Any book that makes it to a third edition has proven its worth. Tate first published his Biblical Interpretation in 1991, updated it in 1997, and issued this third edition in 2008. It has become a standard biblical hermeneutics text in many Bible Colleges and Seminaries.

Tate divides the interpretive task into three areas:

1. The World Behind the Text. Behind every text lies and author and that author’s world. Here Tate covers issues such as authorial intent and historical-grammatical research.
2. The World Within the Text. The text itself has meaning beyond the presuppositions of the author’s world. This section covers genre analysis and literary approaches.
3. The World in Front of the Text. A tree that falls in the forest makes no sound unless there is an eardrum to interpret the soundwaves. Similarly, the reader is a critical piece of any interpretive framework. The identification of preunderstandings and reader response criticisms are discussed here.

In Biblical Interpretation, Tate does an excellent job surveying the wide variety of approaches to discerning meaning in scripture. This wide approach is also the book’s greatest weakness. Some difficult concepts cannot be unpacked sufficiently in two or three paragraphs. Biblical Interpretation is a good map which can point the biblical interpreter toward further resources which will help them refine their approach to scripture.

Tate, W. Randolph. Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach. 3^rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.