume that we are neutral. Carson also lists a few historical fallacies which expositors who handle a historical text (i.e. the Bible) may be prone to commit.

Carson concludes by listing a few more potential abuses of Scripture. In both the introduction and the concluding paragraphs Carson warns his readers against the pride of knowing and being able to point out fallacies. It is not a tool toward pride, but a guide for humility. He concludes by suggesting our newfound understanding of fallacies to be seasoned with a little self-doubt. We must be able to recognize fallacies others commit but in doing so we must not fail to realize that we may just as easily be committing them unaware. Therefore as expositors of God's Word we must humbly seek to carefully and correctly handle that word.

This is an excellent book and an enjoyable read. At a little over 140 pages this book will be a quick read and will serve as an invaluable reference for life. Scripture encourages us to be as Bereans testing what we hear from others by the Word of God (Acts 17:11). To this end Carson's work offers us one more help in testing what we hear and discerning the true meaning of the Word of God. May we seek to love God with our minds as we carefully and correctly handle his holy Word.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Addition to the Tool Box
Review: This is one fine little all-purpose addition to the pastor, teacher, student or lay-minister's exegetical tool kit. D.A. Carson holds back on no one-including himself! He even points out some fallacies from his own teachings in the past which have been corrected by, can you believe it...his grad students! That alone impressed me, that a scholar of Carson's reputation could admit that he too, has made exegetical errors. He says that we all must be aware of our tendencies towards logical fallacies, misuse of the Biblical languages, blurring context, bringing presuppositions to the passage, etc.

D.A. Carson tears down many sacred cows...pet topics of preachers that I have heard all my life and (ouch) even preached a few! But forewarned is forearmed. This book will make you aware, and cause you not to be paranoid and skeptical, but to use good technique and research in preparation. It's one more step that God gives us in rightly dividing His Word. _Exegetical Fallacies_ is a great tool, and I believe it has enriched my preaching and teaching. I highly recommend it anyone who's ready to study the Word, from the seminary prof to the Sunday School teacher.

Rating:
Summary: Be Careful What You Read!!!
Review: This was my first encounter with the writings of D.A. Carson, and it was a memorible one. This is a "no nonsense" book. Very detailed and very careful.
One thing that D.A. Carson does well is make a distinction between a "scholar" and an "exegete." He greatly criticises many scholars and gives us a "wake up call" as to what we are reading. Furthermore, he reminds us that not everyone who has written a book is an exegete. Even some people who have written exegetical works before can, thorough changing needs, make an increasingly large number of errors if they are not careful.
However, he does not leave the whole thing doom and gloom. Daniel Wallace, for instance, takes an opposite position to D.A. Carson on many issues. However, that is the fun of New Testament Exegesis. If you can avoid the pitfalls, the discussion of the text becomes incredibly interesting indeed.
Kudos to D.A. Carson! Every pastor, author, layman, and even sunday school teacher should read!