Preface

This is one of five works Torrance conceived as a sequence on the history of hermeneutics. In the Prefaces to Divine Meaning (#1995-588) and The Hermeneutics of John Calvin (#1988-488), Torrance explains that he had originally projected a three-volume work on the hermeneutics of the Fathers, of Calvin, and of the Moderns. Divine Meaning (#1995-588) and The Hermeneutics of John Calvin  (#1988-488) comprise the first two volumes of the trilogy, respectively. The third volume on the hermeneutics of the moderns was realized in a sub-trilogy of works: Space, Time and Incarnation (#1969-262); Space, Time and Resurrection (#1976-331), and Reality and Evangelical Theology (#1982-397). Torrance's intent with the larger trilogy was to focus on "the history of hermeneutical thought in which particular attention was devoted to the epistemological issues involved" (Divine Meaning Preface, p. 1). Regarding the "moderns" trilogy within a trilogy, Torrance explains (Calvin Preface, p. vii): "Some of the main problems that have arisen in modern hermeneutics have been discussed in" them.