# Exegetical Fallacies



## Eoghan

The book is divided into five chapters (six if you count the 11 page introduction)
1.	Word Study Fallacies
2.	Grammatical Fallacies
3.	Logical Fallacies
4.	Presupposition and Historical fallacies
5.	Concluding Remarks
I found the word study fallacies salutary and it has made me (even more) cautious in accepting at face value word study expositions. The chapter on grammatical fallacies was a little bit more demanding of my linguistic vocabulary  (i.e. anarthous, articular, syllogisms, distanciation).

To give one example the word “agape” (love) has become a loaded term to describe the qualities of Divine love. Yet the word is used in the LXX to describe the love of Amnon in 2 Samuel 13:15 for Tamar whom he raped! (p31) Apparently agape was becoming the prominent word for love from the 4th century on. One reason was that phileo (love) was becoming increasingly used in the context of kissing. This seemed a bit academic, until I was directed to Luke 22:47, where Judas betrays with a kiss (phileo).

The book is well referenced and I have already ordered one book referred to (Biblical Words and Their Meaning – Silva on p61). This deals with the problems of seeking Hebrew equivalents for the Greek. I am particularly interested in this as I am dealing with friends in the Hebrew Roots movement. 

It has left me with a new respect for the Greek text and a desire to know more about possible meanings that Greek actually rules out (and rules in). I would highly recommend the book but would warn that it is pretty academic; more so as you move through the chapters. 

Before closing this review I should mention GRAMCORD  which is a GRAMatical concordance. This was conceived by James Bayer and developed by Paul Miller (p85). It is a computer retrieval system which uses a tagged text of the Greek New Testament. It allows sophisticated analysis of grammatical constructions.

If you are looking for a lighter read then I would recommend Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways the Cults Misread the Bible by James W. Sire (16 copies second-hand on Amazon on 26th September starting at ~$4). This was one of only two books I bought after browsing the London Bible College library as a student. It is sitting on my shelf as I speak and is a much more accessible tome. It is referenced on p103 (world views) by Carson, which is what reminded me of it.

Sorry for dropping a star but it is exactly easy reading, otherwise a 5!


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