Kevin J. Vanhoozer

{{Infobox academic

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Kevin J. Vanhoozer

| honorific_suffix =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|03|10|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = California, USA

| death_date =

| death_place =

| death_cause =

| nationality =

| period = Contemporary

| occupation = Biblical academic

| title = Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

| boards =

| known_for =

| spouse = Sylvie

| children =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| signature_size =

| era =

| language =

| discipline = Christian Theology

| sub_discipline =

| movement =

| education = Westminster Theological Seminary

| alma_mater = Cambridge University (Ph.D.)

| thesis_title = Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur: A Study in Hermeneutics and Theology

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year =

| doctoral_advisor = Nicholas Lash

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| main_interests = Hermeneutics and theological interpretation of Scripture, Christian doctrine, Reformed theology, theology of culture

| workplaces = University of Edinburgh
Wheaton College (Illinois)
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

| notable_works =

| notable_ideas =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Kevin Jon Vanhoozer (born March 10, 1957) is an American theologian and current research professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. Much of Vanhoozer's work focuses on systematic theology, hermeneutics, and postmodern theology.

Biography

Vanhoozer received his M. Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University, where he studied under Nicholas Lash. His interdisciplinary dissertation was titled Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur: A Study in Hermeneutics and Theology, published in 1990 (reprint 2007) by Cambridge University Press ({{ISBN|0-521-04390-5}}).

He joined the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1986, but during two periods since has taught elsewhere. From 1990 to 1998, he was Senior Lecturer at New College, University of Edinburgh; from 2009 to 2012, he was Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College.{{cite web|url=http://www.tiu.edu/divinity/people/vanhoozer |title=Experience the Drama |publisher=Tiu.edu |accessdate=2013-07-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106145047/http://www.tiu.edu/divinity/people/vanhoozer |archivedate=2009-01-06 }}{{cite web|last=Donato|first=Chris|url=http://news.tiu.edu/2011/11/09/welcome-back-vanhoozer/|title=Welcome Back, Vanhoozer|work=TEDS News & Events Page|publisher=Trinity International University|accessdate=28 November 2011|archive-date=13 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113110655/http://news.tiu.edu/2011/11/09/welcome-back-vanhoozer/|url-status=dead}} He returned to TEDS in 2012.

Vanhoozer is the Senior Theological Mentor for the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians and Senior Fellow in Systematic Theology for the C. S. Lewis Institute. He and his wife Sylvie have two daughters. He maintains a web page, "The Theophilus Project", at www.kevinjvanhoozer.com.TEDS CC5060 Lecture, Deerfield, IL 09/12/2007

Douglas Sweeney and Daniel Treier edited a Festschrift in his honor, Hearing and Doing the Word: The Drama of Evangelical Hermeneutics, published in 2021 by T&T Clark ({{ISBN|9780567702197}}) and consisting of essays by his former teachers and students and present colleagues.

Academic contributions

Vanhoozer has written several books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology, which won the Christianity Today 2006 Book Award for best book in theology, and Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine, which won the Christianity Today 2015 Book Award for best book in theology. He has edited several others, including the Gold Medallion Book Award winner Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible,[http://www.ecpa.org/christianbookawards/cba2006.php 2006 Gold Medallion Book Awards Winners - Bible Reference & Study category] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205011117/http://www.ecpa.org/christianbookawards/cba2006.php |date=February 5, 2008 }} The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology, and, with Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends.

In his work Is There a Meaning in this Text?, Vanhoozer gives an in-depth response to the challenges of Deconstructionism to biblical hermeneutics. Primarily, he engages the thinking of Jacques Derrida, but Stanley Fish and Richard Rorty also receive attention. Vanhoozer develops a theory of communicative action that relies strongly on the speech-act theory of J. L. Austin, in which a biblical text is seen as a communicative act involving "locutions" (the text itself), "illocutions" (the stance of the author to the locution, e.g. questioning, asserting, promising, etc.), and "perlocutions" (the goals that the author hopes to accomplish through the text).

Among the conclusions that Vanhoozer draws from viewing a text as a communicative act are the involvement of the author, text, and reader in the process of interpretation. The intended meaning of the author can be discerned to a certain degree from the text. The text (langue and parole) is not an arbitrary "playground" but part of a covenantal relationship between all people. As a result, the intention of the author can be adequately decoded. Another consequence is that the reader/interpreter has a responsibility to honor the intentions of the author and try to interpret the text in a way which re-creates the author's intended meaning. This responsibility is coupled with a freedom to determine the significance in the context of the interpreter's community.

