These beautifully produced volumes (four part-volumes in all) contain thirty nine essays, most of which were first presented at a conference at Redeemer University in 2005. As stated by the editors, the intended focus is how changing hermeneutical practices have affected the study of both nature and scripture (1:3–4). Essayists like Peter Harrison target the assumption that natural science is independent of interpretive questions and therefore completely objective. In spite of the fact that most of these papers derive from a conference, the only instances I find of interaction among the authors are the thoughtful responses to Harrison (1:363–96, 2:527–39).

Topics covered range from Philo of Alexandria to Dutch Reformed, Arabic, and Judaic debates of the twentieth century. There are groundbreaking studies of at least fifty subjects, including the Qur'an and its commentators, Rabbis Isaac Mayer Wise and Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, Russian Orthodox theologians like Pavel Svetlov, and even modern geocentrists like Gerardus Dingeman Bouw. The treatment of working scientists alongside clergymen demonstrates the existence of a larger conversation and avoids the impression that hermeneutics was only a religious enterprise. Many of the essayists utilize the metaphor of the “two books” of nature and scripture, but some (notably G. Blair Nelson) also point out that there were other books on the shelf such as social issues (2:174).

Each essay has its own separate bibliography. The set will serve well as a reference work (each of the two volumes ends with a thorough index) and as a starting point for further research.