The Language Academy defines the term “fallacy” as fraud or lie, but in this book, the idea of fallacy, in relation to thought and logic, is understood as a bad reasoning pattern that appears good, contains an error, and leads to a false conclusion, without necessarily implying intentionality on the part of the interpreter, who often becomes the first victim of their own deception.
"Exegetical fallacies" in the interpretation of Scripture are widespread in our habit of turning to the Bible for support for previously established particular concepts, instead of approaching it with an open mind to scrutinize and discover the truth. Hence the popular saying warning us that "a text out of context is a pretext."
This attitude, as common as it is mistaken and regrettable, is what the author denounces and openly combats in the pages of this book. His thesis revolves around a critical interpretation of the Scriptures, which provides lexical, grammatical, cultural, theological, historical, geographical, or any other kind of justification for the text, and places it above both arbitrary personal opinions and the absolute authority that some leaders sometimes claim, invoking questionable gifts of enlightenment or special sources of divine revelation.
Throughout the work, D.A. Carson addresses the most significant fallacies:
- Fallacies in the study of words
- Grammatical fallacies
- Logical fallacies
- Presuppositions and historical fallacies
Concluding with "Final Reflections" on less common fallacies, such as those related to literary genre, text juxtaposition, confusing figurative with literal, etc.
The work is completed with an extensive Thematic Index and an Index of Cited Texts, the latter being very convenient for locating biblical passages most susceptible to exegetical fallacies.
An excellent book, very useful and necessary, scholarly in its content but clear in its exposition, and therefore, easy to understand. A classic among contemporary biblical hermeneutics texts in the academic world.
