voss-five essential hermeneutic practices - very good

5/25/2018 Voss-five Essential Hermeneutic Practices - Very Good

1/14

ERT 2013)37;2, 140-152

From ^Grammatical-historicalExegesis to Theological Exegesis :Five Essential Practices

Hank VossKEYWO R DS :Prayer canon, church,con text, ana logy of faith. Ru le of faith,hermeneutics, Christology

If I know myself I am first and fore-most a theological exegete./. /.PackerThe kind of questions serious youngtheologians put to us are: How canI leam to pray? How can I leam toread the Bible? Either we can helpthem to do this, or we can t helpthem at all. Nothing of all this canbe taken for granted.Dietrich Bonhoeffer in a 936 letter toKarlBarth^

1 In Quest of Canonical Interpretation , inThe Use of the Bible in Theology: EvangelicalOptions, ed . Robert Johnston (Atlanta; JohnKnox, 1985), 47; cf. 45.2 DietrichBonhoeffer, Meditatingon theWord,t rans . Gracie David McI. (Cambridge, MA;Cowley, 1986), 22.

Int rodu ct ion: T heologicalExegesisa D ivine or aD evilish I l locution?

Theological exegesis is not a light mat-ter; it is a dangerous thing to hear thevoice of God. One seventeenth-centiuyEnghsh writer is reported to have said,I had rather see coming toward me awhole regiment with drawn swords,than one lone Calvinist convinced thathe is doing the will of God. For thesincere exegete, the danger is twofold:obedience to the voice of God provedcostly for the twelve disciples, buteven graver danger hes in failing todiscem whe ther one is hearing God svoice or another s. Perhaps the mostfamous example of a devihsh use ofGod s voice is attributed, not surpris-ingly, to the Devilhimself. In Mattiiew4:6 the Devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12

3 Cited in Nicholas Wolterstorff, Until justiceand Peace Embrace: The Kuyper Lectures for 98 Deliveredat theFree University ofAmsterdam (Grand Rapids;Eerdmans, 1983), 9.


2/14

From Gram m atical-h istorica l Exegesis to Theo logical Exegesis 14 1in an attempt to persuade Jesus to dosomething that neither the human northe divine author of Psalm9 intended.In a 1984 articleinBaker sEvangeli-cal Dictionary of Th eology, F. F. Bmceclaimed that grammatical-historicalexegesis (GHE), byitself is an inad-equate reading stra tegy for the church;something more, theological exegesis(TE),is needed.^ Sice that article waswritten some thirty years ago, muchhas been written by evangelicals re-garding the theological interpretationof Scripture.Manyof these more recentdiscussions help us to bud on Bm ce sinsight in order to more explicitly de-fine an evangelical practice of theo-logical exegesis. Kevin Vanhoozer is aleader in this discussion among evan-gelicals. He has authored a significantmonograph, edited a dictionary, andwritten numerous essays on the topic.He und erstand s theological exegesis tobe an ecclesial reading practice whichlistens for the divine voice speaking inscripture by attending to th e canon sText/s,Author/s, and Reader/s.*Whe there has been much discus-sion of what theological exegesis is,there has been far less discussion onhow it works in practice. Thus thisarticle addresses the question, Howdo global theological educators equip4 F. F. Bruce, Interp retatio n of th e Bible , inEvangelical Dictionaryof Theology, ed. WalterA. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 565-68.5 See for example, Kevin J. Vanhoozer et al.,eds..Dictionary for Theological Interpretation oftheBible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic,

leaders in the chtirch to practise theo-logical exegesis? More specifically,how do we balance an emphasis on hu-man and divine authorship^which h astended to be an evangelical strengthwhe paying greater attention to atraditional evangelical weakness:readers, their contexts, and their inter-pretative communities? How are teach-ers of the church to equip the people ofGod to hear the divine voice in Scrip-ture? What basic reading practices arenecessary for Christian faithfulnesswhen the church is facing massiveand rapid growth, especially the typeof growth described as church plantmovem ents . Toward an answer tothese pressing questions, this articleproposes five practices for evangelicaltheological exegesis:1. Theological Exegesis Approaches

