Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture

Iain Provan (PhD, Cambridge University) is Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of commentaries on Lamentations, 1 and 2 Kings, and Ecclesiastes & Song of Songs; co-author of a major history of Israel; and co-editor of an important collection of essays in honor of H.G.M. Williamson. His books cover topics like the "myths" of the Axial Age and the Dark Green Golden Age (2013) and the real meaning and significance of the Old Testament (2014). Most recently he has published a major work on the Reformation and the Bible (2017). He is an ordained Presbyterian minister, a qualified ARA rowing coach in the UK, and a B-Provincial level soccer coach in Canada. His hobbies include fly-fishing.

"Iain Provan's new work is an impressive and timely book with an ambitious purpose-nothing less than an elucidation and defence of a reformed hermeneutic of Scripture in relation to the whole history of Bible interpretation, both pre- and post-Reformation. In it he defends a literal reading of Scripture, which he defines in terms of the dynamic relation of both the letter of the text and the communicative intentions of its human (and divine) authors." — Simon Burton, Expository Times "In the Reformation, the inspiration and authority of the Bible--its perspicuity, efficacy, and sufficiency--came to the fore. For the present generation that has lost its confidence in the Bible, Iain Provan’s book has recaptured and recovered the internal structure and logic of the Reformation hermeneutic, with its emphasis on the literal sense" — Dennis Ngien, Renaissance and Reformation "As a source for learning about the history of biblical interpreta­tion, this book covers an impressive amount of material. Ten chap­ters examine interpretive issues addressed by Christians in the early church and the Middle Ages, five chapters cover the interpretive goals and methods of the reformers and early modern Protes­tants, and six chapters evaluate contemporary movements in bib­lical hermeneutics such as form criticism, narrative criticism, and the canonical reading of scripture." — Martin Lohrmann, Lutheran Quarterly "…Nothing short of a tour de force." — Roger L. Revell, Journal of Reformed Theology "The Reformation and the Right Reading of Scripture is a laudable attempt to reform and revive Protestant hermeneutics by bringing contemporary biblical interpretation into conversation with the core convictions of both the reformers and their medieval and patristic antecedents." — Jonathan Reimer, First Things "On the whole, Provan’s work is an admirably broad and serious attempt to define and recover the literal interpretation of Scripture. He displays a wide-ranging and impressive knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation that one wishes were found among more biblical scholars. Indeed, Part I of Provan’s book could easily be required reading in a graduate-level course on hermeneutics or the history of exegesis." — Erik Lundeen, Themelios "In this massive, well organized volume, Provan argues in an erudite, all-sweeping way what he calls the 'seriously literal interpretation' of Scripture (20, 639), namely, a 'reformed' (lowercase) approach of reading the Scripture which is 'consistent with magisterial Reformation principles and practices' that are 'both rooted in pre-Reformation biblical hermeneutics and embraced in post-Reformation, non-Protestant Christianity' (21). The right way of reading the Scripture, which Provan identifies as the 'fifth way,' is to read the biblical text according to its literal sense given that we properly understand what 'literal' means in each biblical instance." — Vincent Kam, Concordia Journal