Abstract
The work primarily consists of an examination of the New Testament data focusing on references describing the work of the Holy Spirit in teaching and guiding into the truth. This has required a survey of the whole New Testament and observations on nearly every book. My examination of this extensive data has been thorough and I have attempted to consider a variety of commentaries on each reference. This has resulted in an extensive bibliography.The dissertation begins with a brief introduction describing the need for this type of study, especially in view of the considerable discussion of hermeneutics in biblical studies at present. I then proceed to examine the New Testament data under the following headings, The Synoptic Gospels, Luke/Acts, The Pauline Epistles, The Johannine Literature and The General Epistles. A concluding section summarises my findings and relates them to biblical hermeneutics. The extent and nature of the New Testament evidence suggests the need for a full-scale exploration of the relation between the New Testament teaching on the Spirit's work and biblical hermeneutics.
To my knowledge there is no published work which surveys this aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the New Testament in the way the present study does. Recent books on biblical hermeneutics tend to mention the Holy Spirit only briefly, and they seldom root what they are saying in such a survey of the New Testament data. This present work provides evidence for the need to consider the Spirit's work in biblical hermeneutics; it also lays the foundation for further study which can directly relate the Spirit's work to hermeneutical principles and approaches.
| Date of Award | Apr 1996 |
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| Original language | English |