This morning during our teacher collaboration time, a group of us were doing item analysis on a standardized test that is given every year to our tenth graders. While discussing one of the questions and questioning why so many students got it wrong, a fellow teacher remarked, "sometimes we get so stuck on asking what the text means to us that we forget the author's intent..."
What struck me when the comment was made is that it is the same with God's Word. I have no problem discussing how a Scripture touches us or what God speaks to us through His Word, but we can't forget that there was an original meanting or intent for the Scripture, God did place it there for a purpose and it had meaning to the author of the text. That message definitely has gotten lost in "Bible" studies in the Western Church.
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Finding Peace and Joy in a Life with Christ
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1 comment:
Absolutely brother! You’re right on here.
As the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics states:
“WE AFFIRM that the Person and work of Jesus Christ are the central focus of the entire Bible. WE DENY that any method of interpretation which rejects or obscures the Christ-centeredness of Scripture is correct.”
Notice here that the focus is on Christ, NOT us. Radical I know. Message to modern yuppies and postmodern pups: Ultimately it’s NOT about YOU!
Another article I like from that statement:
“WE AFFIRM that the term hermeneutics, which historically signified the rules of exegesis, may properly be extended to cover all that is involved in the process of perceiving what the biblical revelation means and how it bears on our lives. WE DENY that the message of Scripture derives from, or is dictated by, the interpreter’s understanding. Thus we deny that the ‘horizons’ of the biblical writer and the interpreter may rightly ‘fuse’ in such a way that what the text communicates to the interpreter is not ultimately controlled by the expressed meaning of the Scripture.”
Ultimately it’s not the job of the interpreter to find what the text means TO HIM OR HER, it’s to find what the text means. And only then comes the question of how that objective meaning subjectively applies to him or her.
Anyway, great post sir and something the Church needs to hear today.
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