Heath A. Thomas

This book presents something toward a comprehensive statement of the biblical exegetical method known as theological interpretation. The authors suggest that this is moving away from both a “modern” emphasis on the historical backgrounds of the text(s) and its/their putative authors, as well as from a “postmodern” emphasis on perspective- and ideologically-driven conceptions of truth.

I generally align with the “postmodern” (a term which has, over the course of 50 years of use, admittedly become diffused in meaning). Because of this, I disagree with the suggestion that “reader-centered” approaches, or biblical interpretative methods which foreground the role of the reader in interpretation, must necessarily be relativistic. That is a kind of scarecrow argument. This being said, I resonate with the attack upon “author-centered,” or modernist/historical-critical/“scientifically-based” interpretation, because it proved generally to be bankrupt from the standpoint of religious belief, creating a wide gulf between religious and scholarly treatment of the Bible. This is ironic because historical criticism, again speaking generally, tried to bridge a wide historical gulf between the production of a text and its interpretation.

But I don’t think it is necessary to reach back, or to pretend to reach back, to “pre-modern” interpretation, or in my term “tradition-centered interpretation.” The toothpaste doesn’t go back in the tube. Rather, this is another aspect of “reader-centered” approaches: the readers, in this case, are theologically-minded Christians (and Jews, maybe).

Overall, this is a difficult read, and it is thoroughly contextualized for a (White) Western audience. This makes it a curious choice for my class of Korean pastors next month, but on the other hand it gives me a little more to talk about.… (meer)