Let the Reader Understand: A Guide to Interpreting & Applying the Bible

by Dan G. McCartney, Charles Clayton

For many people, interpreting the Bible is the art of making it say what they want. Even scholars often treat interpretation as a subjective exercise, not the search for true, objective meaning of texts. But hasn't God spoken definitively in Scripture? Shouldn't we be able to arrive at a good and true interpretation?

Convinced that God wants us to understand his Word in all its literary genres, Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton have provided a thorough, readable introduction to biblical interpretation, now updated in this second edition to address post-modern approaches.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Faith, Nonfiction, Biblical Studies, Christianity, Christian Living

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Dan G. McCartney (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament interpretation at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He previously taught at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for more than twenty years. He is the author of Let the Reader Understand: A Guide to Interpreting and Applying the Bible and Why Does it Have to Hurt? The Meaning of Christian Suffering. McCartney also revised J. Gresham Machen's New Testament Greek for Beginners.

Reviews

[Jon Vos]

The layperson may be a bit disappointed as the book begins rather slowly, discussing the philosophy of words and truth (still in an understandable way) and how the Enlightenment changed how people read their Bibles. But if you stick with it, this book is a very good introduction to interpretation, covering fallacies, genre distinction, and plenty of examples to show how to arrive at a proper interpretation.

[Luke Schmeltzer]

This helpful guide to hermeneutics speaks unapologetically from the Reformed perspective, but I am sure it would benefit readers from any tradition. The first few chapters establishing the meaning of words and language in general is a bit dry, but the book gets more clear and useful as it progresses. It's a college level hermeneutics guide, but I would recommend it to any serious student of biblical interpretation.

[h.f.]

did i just say i read this entire book even though we weren’t required to read the last chapter and a few other parts for class? yes, yes i did.

[Brett Mclaughlin]

McCartney and Clayton's work on hermeneutics is, at its core, understandable. It's ironic that most books on understanding Scripture are themselves difficult, and that's a pitfall that this work largely avoids. There are times when complex words are used when simple ones would suffice, but as a whole, this is an enjoyable, readable work on understanding the Bible without forcing an interpretation upon the Bible.

Perhaps most welcome is the lengthy section on language itself, and the resistance to a "secret decoder ring" approach to translation and interpretation. McCartney and Clayton reject the idea that a single word in one language means a single word in another, and that every use of a word is consistent. Instead, they constantly bang the drum of context, discourse analysis, and the premise that Biblical authors didn't sit around with a concordance choosing each word from a buffet of choices. Rather, authors wrote, stylistically, culturally, and often quickly. This doesn't remove God's super-intendence, but it does mean that the "word study" approach to Scripture--apart from other methods such as context, stylistic considerations, genre, etc.--is sloppy and often misleading.

This is ultimately a gateway book to many other hermeneutics texts, and it isn't--and doesn't claim to be--exhaustive. But it's a wonderful, conservative, believing introduction to understanding Scripture, and will go a long way for serious students and teachers of Scripture. It's got plenty of examples, it's well-written, and it's ultimately an enjoyable and worthwhile read.

[Matthew Rawlings]

The work tries to present hermeneutics and exegesis and is helpful but it doesn't go deep enough especially in re to the latter.

[Kenneth Clayton]

McCartney, Dan and Charles Clayton: Let the Reader Understand: A Guide to Interpreting and Applying the Bible (2nd edition) (G)(312pgs)
Paperback P&R Publishing (Biblical Studies/Exegesis & Hermeneutics)
This book was a very helpful study of hermeneutics. It was not a really easy read but not unnecessarily difficult. The authors do a good job of writing in a way that most anyone could understand without out specializing in this field. There are smaller easier books on this topic, but I think it was worth putting the time into this one. The authors show the helpfulness of the grammatical historical method but show that it is not sufficient by itself. This is a very important and highly practical book, if we base our lives on what the Bible teaches we ought to be sure we are interpreting and applying it correctly.

[Jerry]

Decent hermeneutics text.

[A.r.]

One of the best points is about the "spiral" of Biblical understanding and how it works w/ our remaining flesh.

[Alex Houston]

Good introduction to hermeneutics (how to interpret the bible). You won't find any "What does this verse mean to you Bill?" here, just tools needed to properly read and interpret Scripture.

[Eric Molicki]

This updated edition remains as clear and readable as the original. Overall, this is a great introductory text to the theory of hermeneutics and the practice of exegesis.