Stogiannos Vassilios, Hermeneutical Studies, P. Pournaras Press, Thessaloniki, 1988, pp. 651.

            Basilios Stogiannos was a Professor of New Testament Hermeneutics at the University of Thessaloniki (1939-1985) and he was despite his short life, according to the publishing committee of this volume “powerful in words and his works” (Acts, 7,22). The book is a collection of 30 articles: some of them are biblical, some others concerning the apostolic fathers and the rest are connected with popular theological issues. Pr. Stogiannos combines very successfully the new hermeneutical methods with patristic hermeneutical tradition.

            In this volume the author analyzes themes as: the Christology of Ignatius  Epistles, the freedom according to Paul, the parable of publican and Pharisee in the patristic tradition, the New Testament teaching for the Holy Spirit, the Christ centric principle of Ignatius, the Incarnation as a source of renewal, Holy Scripture and Revelation, the Epistle to the Galatians, the meaning of law in the epistle to the Galatians, the relation between the tradition and the Holy Scripture, a hermeneutical analysis of the 18^th chapter of the Revelation of John, the salvation in Christ, a hermeneutical comment on Lk. 2,14 and the peace that Christ’ s birth brings to the world, a hermeneutical analysis of Revelation 2,13 and Gal. 6,17, the relation between orthodoxy and heresy in the epistle to the Galatians, the meaning of idolatry and guilt in the first chapter (1, 18-25) of the Epistle to the Romans, a comment on Matth. 6,24-34, a Virgilian ‘prophesy’ for the birth of Christ, the four fundamental commandments which, according to Stogiannos, are the background and the foundation of the Gospel, the resurrection of the dead, a hermeneutical comment on Acts 16,16 and the meeting of early Christianity with the divining, the first church in Europe (Philips), the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the unity of the church (Rom. 12,5-6), a hermeneutical comment on Matth. 6,33 and Lk. 10,38-42, politics in the Revelation of John and finally a hermeneutical analysis of Mt. 1, 2-12.