Works

=Books=

{{cite thesis|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |title= Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBq5YEoxQwwC|type= Ph.D |location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press |date=1990 |isbn= 978-0-5213-4425-8}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3 |title= Is There a Meaning in this Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge |location=Grand Rapids, MI | publisher= Zondervan |date=1998 |isbn= 978-0-3102-1156-3}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3 |title= First Theology: God, Scripture & Hermeneutics |location= Downers Grove, IL | publisher= IVP |date=2002 |isbn= 978-0-8308-2681-0}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|title=The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-linguistic Approach to Christian Theology |location= Louisville, KT | publisher= Westminster, John Knox Press |date=2005 |isbn= 978-0-6642-2327-4}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3 |title= Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship |location= Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press |date= 2010 |isbn= 978-0-5214-7012-4}}
{{cite book|last=Vanhoozer|first=Kevin J.|author-mask=3|title=Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine |location=Louisville, KT | publisher=Westminster, John Knox Press |date=2014 |isbn= 978-0-6642-3448-5}}
{{cite book|last1= Vanhoozer|first1= Kevin Jon |author-mask=3|last2=Strachan|first2=Owen |title=The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision |location= Grand Rapids, MI | publisher=Brazos |date= 2015 |isbn= 978-0-8010-9771-3}}
{{cite book|last1= Vanhoozer|first1= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|last2=Treier|first2=Daniel |title= Theology and the Mirror of Scripture: A Mere Evangelical Account |series=Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture |location=Downers Grove, IL | publisher= IVP Academic |date=2016 |isbn= 978-1-7835-9400-9}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|title=Pictures at a Theological Exhibition: Scenes of the Church's Worship, Witness, and Wisdom |location=Downers Grove, IL | publisher= IVP Academic |date= 2016}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|title=Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity |location=Grand Rapids, MI | publisher= Brazos |date= 2016}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|title=Hearers and Doers: A Pastor's Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine |location=Bellingham, WA | publisher= Lexham |date= 2019}}
{{cite book|last= Vanhoozer|first= Kevin Jon |author-mask= 3|title=Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically |location=Grand Rapids, MI | publisher= Zondervan |date= 2024}}

=Edited works=

{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3|title=The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion |location=Grand Rapids, MI | publisher= Eerdmans |date=1996 |isbn= 978-0-8028-4117-9}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3|title=Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of God |location= Grand Rapids, MI | publisher=Eerdmans |date= 2001 |isbn= 978-0-8028-4902-1}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask= 3|title= Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology |location=Cambridge | publisher= Cambridge University Press |date=2003 |isbn= 978-0-5217-9062-8}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last=Bartholomew |editor2-first= Craig G. |editor2-link=Craig Bartholomew |editor3-last=Treier |editor3-first= Daniel J |editor3-link= Daniel J. Treier |editor4-last= Wright |editor4-first= N. T. |editor4-link= N. T. Wright |display-editors=2|title=Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible |location= Grand Rapids, MI | publisher=Baker Academic |date= 2005 |isbn= 978-0-2810-5780-1}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last= Smith |editor2-first=James K. A. |editor2-link= James K. A. Smith |editor3-last= Benson |editor3-first= Bruce Ellis |editor3-link=Bruce Ellis Benson |display-editors= 2|title=Hermeneutics at the Crossroads |series= Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion |location= Bloomington, IN | publisher=Indiana University Press |date= 2006 |isbn= 978-0-2532-1849-0}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask= 3|title= Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends |location= Grand Rapids, MI | publisher=Baker Academic |date= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-8010-3167-0}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last=Warner |editor2-first=Martin |editor2-link=Martin Warner |title= Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology: Reason, Meaning and Experience |location= Farnham, Surrey | publisher=Ashgate Publishing |date= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-7546-5324-0}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last=Bartholomew |editor2-first= Craig G. |editor2-link= Craig Bartholomew |editor3-last=Treier |editor3-first= Daniel J |editor3-link=Daniel J. Treier |display-editors= 2 |title=Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey|location= Grand Rapids, MI | publisher=Baker Academic |date=2008 |isbn= 978-0-2810-6101-3}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask=3 |editor2-last=Lugioyo |editor2-first= Brian |editor2-link=Brian Lugioyo |editor3-last= Reynolds |editor3-first=Benjamin E. |editor3-link= Benjamin E. Reynolds |display-editors= 2 |title= Reconsidering the Relationship between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology in the New Testament |location= Tübingen | publisher= Mohr Siebeck |date=2014 |isbn= 978-3-1615-2719-7}}
{{cite book|editor-last=Vanhoozer |editor-first= Kevin Jon |editor-mask= 3|display-editors= etal |title= New Dictionary of Theology |location= Downers Grove, IL | publisher=IVP Academic |date=2016 |edition= 2nd exp. & rev. |isbn= 978-0-8308-2455-7}}

