I sparked quite a funny debate on FaceBook last week. I came
across some writing by Anthony Thiselton (lead thinker things to do with
how we understand the Bible) and he talked about 'premature horizon
assimilation'. I understood what he was talking about, but really, I
thought, only an academic could write that kind of phrase in all
seriousness. So I posted it up on FB and asked if premature horizon
assimilation was something that only men suffered from? To see the
responses you'll have to look on my page...!
But what was that all about really? I came across that amazing phrase because I was working last week on some teaching I'm doing on hermeneutics. I'm doing the teaching at the Pioneer Theology Summer School up in the Hayes next week. The three days away are on hermeneutics - ie how do we read the Bible and understand it for today? Various approaches are being taken, but I've been asked to look at the contemporary issue of the environment (how I hate that word for its anthropocentrism!) and use it as a lense to do some teaching on hermeneutics.
So I've been doing a load of thinking and reading about how 'green Christians' interpret the Bible and related issues around the authority and inspiration of the Bible (I'd recommend Tom Wright's Scripture and the Authority of God). Really interesting stuff, I've loved it!
There are basically three approaches to the Biblical material:
1. The first is an approach of 'recovery'. This seeks to say that historically Biblical interpretation/tradition has got it wrong and that if we really go back and understand the text correctly then we'll see that an ecological ethic lies at the heart of the Biblical story.
2. The second approach is what I call 'ecological resistance'. This says that the text reflects the biases and faults of their human authors and so where those texts are negative and anthropocentric they must be 'called out' and resisted.
3. The third approach is 'anti-ecological resistance'. This approach agrees with (2) but therefore concludes that it is unbiblical to care for God's world at all.
And what do we learn from all of this? We learn that the hermeneutical spiral is alive and well. Yes, I would want to affirm that it is important to try to get back to the original intention of the author/text as much as we can and we must work hard at that. But, at the same time, we must all recognise that we wear 'interpretive lenses' when we read the texts - there is no view from nowhere! Because of this we are constantly learning as our horizon interacts with the horizon of the Biblical text and both inform the other And then, of course, there are other people's horizons too, which is why we learn so much from other people. If that is the case then we should welcome disagreement and debate rather than trying to ignore or stifle it, because we'll learn from it and our own understanding will be improved. So, if we are to read the Bible for all its worth then we need the basic stuff of character: humility, wisdom, courage, kindness...
Above all, our understanding of the Bible and our being changed through it happen ultimately through the Holy Spirit working in us. Reading the Bible shows us God's plans for his creation - all his creation - and it is inspiring to know that we all have a part to play in those plans.
But what was that all about really? I came across that amazing phrase because I was working last week on some teaching I'm doing on hermeneutics. I'm doing the teaching at the Pioneer Theology Summer School up in the Hayes next week. The three days away are on hermeneutics - ie how do we read the Bible and understand it for today? Various approaches are being taken, but I've been asked to look at the contemporary issue of the environment (how I hate that word for its anthropocentrism!) and use it as a lense to do some teaching on hermeneutics.
So I've been doing a load of thinking and reading about how 'green Christians' interpret the Bible and related issues around the authority and inspiration of the Bible (I'd recommend Tom Wright's Scripture and the Authority of God). Really interesting stuff, I've loved it!
There are basically three approaches to the Biblical material:
1. The first is an approach of 'recovery'. This seeks to say that historically Biblical interpretation/tradition has got it wrong and that if we really go back and understand the text correctly then we'll see that an ecological ethic lies at the heart of the Biblical story.
2. The second approach is what I call 'ecological resistance'. This says that the text reflects the biases and faults of their human authors and so where those texts are negative and anthropocentric they must be 'called out' and resisted.
3. The third approach is 'anti-ecological resistance'. This approach agrees with (2) but therefore concludes that it is unbiblical to care for God's world at all.
And what do we learn from all of this? We learn that the hermeneutical spiral is alive and well. Yes, I would want to affirm that it is important to try to get back to the original intention of the author/text as much as we can and we must work hard at that. But, at the same time, we must all recognise that we wear 'interpretive lenses' when we read the texts - there is no view from nowhere! Because of this we are constantly learning as our horizon interacts with the horizon of the Biblical text and both inform the other And then, of course, there are other people's horizons too, which is why we learn so much from other people. If that is the case then we should welcome disagreement and debate rather than trying to ignore or stifle it, because we'll learn from it and our own understanding will be improved. So, if we are to read the Bible for all its worth then we need the basic stuff of character: humility, wisdom, courage, kindness...
Above all, our understanding of the Bible and our being changed through it happen ultimately through the Holy Spirit working in us. Reading the Bible shows us God's plans for his creation - all his creation - and it is inspiring to know that we all have a part to play in those plans.
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