He joined the faculty of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1986, but during two periods since has taught elsewhere. From 1990 to 1998, he was Senior Lecturer at New College, University of Edinburgh; from 2009 to 2012, he was Blanchard Professor of Theology at Wheaton College.[1][2] He returned to TEDS in 2012.
Vanhoozer is the Senior Theological Mentor for the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians and Senior Fellow in Systematic Theology for the C. S. Lewis Institute. He and his wife Sylvie have two daughters. He maintains a web page, "The Theophilus Project", at www.kevinjvanhoozer.com.[3]
Douglas Sweeney and Daniel Treier edited a Festschrift in his honor, Hearing and Doing the Word: The Drama of Evangelical Hermeneutics, published in 2021 by T&T Clark (ISBN9780567702197) and consisting of essays by his former teachers and students and present colleagues.
Vanhoozer has written several books, including The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology,[1] which won the Christianity Today 2006 Book Award for best book in theology, and Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine,[1] which won the Christianity Today 2015 Book Award for best book in theology. He has edited several others, including the Gold Medallion Book Award winner Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible,[4]The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology, and, with Charles A. Anderson and Michael J. Sleasman, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends.
In his work Is There a Meaning in this Text?, Vanhoozer gives an in-depth response to the challenges of Deconstructionism to biblical hermeneutics. Primarily, he engages the thinking of Jacques Derrida, but Stanley Fish and Richard Rorty also receive attention. Vanhoozer develops a theory of communicative action that relies strongly on the speech-act theory of J. L. Austin, in which a biblical text is seen as a communicative act involving "locutions" (the text itself), "illocutions" (the stance of the author to the locution, e.g. questioning, asserting, promising, etc.), and "perlocutions" (the goals that the author hopes to accomplish through the text).
Among the conclusions that Vanhoozer draws from viewing a text as a communicative act are the involvement of the author, text, and reader in the process of interpretation. The intended meaning of the author can be discerned to a certain degree from the text. The text (langue and parole) is not an arbitrary "playground" but part of a covenantal relationship between all people. As a result, the intention of the author can be adequately decoded. Another consequence is that the reader/interpreter has a responsibility to honor the intentions of the author and try to interpret the text in a way which re-creates the author's intended meaning. This responsibility is coupled with a freedom to determine the significance in the context of the interpreter's community.
——— (1998). Is There a Meaning in this Text? The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. ISBN978-0-3102-1156-3.
——— (2002). First Theology: God, Scripture & Hermeneutics. Downers Grove, IL: IVP. ISBN978-0-8308-2681-0.
——— (2005). The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-linguistic Approach to Christian Theology. Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN978-0-6642-2327-4.
——— (2010). Remythologizing Theology: Divine Action, Passion, and Authorship. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-5214-7012-4.
——— (2014). Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine. Louisville, KT: Westminster, John Knox Press. ISBN978-0-6642-3448-5.
———; Strachan, Owen (2015). The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos. ISBN978-0-8010-9771-3.
———; Treier, Daniel (2016). Theology and the Mirror of Scripture: A Mere Evangelical Account. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN978-1-7835-9400-9.
——— (May 2016). Pictures at a Theological Exhibition: Scenes of the Church's Worship, Witness, and Wisdom. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
——— (October 2016). Biblical Authority after Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos.
——— (May 2019). Hearers and Doers: A Pastor's Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine. Bellingham, WA: Lexham.
———; Smith, James K. A.; et al., eds. (2006). Hermeneutics at the Crossroads. Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN978-0-2532-1849-0.
———, ed. (2007). Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN978-0-8010-3167-0.
———; Warner, Martin, eds. (2007). Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology: Reason, Meaning and Experience. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN978-0-7546-5324-0.
———; Bartholomew, Craig G.; et al., eds. (2008). Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. ISBN978-0-2810-6101-3.
———; Lugioyo, Brian; et al., eds. (2014). Reconsidering the Relationship between Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology in the New Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN978-3-1615-2719-7.
———; et al., eds. (2016). New Dictionary of Theology (2nd exp. & rev. ed.). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic. ISBN978-0-8308-2455-7.
^Donato, Chris. "Welcome Back, Vanhoozer". TEDS News & Events Page. Trinity International University. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.