=Articles and Chapters=

{{cite journal |author1-last=Vanhoozer |author1-first= Kevin Jon |author-mask=3 |title=Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, and Hermeneutics |journal= Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society |volume=48 |issue=1 |date= March 2005 |pages= 89–114}}
{{cite journal |author1-last=Vanhoozer |author1-first= Kevin Jon |author-mask=3 |title=Putting on Christ: Spiritual Formation and the Drama of Discipleship |journal= Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care |volume=8 |issue=2 |date= Fall 2015}}
{{cite journal |author1-last=Vanhoozer |author1-first= Kevin Jon |author-mask=3 |title=Love without Measure? John Webster's Unfinished Dogmatic Account of the Love of God |journal= International Journal of Systematic Theology |volume=19 |issue=4 |date= Fall 2017 |pages= 505–26|doi= 10.1111/ijst.12252 }}
{{cite book |author1-last=Woodbridge |author1-first=John D. |author1-mask=3 |chapter=Sola Scriptura, Tradition, and Catholicity in the Pattern of Theological Authority |editor1-last=Dockery |editor1-first=David S. |editor1-link=David Dockery |editor2-last=Massey |editor2-first=James |editor3-last=Smith, Jr. |editor3-first=Robert |title=Worship, Tradition, and Engagement: Essays in Honor of Timothy George |location=London |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |date=2018 |pages=109–128 |isbn=9781498248945 |oclc=1018458403}}

=Online writings=

[https://web.archive.org/web/20170808191833/http://assets.cambridge.org/052179/062X/sample/052179062Xws.pdf Types of Postmodern Theology] (PDF), an excerpt from the Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology. Archived from the [http://assets.cambridge.org/052179/062X/sample/052179062Xws.pdf original] on 8 August 2017
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080303132000/http://www.catalystresources.org/issues/194vanhoozer.html Hyperactive Hermeneutics: Is the Bible Being Overinterpreted?]
[http://www.biblicalfoundations.org/?p=117 Vanhoozer's response to Kostenberger's review of The Drama of Doctrine]

=Audio=

[https://web.archive.org/web/20110614213154/http://media.asburyseminary.edu/audio/chapels/kentucky/2007spring/03152007-hi.mp3 The Stage, the Story and the Script] (MP3), Asbury Theological Seminary, March 15, 2007
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110614213057/http://media.asburyseminary.edu/audio/chapels/kentucky/2007spring/03162007-hi.mp3 Doing Church: The Theater of the Gospel] (MP3), Asbury Seminary, March 16, 2007
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110720113239/http://adam.wheaton.edu/wetn-mp3/chap07-08/vanhoozer080319.mp3 The Strange New Status Symbol of the Cross] (MP3), Wheaton College, March 19, 2008
[http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/hurl?f=/wts/cic2000vanhoozer.rm What has Vienna to do with Jerusalem? Barth, Brahms, and Bernstein's Unanswered Question]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (RealMedia)

References

External links

[https://www.tiu.edu/faculty/kevin-j-vanhoozer/ Kevin J. Vanhoozer, PhD—Research Professor of Systematic Theology], Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Anon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010035912/http://www.tiu.edu/files/tiu/trinitymagazine/drama06.pdf "Experience the Drama"] (PDF), Trinity Magazine, Spring 2006.
Davies, G., [http://exiledpreacher.blogspot.com/2007/09/kevin-vanhoozer-interview.html "The Kevin Vanhoozer Interview"], Exiled Preacher, September 21, 2007.
Poythress, V., [http://www.frame-poythress.org/poythress_articles/1999ReviewVanhoozer.htm Book Review: Is There a Meaning in This Text?], Westminster Theological Journal, June 2, 2012.
Blue, S. A., [https://web.archive.org/web/20080310214843/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3803/is_200210/ai_n9099312 "Meaning, intention, and application: Speech act theory in the hermeneutics of Francis Watson and Kevin J. Vanhoozer"], Trinity Journal, Fall 2002.