Patristic hermeneutics

Fairbairn gets patristic interpretation exactly right: He admits they were “overly exuberant,” but argues that they were excessively excited about the right thing: “They correctly understood that the key to good interpretation is discerning the whole message of Scripture well, and they correctly saw that the Bible as a whole is fundamentally about Christ.”

For that reason, following their example is safer than following modern methods: “it is less dangerous to discern the Bible’s central message clearly but read that message too enthusiastically into all passages than it is to read each passage individually without an adequate grasp of the central message.”