Exegetical Fallacies

D. A. Carson
ISBN 0801024994

This is a fascinating little book. It has been on my 'list' for some time so I was glad to get the time to read it. As the title indicates the book’s primary concern is to identify the fallacies that may arise when seeking to understand the meaning of the biblical text. It doesn’t cover areas of application to the modern situation of the reader, though reference is made to this other large field of potential pitfalls.

More than half of the book is given over to word-study errors and grammatical errors in Greek. This assumes some knowledge of the Greek language and therefore it will be bewildering to one who does not have this background. The message of this section is a simple one: the way to avoid many of these errors is simply to get to know the language better as a language, rather than simply a set of alternative words. The old adage 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' is amply shown to be true. There are great dangers for those who want to preach and yet make do with a little knowledge. For example, how many times have you read of heard of the gospel described as the 'dynamite' of God? 'Dynamite' is derived from dunamis, the Greek word for 'power'. But this is a modern meaning read back into the ancient text. Paul did not mean to convey the idea of explosive, destructive force in the gospel. It is an example of what Carson calls semantic anachronism.

The remainder of the book deals with logical, historical and presuppositional fallacies. These are extremely helpful. Many examples from published works serve as illustrations. What I found striking was the challenge to my tendency to read commentaries with the assumption that the writers' understanding of Greek is good or that his reasoning is sound. Carson’s observations remind me to be careful and approach commentaries critically. They may be wrong!

Overall the book is an excellent addition to the library of a preacher. My only criticism is that it is a little too short. Some of the explanations of, for example, the grammatical fallacies needed to be expanded for the sake of clarity. Nevertheless, it is worth studying well.