Scripture
Saturday, August 12, 2023
8:37 PM
As we consider the role scripture plays in shaping our theology, there are several related concepts with which we must contend.
Revelation--Revelation is God's self-disclosure.  It is what God want us to know about God's Self
General Revelation--God’s self-disclosure through creation and the experience of revelation through human senses.  
Psalm 8
The Psalmist describes observing creation and pondering humanity's place in it relative to God's will.  
Special Revelation--God’s self-disclosure through the history of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah (Israel, Israel/Judah, Judea, Jesus, and the Church).
Psalm 19
God's Will is disclosed through the heavens.
God's will id disclosed through the oral tradition.
The Pray-ers seek to locate themselves within creation and the oral tradition.
Canon--Canon refers to the collection of texts that a believing community regards as sacred or holy.
For those of us raised in Sunday School, the books of the Bible on a Bookshelf is a familiar portrayal of the Canon.  
What was often left out of the conversation is that this is the Protestant Canon.  Other religious groups have differing texts. 
The story of canonization is a long one that I won't explore here.
Who determined these books?
Who determined the order of the books and how does that influence our theology?
How do we reconcile ourselves to the textual differences in the manuscripts since the church canonized a list of books but not the contents of the books themselves? 
Exegesis--refers to the process of studying the text in an effort to articulate the meaning of the text when it was written, by whom it was written, and to whom it was written.  
Hermeneutics refers to a theological approach to interpretation of scripture, integration of scripture into theology and worship, and application of scripture to ethics and discipleship.
Oversimplification
Exegesis is the descriptive task; Hermeneutics is a prescriptive task
Exegesis answers the question, "What?" and Hermeneutics answers the question "So what?"  
The Oversimplification while helpful obscures the fact that the process is not linear from exegetical tasks to hermeneutic application.  Hermeneutic commitments shapes what a person is looking for.  
Some examples of models of Hermeneutics
Historical-Critical Approach
Traces causal antecedents of texts.
Considers life context of the text's experience.
Analyzes contextual influences on writing.
Explores the trajectory of meaning for today.
Social Location Approach
Scripture is read within readers' lived experience.
Marginalized people's experience crucial for interpretation.
Lived experiences offer a lens for understanding scripture.
Narrative Approach
Scripture forms a complete story from smaller parts.
Story holds "dynamic analogy" to present experiences.
Alexander Campbell
I. On opening any book in the sacred scriptures, consider first the historical circumstances of the book. These are the order, the title, the author, the date, the place, and the occasion of it.
      II. In examining the contents of any book, as respects precepts, promises, exhortations, &c. observe who it is that speaks, and under what dispensation he officiates. Is he a Patriarch, a Jew, or a Christian? Consider also the persons addressed--their prejudices, characters, and religious relations. Are they Jews or Christians--believers or unbelievers--approved or disapproved? This rule is essential to the proper application of every command, promise, threatening, admonition, or exhortation, in Old Testament or New.
      III. To understand the meaning of what is commanded, promised, taught, &c., the same philological principles, deduced from the nature of language, or the same laws of interpretation which are applied to the language of other books, are to be applied to the language of the Bible.
      IV. Common usage, which can only be ascertained by testimony, must always decide the meaning of any word which has but one signification; but when words have according to testimony,--(i. e. the Dictionary)--more meanings than one, whether literal or figurative, the scope, the context, or parallel passages must decide the meaning; for if common usage, the design of the writer, the context, and parallel passages fail, there can be no certainty in the interpretation of language.
      V. In all tropical language ascertain the point of resemblance, and judge of the nature of the trope, and its kind, from the point of resemblance.
      VI. In the interpretation of symbols, types, allegories, and parables, this rule is supreme. Ascertain the point to be illustrated; for comparison is never to be extended beyond that point--to all the attributes, qualities, or circumstances of the symbol, type, allegory, or parable.
      VII. For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of the oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable:--We must come within the understanding distance.
      There is a distance which is properly called the speaking distance, or the hearing distance, beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come within that circle which the voice audibly fills.
      Now we may with propriety say, that as it respects God, there is an understanding distance. All beyond that distance cannot understand God; all within it can easily understand him in all matters of piety and morality. God himself is the centre of that circle, and humility is its circumference.
From <[link]> 