Joshua D. Broggi, Sacred Language, Sacred World: The Unity of Scriptural and Philosophical Hermeneutics (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), x +222 Pps. $112.00.
Broggi is a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College and a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, UK. In this title he notes that many theologians negotiate a settlement between scripture and reason. Usually thought of as distinct things, Broggi claims not only their relatedness, but also the stronger argument that they name the same thing; in fact, to maintain their distinctness can be damaging. The book argues for a unity of philosophical and textual hermeneutics. He defends the idea that what something means cannot be disentangled from the kind of world one inhabits. More precisely, he shows how the bible and a meaningful world holds together.
He conducts a reading of two central features of twentieth-century hermeneutics: Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer, especially Heidegger’s Being and Time, and Gadamer’s Truth and Method. This thesis that they are the same thing is worked out in Broggi attempting to demonstrate that scripture and reason are the same thing. In making its case, the book presupposes that we inherit our ability to reason, and that this inheritance orients the way in which we reason, including how we come to see and evaluate our reasoning. He also makes an assumption about the diversity of reason.
Heidegger and Gadamer are typically read by different theologians. Heidegger tends to be read by philosophical theologians examining his contribution to matters of doubt, and existential finitude, whereas Gadamer tends to be read by those with an interest in interpreting the Bible. In both cases, they have well-established associations with specific theological positions. Broggi challenges this understanding by re-reading the primary texts; he defends an alternative theological appropriation of their work. He reads Heidegger and Gadamer’s texts in such a way that they defend the “oneness” of scripture and reason, and that they truly inhabit a unitary world.
In sum, I do not find Broggi’s thesis of the unity of scripture and reason are truly the same thing to be convincing. It is a tenuous postulation. However, the entire book is a profitable read nonetheless. With regard to readership, I would recommend it to an academic audience of any theological persuasion, as Broggi does not advance any problematic or controversial assertions.