revjohn
Well-Known Member
Are we talking about Craig Gay's chapter in "The Act of Bible Reading"?
You might want to read the premise a little more closely.
Yes, Gay does advance the idea that proponents of certain theologies that insist scripture must be read in a certain way should be met with a healthy dollop of suspicion. He also begins by informing us that we all approach scripture through a sociological lense (so it isn't that some do and others don't--all do) and for that reason we should be suspicious of those who claim that they do not and we should invest time in trying to uncover the lense they actually apply to scripture and why.
Gay is advancing the notion of a hermeneutic of suspicion.
Who is Gay to suggest that such a hermeneutic advances us forward in the search of knowledge? (That's me turning the tables to make a point).
To be completely honest I find the hermeneutic of suspicion defeating to most interpreters and what they tend to find is not what is said in scripture or even what should have been said in scripture so much as what they wished were said in scripture.
That said, we do need to ask questions if we seek to gain understanding and sometimes those questions actually are, "what did these words mean to the ones who first heard them/" rather than what do I hear in these words today.
Apart from that I was making a joke at your expense. You are artfully suspicious of the motivations of others.
You might want to read the premise a little more closely.
Yes, Gay does advance the idea that proponents of certain theologies that insist scripture must be read in a certain way should be met with a healthy dollop of suspicion. He also begins by informing us that we all approach scripture through a sociological lense (so it isn't that some do and others don't--all do) and for that reason we should be suspicious of those who claim that they do not and we should invest time in trying to uncover the lense they actually apply to scripture and why.
Gay is advancing the notion of a hermeneutic of suspicion.
Who is Gay to suggest that such a hermeneutic advances us forward in the search of knowledge? (That's me turning the tables to make a point).
To be completely honest I find the hermeneutic of suspicion defeating to most interpreters and what they tend to find is not what is said in scripture or even what should have been said in scripture so much as what they wished were said in scripture.
That said, we do need to ask questions if we seek to gain understanding and sometimes those questions actually are, "what did these words mean to the ones who first heard them/" rather than what do I hear in these words today.
Apart from that I was making a joke at your expense. You are artfully suspicious of the motivations of others.
