This was a notably poor contribution. It opens and closes with contrasting depictions of ancient and modern approaches to hermeneutics (as if either are monolithic), neglects to note weaknesses in patristic hermeneutics that necessitated modifications by medieval and Reformation exegetes, and creates a straw man of evangelical interpretation, implying that it does not have a high view of canonical connections or the unity of Scripture.
Too much of the essay is taken up with beating Grudem and Ware over the head for their teaching eternal functional subordination―something tangential to the interpretation of Proverbs 8, at best. When Emerson does touch on the putative subject of this chapter, he does not give any detailed accounting of the strengths and weaknesses of the patristic interpretation. When modern views are presented, major options are omitted. For instance, the view that creational norms or the creation order is in view―see Raymond Van Leeuwen, Al Wolters, Craig Bartholomew, and Duane Garrett―is not mentioned. This view entails a high view of Scripture’s unity, pays good attention to immediate and canonical contexts, is compatible with a Christocentric approach to Scripture, and more. It is not incompatible with eternal generation, even if it does not find it in this passage.
This option may not be open to Emerson, however, since he seems to indicate that any other interpretation than the patristic one is closed to those who accept the Nicene faith: “The reading of Proverbs 8 as teaching eternal generation has been virtually codified in the Nicene Creed. To reject the Creed’s language is to implicitly reject this interpretation of Proverbs 8, and vice versa, and I for one am not comfortable with so easily dismissing either” (62). Here Emerson neglects that some of the Fathers interpret this passage as referring to the incarnation. Thus, there is no single interpretation held by all the orthodox to which evangelicals should feel themselves bound if they are to be considered orthodox.
In sum, Emerson seems to have adopted the recent bad habit of presuming that an interpretation or doctrine can be established simply by demonstrating that it was held historically by orthodox Christians. This is, to be sure, a necessary part of a sound exegetical and theological method, but it is not sufficient for arriving at either exegetical or theological conclusions.