Hermeneutics and narrative
Jesus Have I Loved, But Paul? Chapter 6: Women in the Story of God:
Today the Blog Tour for Daniel Kirk’s new book Jesus Have I Loved, but Paul? pulls in at Chapter Six: “Women in the Story of God”. In addition to my contribution here, there will be a piece by Julie Clawson, which I am willing to bet will be nothing like as overwrought and self-...
(16 Jan. 2012)
The fault line between the Reformed and the... er, post-Reformed?:
Everyone by now must have noticed that there is a large and unsightly crack running down the middle of that highly vocal and energetic sector of Western Christianity that thinks of itself in the broadest sense as “evangelical”. It is not the only fault line—Catholicism, Orthodoxy,...
(12 Jan. 2012)
The fog of biblical interpretation:
You are lost in thick fog in open country. You don’t have a compass. You have a map but you have no idea where you are on the map and you can see none of the landmarks—a hilltop, a church spire, a radio mast—that would allow you to get your bearings, triangulate your position, move forward in...
(9 Jan. 2012)
A parable of two sons:
There was a man who had two sons. The older son loved to tell stories and would keep the relatives and servants that made up his father’s household enthralled for hours with his repertoire of tales—not all of them believable—from the family’s eventful history. The younger son was of a...
(3 Jan. 2012)
Interpreters of the New Testament should show more respect for boundaries:
My argument about the historical frame of the Christmas stories and of Simeon’s prayer in particular has been subjected to sustained criticism by Peter Wilkinson, who is certain that at least in the latter case there is reference to the salvation of the nations.
Since Peter is...
(28 Dec. 2011)
Marcus Borg’s “historical-metaphorical” hermeneutic:
I will be attending a small conference on Douglas Campbell’s The Deliverance of God later this week at King’s College London, and I lugged my copy of his monstrous book all the way from Dubai with a view to doing some necessary revision. Unfortunately, I have also just acquired a copy...
(14 Dec. 2011)
Misinterpreting Jesus for the sake of the gospel: parables of a prodigal son:
I listened to a gospel sermon at a church in one of the labour camps yesterday by a pastor I greatly respect. He retold the story of the prodigal son, with an acceptable measure of poetic licence, along the way developing his basic evangelistic paradigm. Even with the handicap of translation, it...
(26 Nov. 2011)
Polysemy, pre-eminence, and patriarchy in Paul:
Part of Christian Smith’s argument against the “biblicist” approach to the reading of scripture is that the Bible simply cannot be reduced to a single layer of meaning. The Bible is multivocal; it speaks “to different listeners in different voices that appear to say...
(22 Nov. 2011)
The New Testament, the end of theology, and the recovery of dialogue:
In very broad brush strokes my overarching thesis—if you like—expounded here and in my books, is this:
that the main narrative trajectory of the New Testament lands at God’s judgment of the world of Greek-Roman paganism and the inauguration of a new age in which Christ is confessed...
(12 Nov. 2011)
Quote: William C. Placher: Hans Frei on narrative after Christendom:
“The most fateful issue for Christian self-description,” Frei wrote…, “is that of regaining its autonomous vocation as a religion, after its defeat in its secondary vocation of providing ideological coherence, foundation, and stability to Western culture.” We no longer...
(23 Oct. 2011)
