At his death in 1976 Norman Perrin was widely recognized as one of the most creative and influntial biblical scholars on the American scene. Toward the end of his career, as Calvin R. Mercer suggested suggests in this study, Perrin "was creating a brilliant synthesis of the best European and American thought," as outlined in his programmatic essay, "Jesus and the Theology of the New Testement."
Building on this work and interviews with perrin's students and colleagues, Professor Mercer has reconstructed Perrin's progress toward a theology of the New Testament, based on a "four step hermeneutical process-textual criticisim, historical criticism, literary criticism, and hermeneutics." Perrin did not live to develop fully his understanding of the final step in the process, what he called "hermeneutics proper," defined as the "dynamic interaction between text and interpreter." Yet Professor Mercer's critical assessment concludes that Perrin's pilgrimage is paradigmatic and prophetic for a truely American biblical hermeneutics that will transcend the reductionism of single approaches and contribute to real dialogue among interpreters.
Calvin R. Mercer is an assistant professor of religious studies at East Carolina University, where he has taught since completing his doctoral work at Flordia State University.