‘A Hermeneutic of Wisdom,’ with Dr. Jeff de Waal Dryden

Jeff Dryden joins Matt and Derek to discuss what the Bible is meant to do to us when we read it: form us in wisdom.

Jeff de Waal Dryden

The modern mindset instinctively views everything, even texts, as objects to be pulled apart and understood rationally. When we do this to the Bible, we can inadvertently end up bifurcating Biblical studies from ethics. But that’s not what the Bible is doing. When you read the Bible and let it change you, you discover that all of it is Wisdom Literature. That’s what Mere Fidelity guest Dr. Jeff Dryden claims in his book, A Hermeneutic of Wisdom. Matt and Derek love where he goes with it on this episode.

Pointing to the Pasturelands, by J. I. Packer

J. de Waal Dryden

A Hermeneutic of Wisdom, by J. de Waal Dryden

Adolf Schlatter

Oliver O’Donovan

Walter Moberly

The Book of the Month is Pointing to the Pasturelands, a collection of several decades of J. I. Packer’s contributions to the pages of Christianity Today. This volume includes his editorial columns, longer articles, and brief answers to readers’ theology questions. The book concludes with a profile of Packer from Mark A. Noll. Enjoy timeless insights from a man whose life was devoted to knowing God and making him known. For the months of December 2021 and January 2022, Mere Fidelity listeners will get a 40% discount on their purchase of this volume with the code MEREFIDELITYDEC21 at checkout.

Timestamps

0:00
Two Thousand Twenty-Two
1:27
Excited About Thinking About Ethics
3:20
What is Wisdom?
8:09
The Modern Project
11:34
Application and Biblical Studies
16:55
Models of Reintegration
19:30
The Bible is doing something.
32:22
Imposing Categories on the Text
38:03
Advice for Reading the Bible

Follow Derek, Andrew, and Alastair for more tweet-sized brilliance. Thanks to Timothy Crouch for keeping us organized. Special thanks to Tim Motte for sound editing and show notes. And thanks to The Joy Eternal for lending us their music, which everybody should download out of gratitude for their kindness.

Biblical Interpretation Preaching
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