INTRODUCTION TO POST-MODERN HERMENEUTICS

/ Forum: TheologyOnLine - Philosophy & Theology / 16Nov2001 /

    "But woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves! Woe to you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.' Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred? And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift on it is bound by the oath.' You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears by it and the one who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and the one who sits on it.
    "Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You needed to do these without neglecting the other. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel! Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too! Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
    "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your forefathers! You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? For this reason I am sending you prophets ..." --  Matthew 23:13-34 / NETbible

 The first thing to remember is that although the current generation of believers (ie. post-modern Christians) is far removed from the world of the scriptures, the events and people's witnessed to therein remain with us still. Thus the scribes and pharisees are also still with us; the only difference being that today they present themselves under their revised Christian roles and functions (ie. priests, Bible scholars, preachers, etc). This is important to know because it only emphasizes the remarkable persistence of ancient thinking and traditions, and also the always current relevance of the biblical documents (and their value to every generation of believers).
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 Now Christians read the Bible for many and various reasons, to be sure, but it is the WAY that we read the Word of God that is the subject matter of hermeneutics. Oddly enough, the HOW of our scripture reading is at least as important as the WHY of it. For example, if we read the Bible in the same way that we read a novel or the Sunday papers, then the why of it is pretty much irrelevant since our casual attitude towards the sacred text of itself precludes any possibility of the reader doing full justice to the immense depth and richness of the Word; and therefore denies us any measure of real understanding. The proper attitude toward the Text is thus not optional, but rather essential to a faithful and rational post-modern hermeneutics. To read the Bible well (ie. with care, attention, understanding, and respect) is the goal and purpose of any disciplined and faithful approach to reading the scriptures. It is also the reason for hermeneutics in general.
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 What, then, distinguishes post-modern hermeneutics from all the classical, traditional, and popular interpretations that have gone before and linger on still? Two things chiefly: (1) the awareness of the Reader's overwhelming egocentric dominance over the text (ie. the reader's basic attitude, disposition, presumptions, assumptions, etc). Thus the primary fact of post-modern hermeneutics is the clear recognition of the gross inadequacy of any and all views that postulate (or assume) a simplistic one-way flow of information from the text to a (more or less) blank, passive, and receptive Reader. In point of fact, however, the reader takes a very active role in the process of reading, such that there is a constant to and fro movement of meanings and values, as well as information. Indeed, the Reader creates meaning to such an extent that, in some extreme cases, the Text actually functions as a mirror bouncing the reader's assumptions, values, and conclusions back at him as if the author and reader were in absolute agreement in all particulars (an exceedingly unlikely event).
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 In other words, the vast majority of bible-reading today is characterized by the arrogance and vanity of readers who prefer to impose themselves and their ideas into the text, rather than go to the bother of employing difficult methodologies that negate the self in order to let the text speak for itself. And yet it is a basic axiom of a rational and faithful post-modern hermeneutics that we must first silence our own voice in order to listen to the Voice of the Word.
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 (2) The second characteristic of post-modern hermeneutics is the recognition that because no two readers read the text in exactly the same way, the result is a vast multitude of conflicting interpretations of endless passages, different emphasis' on which books and verses are the most important, different understandings of the meaning and value of even single words, and, of course, a myriad kaleidoscope of competing and conflicting theologies all making the same claim to be the only and exclusively divinely approved vision and interpretation of the Holy Bible.
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                      - the one who makes no such claim - texxtman ;>
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P.S.  PoserOne: If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
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P.P.S.  PoserTwo: Why is Jesus sending prophets?
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/ Forum: TOL - Philosophy & Theology / 21Nov2001 /
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 Of course, there have always been competing versions of the Faith, and many and various expressions of its main features and central truths. Precisely because there have always been conflicting versions and visions of the Faith, there have always been different ways of understanding the special and inspired documents of the sacred scriptures (generally scrolls in Hebrew and/or Greek) that express and articulate the authentic and authoritative essence of the prophetic faith of the early Greek churches. The only real difference in our post-modern age is that now we just have a lot MORE choice and variety in creeds, beliefs, doctrines, and theologies; in the way we can live and practice the Faith; in translations and/or versions of the ancient texts, in the way we read and understand this new all-in-one-book thingy entitled 'The Holy Bible', and even in the very meaning and definition of who and what our Lord Jesus Christ is and was!
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 Now this very awareness of complexity, plurality, multiplicity, and subjectivity in all aspects of our Bible-reading efforts (whether collective or singular) is taken by some to mean that all interpretations are necessarily "relative" (ie. relative to, and limited to, some given century, culture, elite, and/or individual), and therefore are all equally meaningful and true, OR equally valueless and untrue. You decide, and whatever you decide is right for you! In this way, the spiritual poverty and moral bankruptcy of the post-modern churches (and Western civilization in general) is made apparent to all.
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 On the other hand, this new-found awareness has also allowed for the development of some new biblical sciences (4X: one recent technique focuses attention directly upon the history of the reaction to the sacred texts; ie. their impact on various peoples and cultures through the ages, and how these various visions of particular books or passages changed over the centuries) and methods of interpretation that are both interesting and fruitful, although generally more limited to specific themes or perspectives.
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 For example, I once read a commentary on the Gospel of Mark written by a Buddhist scholar, and it was fascinating and exceptional in many ways. But the price for these recent positive developments is a corresponding demand for a much greater skill and sophistication on the part of the bible-student AND the bible-reader! One might even say that blind faith is no longer enough to carry the believer through the incredible mystery and complexity of the Word of God. Effort is just as necessary as the need for self-silencing.
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 Alas, all of this leaves the occasional individual believer in a rather sticky wicket, because even a mere nodding acquaintance with the New Testament is quite enough to show that the zealous and passionate faith of the early generations of Christians has really very little in common with our corporate, multinational, and consumer-driven shadows of that original shining Faith that created, energized, and informed those crude Greek documents that only later came to be collected together and standardized under the boastful title of 'The New Testament'.
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 Fortunately, there is an antidote for this confusion and complexity, and the new medicine is the same as the old medicine: read and learn, read and learn, and then read and learn some more. Knowledge of the scriptures leads to knowledge of the Lord, and this being-with the Logos brings spirit and life and faith in abundance . . .  Amen!
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 In any case, it seems clear that all this disorganized and untidy plurality, multiplicity, and subjectivity demand some standard of validity to act as the basis of scientific judgement and knowledgeable authority. Only in this way can a legitimate post-modern hermeneutics combine reason and faith to the benefit of both. The importance of the actual and concrete (ie. NOT idealized) history of the Faith lies close to the heart of this much-needed validity/authority by way of the fact that any sensible hermeneutics is ultimately very dependent upon the reality and truth woven (by God) throughout the fabric of space-time.
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                            - the one in awe of the multiverse - teextman ;>
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P.S. If four out of five people SUFFER from diarrhea,
      does that mean that one enjoys it?
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