TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. How Should We Interpret the Bible?
• Should biblical interpretation become scientific?
• An example: interpreting Romans 7
• Using context in interpretation
• The influence of over-all theological system and personal experience
• Scientific method and objectivity
2. The Influence of Natural Science on Biblical Interpretation
• Using specific scientific theories to test the truth of the Bible
• Building a world view on the basis of scientific results
• Building an epistemology on the basis of scientific method:
• the example of Kant
• Baconian and positivistic understanding of science
3. Contemporary Discussions of Scientific Discovery, Influenced by the Work of Thomas Kuhn
• The scientific revolutions of the twentieth century
• Thomas Kuhn: the revolution in history and philosophy of science
• A specific illustration of Kuhn's theory
4. Implications of Kuhn's Theory in Biblical Interpretation:
   Romans 7 and the Historical-Critical Method as Examples
• Preliminary evaluation of Kuhn?
• Romans 7 compared with immature science
• The possibility of revolution in biblical interpretation
• The historical-critical method as a revolution
5. Differences between Biblical Interpretation and Science
• What counts as superior biblical interpretation?
• Experience of God: a fundamental difference between biblical interpretation and science
• Kuhn's relevance in the midst of the differences
6. Disciplinary Matrices in Biblical Interpretation
• A summary of the dynamics of intellectual development in biblical interpretation
• Types of disciplinary matrices in biblical interpretation
• Knowledge as contextually colored
• Seeing patterns
• Why limited vision does not imply relativism
7. Models in Science and in Biblical Interpretation
• Influence of models in science
• Analogy in Romans 7
• A role for analogy in theological controversies
• Types of analogies
8. Analogies as Perspectives
• Analogies as complementary
• Using multiple analogies
• Can an analogy represent truth?
• The foundations for multiplicity in the attributes of God and creation as revealing God
9. Lessons to be Learned from the Contextual Character of Knowledge
• Learning about basic commitments(presuppositions)
• Learning that facts are theory-laden
• Evaluating competing research programs in biblical interpretation
10. Using Perspectives
• Dealing with differing points of view
• Multiple approaches to truth
11. Examples of Reorganizing Biblical Interpretation
• Using Different Perspectives
• Thematic reorganization
• Liberation as a theme
• Money as a theme
• Reorganizing the study of a biblical passage
• Studying the thematic relations of biblical passages
12. Conclusion: Prospects for Deepening Our Understanding of the Bible

1. Appendix: The Relation of Interpretive Method
   To Other Fields of Research
• Study of influence of contexts in the philosophy of science
• Study of influence of contexts in apologetics: presuppositions
• Relativist philosophy: relativism and pragmatism
• Philosophical hermeneutics
• Sociology of knowledge
• Anthropology
• Study of contexts in theological method
2. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3. Index of Biblical Passages
4. Index of Authors and Titles
5. Index of Subjects and Persons