Divine Discourse
Philosophical Reflections on the Claim that God Speaks

A leading philosopher of religion reflects on one of the central problems of Christian theology.

Nicholas Wolterstorff (Author)

9780521475570, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 5 October 1995

340 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm, 0.555 kg

' … an impressive work, carefully argued and well informed, not only philosophically but also theologically and more widely.' Journal of Religious Studies

Prominent in the canonical texts and traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is the claim that God speaks. Nicholas Wolterstorff argues that contemporary speech-action theory, when appropriately expanded, offers us a fascinating way of interpreting this claim and showing its intelligibility. He develops an innovative theory of double-hermeneutics - along the way opposing the current near-consensus led by Ricoeur and Derrida that there is something wrong-headed about interpreting a text to find out what its author said. Wolterstorff argues that at least some of us are entitled to believe that God has spoken. Philosophers have never before, in any sustained fashion, reflected on these matters, mainly because they have mistakenly treated speech as revelation.

Preface
1. Locating our topic
2. Speaking is not revealing
3. The many modes of discourse
4. Divine discourse in the hands of theologians
5. What it is to speak
6. Could God have and acquire the rights and duties of a speaker?
7. Can God cause the events generative of discourse?
8. In defense of authorial-discourse interpretation: contra Ricoeur
9. In defense of authorial-discourse interpretation: contra Derrida
10. Performance interpretation
11. Interpreting the mediating human discourse: the first hermeneutic
12. Interpreting for the mediated divine discourse: the second hermeneutic
13. Has Scripture become a wax nose?
14. The illocutionary stance of Biblical narrative
15. Are we entitled?
16. Historical and theological afterword
Endnotes
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB]