Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012, titled: Pastcanonical doctrinal development as hermeneutical phenomenon.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 401-458) and index.

Reading scripture and developing doctrine -- Historical consciousness, development, and hermeneutics -- Doctrinal development in the descriptive theological hermeneutics of Anthony Thiselton -- Doctrinal development in the normative theological hermeneutics of Kevin J. Vanhoozer -- Interpretive authority and doctrinal development -- Religious language, reality, and doctrinal development -- Development and continuity : hermeneutical approaches to the problem -- The hermeneutics of faithful and fitting doctrinal development.

This study is an apologetic for the ongoing, constructive theological task in Protestant and Evangelical traditions. It suggests that doctrinal development can be explained as a hermeneutical phenomenon and that insights from hermeneutical philosophy and the philosophy of language can aid theologians in constructing explanatory theses for particular theological problems associated with the facts of doctrinal development, namely, questions related to textual authority, reality depiction, and theological identity. Joining the recent call to theological interpretation of Scripture, Putman provides a constructive model that forwards a descriptive and normative pattern for reading Scripture and theological tradition together.