Chapters 1, 3, and 4 require little or no knowledge of Greek, but I skipped most of chapter 2 (grammatical fallacies) because I didn't really know what he was talking about.

Carson is a very skillful writer who presents his points very logically and therefore convincingly. I would definitely recommend this book if you're interested in learning about the particular types and examples of different exegetical fallacies.


Guide to Understanding Biblical Language   May 27, 2002
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Many people are keen to be able to read the bible in the original languages, but do not understand how to apply their new-found knowledge.
There are some excellent books to assist in this regard, including Moises Silva's Biblical Words and Their Meaning, Cotterell and Turner's Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation and David Alan Black's Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek, It's Still Greek To Me and Using New Testament Greek in Ministry.

But Don Carson's Exegetical Fallacies is a great start. It is reasonably easy to understand, and shows how language works and how we can easily get tripped up in our efforts to interpret it, in a stimulating and entertaining manner. His book is short, and definitely worth reading a few times.

If you find yourself disagreeing with his conclusions, think carefully about what yours are based on. Is it a great sermon or a cherished theory, or is it based on careful biblical study?

Other thought-provoking books by Carson which give examples of his exegetical method include his "Inclusive Language Debate: a plea for realism,""The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God" and "Showing the Spirit," which is an exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Carson is bilingual, having been brought up in Canada where he and his father preached in both English and French. He shows how this has helped in his study of language and of the Bible in his book on the inclusive language debate. The insights he has discovered make him well worth reading.

Highly recommended.


Great Author -- good book   February 25, 2002
 2 out of 10 found this review helpful

D.A. Carson is a great authoer, this book wasn't bad, but I wouldn't urge people to rush out and buy it today. (there are many other books I would recommend before this one)

This book has some good insight on how preachers and others sometimes take a word and use the "root meaning" of the word, and turn the text into something the author never meant it to say.

There's some good info in here that will make you think twice about next time you hear a televangelist say "Now the word in greek is X, and that word actually comes from a word that means Y, so what this passage is really saying is......"

Carson exposes the folly in doing such things, and many other exegetical falicies such as the fire engine logic

I love the part about the fire engine, it's worth retelling, because I KNOW all of you have heard preachers say something like this before:

p91

"Why are Fire Engines Red?

They have four wheels and eight men; four plus eight is twelve; twelve inches make a ruler; a ruler is Queen Elizabeth; Queen Elizabeth sails the seven seas; the seven seas have fish; the fish have fins; the Finns hate the Russians; the Russians are red; fire engines are always rushin'; so they're red."

I laughed pretty hard at this type of "logical fallicy" because I've heard this type of reasoning all too often.

nonetheless, there are many other books I would recommend ahead of this one.

Eric


More fun than any serious book should be   February 14, 2002
 3 out of 8 found this review helpful

I don't have a lot to add to what has already been written about this wonderful book. D.A.Carson has given us some wonderful insights. By all means read and apply in your own exegetical projects the critical principles he lays out here. If you want to have some real academic fun, read this book a second time and nail Carson on his own fallacious thinking -- his examples are full of fallacies of the type he alerts us to. This is not a complaint nor indeed a criticism of the man and his thought. We all do it!! When you finish this book, by all means, read his book on the gender controversy in Bible translation (The Inclusive Language Debate, ISBN 080105835X). Very balanced, very insightful.


Well worth the effort to utilize this book   December 3, 2001
 48 out of 51 found this review helpful

As others have said, this book is short, but Exegetical Fallacies is well worth your effort to learn how to properly exegete scripture. Written in a systematic way, I appreciate the work Carson has done. He is obviously a scholar and makes great points, especially on those texts that preachers massacre to make them say something that they really don't. I appreciated the fact that Carson was not only critical with others' interpretations but some of his own as well. I thought that this was admirable.

My criticism of this book (why it loses a star) is that there are times Carson could have been so much simpler while still saying the same thing. Several times I had to read and then reread his writing, and still I came away confused. No, it wasn't the use of the original languages that gave me problems, but rather just his manner of using awkward works or saying too much without properly expounding. (Could this have been because he was condensing? Probably.) One example is on pages 51ff regarding the use of agapao and phleo in John 21. I understand his point on page 53, but he (at least in my opinion) was most difficult to follow in these pages. (I'm still scratching my head.) While I'm no scholar, I believe that many average and even above average readers could have been serviced better with a clearer presentation in several parts of the book. But still, the book is worth fighting through, so don't let that discourage you.