Hoping to give the modern evangelical an understanding of how postmodern thought has shifted the expectation of the exegete, Jon Robertson puts the hermeneutical practices of both premodern Athanasius and postmodern Hans-Georg Gadamer in conversation with one another. Through examination of both Gadamer’s and Athanasius’s concepts of interpretation as dialogue and importance of the pre-understanding of the interpreter and her community, Robertson offers an alternative to modern requirement for complete objectivity in interpretation. The essay also offers avenues for avoiding heresy or misinterpretation when using this pre and postmodern hermeneutical process.
Author: Jon Robertson
Dr. Robertson served 13 years training pastors and lay leaders with the Evangelical Covenant Church in Quito, Ecuador. While there, he taught at the Ecuadorian Covenant seminary as well as other Christian graduate institutions. His passion has been to introduce insights of the past into the discussions of today. He earned a Ph.D. in Historical Theology form the University of Oxford, where he focused on the theology of the early Church Fathers. His dissertation, Christ as Mediator: A Study of the Theologies of Eusebius of Caesarea, Marcellus of Ancyra and Athanasius of Alexandria, has been published by Oxford University Press in their Theological Monograph Series. Dr. Robertson's wife, Erin, is a Speech Therapist. The Robertsons have one daughter, Elizabeth, in college and two sons, Joshua and David, still at home. Dr. Robertson enjoys board games, turning wood on his lathe, and joining his family for long hikes in the countryside.