My new book:
Carson, D. A., and Andrew David Naselli. Exegetical Fallacies. 3rd ed. Baker Academic, 2026.
It releases in early August, and it’s available for pre-order now.
Preview the book: This 34-page sample PDF includes the front matter, the Introduction, and the first part of chapter 1.
My first print copies:
Dr. Carson wrote the first two editions, which released in 1984 and 1996. Baker Academic is releasing the third edition thirty years after the second edition.
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition
Dr. Carson is my mentor for exegesis and theology. It was my privilege to study under him for a PhD (2006–10) and to serve as his research manager (2006–14). The opportunity for me as a young exegete and theologian to be an apprentice under Dr. Carson was like a young lawyer getting to clerk for the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
One of the books I cut my exegetical teeth on in the late 1990s was the second (1996) edition of Dr. Carson’s Exegetical Fallacies. When Dr. Carson invited me to update Exegetical Fallacies as his coauthor of this third edition, I accepted the honor with pleasure.
While Dr. Carson’s voice still predominates in this new edition, I have updated Exegetical Fallacies in three ways:
- I have removed some less relevant examples and added new ones, including some new fallacies. This third edition is about 30 percent longer than the second edition. Some of the new material discusses genre-related fallacies in more detail (as Dr. Carson expresses at the end of his preface to the second edition).
- Instead of using only labels as the headings for fallacies throughout the book, I have labeled each fallacy and then concisely define the fallacy. This makes the book a bit more user-friendly.
- I have lightly updated the style to make it as accessible as I could for non-experts. I have attempted to make it readable for beginning theology students as well as stimulating for those who are intermediate or more advanced.
—Andy Naselli
Endorsements
“The new edition of Exegetical Fallacies adds and updates Don Carson’s original book (published in 1984). Andy Naselli, Don Carson’s long-time research assistant, has done a good job in revising the book. This will give the book a longer life, which it deserves. I recommend this book to students, teachers, pastors, and anyone seriously interested in the interpretation of the New Testament.”
—G. K. Beale, Professor of New Testament, Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas, TX
“This notorious bombshell of a book has embarrassed many. And it has blessed many more. For some, like me, it is strangely beloved. So, I rejoice for this fruitful, time-tested work to have fresh life, and I pray this new version might help a new generation, like the previous edition profoundly helped me. Hands down, this is one of the most influential books from my seminary years. I have re-read and referenced it often, and encouraged dozens of others to do so as well. It is one of the most worn and marked books I own. These precious principles, I hope, have gone deep into my soul and, with the Spirit’s help, not only kept me from mistakes, but led and guided private study and public teaching for more than two decades.”
—David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church in Saint Paul, MN; Adjunct Professor, Bethlehem College and Seminary
“The first two editions of Exegetical Fallacies proved to be of immense help in interpreting the Scriptures. The third edition, which adds the contribution of Andy Naselli, updates the book for a new generation. The book is accessible, clear, instructive, and thus at the end of day (though sometimes painful) edifying.”
—Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Associate Dean, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Exegetical Fallacies has served a generation of pastors and students and is now available in a thoroughly updated third edition. Carson and Naselli model sober judgment and serious care for the inerrant Scriptures as they explain and illustrate various interpretive fallacies. Highly recommended for all readers who desire to rightly handle God’s word!”
—Brian J. Tabb, President and Professor of Biblical Studies, Bethlehem College and Seminary; General Editor, Themelios
“When I completed my first year of Greek in college, my professor warned all of us, ‘You’re still dangerous.’ We had a long way to go to become faithful expositors of Scripture. Even after several years of Greek and Hebrew syntax and exegesis, many students, pastors, and teachers are still dangerous because they still misuse the text of Holy Writ. Many years of intense work in the languages will not, by itself, solve this problem, as James Barr clearly articulated sixty-five years ago in his Semantics of Biblical Language. But Barr addressed only some of the issues.
“D. A. Carson’s first edition of Exegetical Fallacies (1984) discussed more kinds of fallacies than Barr’s treatment of grammatical and lexical fallacies; it included logical, presuppositional, and historical fallacies as well. Exegetical Fallacies became an instant classic. At last, here was a guide to help Bible teachers get out of the danger zone. The second edition (1996) updated the discussions. And now, thirty years later, Carson and Naselli have improved the classic, adding thirty percent more material and making the language more user-friendly and the discussions more relevant to today’s readers. They have added short definitions for each fallacy, and literary and theological fallacies are new categories.
“The third edition of Exegetical Fallacies is needed now more than ever as evangelical Bible teachers are becoming, in the authors’ words, ‘frequently and inexcusably sloppy.’ Teachers of Scripture have a grave responsibility. This new edition is a wake-up call for that sacred duty, an antidote to the poison too often spewed from the pulpit. It needs to be close at hand for all those entrusted with a ministry of the Word.”
—Daniel B. Wallace, Senior Research Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary; Founder and Executive Director, Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts
Related: Tools to Study the Bible and Theology.
