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Exploring approaches to interpreting the Bible: 3

This text discusses different approaches to interpreting the Bible, including the idea that it is a coherent, ongoing story that invites our participation. It emphasizes the importance of understanding our own worldview when engaging with the Bible and explores how our interpretation can be guided by both scholarly principles and a prayerful, intuitive dimension. The text also addresses the question of what to do with the Bible and suggests three lenses through which to explore its meaning: the Bible world, the creative work of the authors, and our own reflection in Scripture.

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Exploring approaches to interpreting the Bible: 3

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  1. Exploring approaches to interpreting the Bible: 3 So far: the Bible as a coherent, still-to-be-completed story or drama that invites our participation; no ‘neutral’ engagement with the Bible – we all bring our worldview and experience to it; how our mainly narrative Scriptures can be ‘authoritative’ – drawing forth a response as we ‘find ourselves’ here.

  2. Hermeneutics = the science and art of interpretation, especially of sacred texts • Awareness of guidelines, principles and scholarship • But also an intangible, intuitive, prayerful dimension that listens to what God may have to say to us today, in this place and situation

  3. ‘Good hermeneutics makes good neighbours’(Kevin Vanhoozer)Hermeneutics responds to the ‘so what?’ question. What do we do with this text?

  4. Underpinning any hermeneutical skills we may develop must be… Prayer ‘Every time we…turn our eyes to the text, Christ explains it to our hearts in proportion to our faith.’ (Enzo Bianchi)

  5. Humility and expectancy ‘Given the ever-present temptation to make idols of our interpretations, humility appears as a prime interpretive virtue.’ (Kevin Vanhoozer)

  6. 3 lenses through which we can discover the Bible… 1. Through the window of the Bible world. Author-centred interpretation

  7. 2. By learning to appreciate the Bible books as the products of skilled creative work. Text-centred interpretation

  8. 3. By discovering ourselves and our communities in the mirror of Scripture. Reader / listener-centred interpretation

  9. These 3 lenses must work together like a prism to focus the light of Scripture…

  10. 3 ‘horizons’ of interpretation • God’s Big Story • The historical moment • The personal story line

  11. What did the author/s intend to communicate? • Who is the author? • The audience? • The historical moment and circumstances? • Language issues? • Cultural background? • Editorial process? • This text or book within the rest of Scripture?

  12. What kind of literature is this? How may the author arrange his material to reinforce his message? • The ‘genres’ of the Bible • How do we read each appropriately? • What kind of literary / narrative skills are in play here?

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