Scripture withFaith Seeking Under-s tand ing (fides quaerens intellectum).2. Theological Exegesis Is Faithful tothe Original Contexts (grammatical-

historical exegesis).3 . Theological Exegesis Reads Scrip-ture with the Analogy ofFaith (ana-

logiafidei).4. Theological Exegesis Reads Scrip-

ture with the Rule of Faith (regulafidei).5. Theological Exegesis Reads Scrip-ture within the Community ofFaith(intraecclesiam).Note that the first and last of thesepractices are especially attuned to thereader of the text. Emphasis on thereader draws attention to practices,not simply method. Alasdair Macln-


3/14

tyre suggests that practices require

142 Hank Voss to attend not ory to methods, butalso to the ends of the community inwhich the practice is located.* Meth-ods can be didacticay helpful,' butory when they are situated withinthese larger practices.'" The imiquenature of the church's being and call-ing requires reading strategie s distinctfrom the culture in which it dwes. AsYeago notes, 'Renewal of the chiu-chrequires not ory new ideas about thechiu-ch, but renewedpractices of beingthe church, and chief among these arepracticesof understanding and appljdngthe Scriptures. '"The explosion of Christianity amongthe urban poor and in the global southgives rise to perhaps the most excitingstories of the twentieth century. Thefive prac tices of TE idenfied above areespecially signiflcant for those regionaltheatres. David Garrison has done theglobal church an invaluable (althoughwidely ignored) service in documentingtwenty-five emerging 'church plant-ing movements'.'^ He records stories8 After Virtue:A Study in Moral Theory(NotreDame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press,2007),187.9 See for example Jack Kuhatschek,Applyingthe Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990);Rober t l a ina . Me thodological Bible Study(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980).10 Richard Hays, 'Reading the Bible withEyes of Faith: The P ractice of Theological Ex-egesis ' , /ouma/ ofTheological Interpretation 1:1(2007): 11-12 .11 'The Bible: The Spirit, Church, and theScriptures: Biblical Inspiration and Interpre-tation Revisited', in Knowing the Triune God:The Work of the Spirit in the Practices of the

like those of Sharif who launched 'thelargest Church Planting Movement inthe history of Christian missions toMushms'." Between 1991 and 2001Sharif's movement has seen 4000chiu-ches planted among Muslims and'more than 150,000 Muslims come tofaith in Christ'." The five practices fortheological exegesis proposed here aimto stimulate reflection on the types oftheological education needed to servepastors hke Sharif or those currentlybeing equipped a t the institution whereI serve. TheUrban Ministry Institute.The thesis advanced is that an evan-gehcal version of TE provides the bes tway forward for these pastors and forthe theological educators whose voca-tion is to serve them.

I aith Seeking Understand ing fides quaerens intellectum)Ansehn's (d. 1109) motto of faith seek-ing understanding is the starting pointfor the theological exegete. TE is apractice for those who have alreadymade a vohtional decision to respondto the command, 'You foowm e '(John21:22). Theh- aim hi reading Scriptureis to know the mind of Christ.'* They13 Garrison, hurch Planting Movements 36,120.14 Gcirrison, hurchP lanting Movem ents 11515 The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) haslaunched over 100 satellite campuses aroundthe world since 2001. The vision of the insti-tute is to provide formal theological educationfor church leaders serving among the urbanpoor. See further: www.tiuni.org.


4/14

From 'Gra mmatical-h istorica l Exegesis' to 'Theological Exegesis' 1 4 3receive in faith Scripture's claim of di-vine authorship, and approach the textof scripture differently from the textsof other respected authors (Teresa ofvila, Shakespeare, Endo) or evenother texts which claim divine author-ship (Koran, the Book of Mormon). Forevangehcal theological exegetes, thetriune discourse of Scripture is unique,and they approach scripture aiming fora greater love and a deeper knowledgeof the triune God.Anselm's motto, 'I do not seek tounderstand in order that I may beheve,but I believe in order to understand'did not represent a new interpretivepractice. More than a thousand yearsbefore, others had confessed a similar'motto'.'' A humble acknowledgementof God was deemed the starting pointfor knowledge (Prov. 1:7) and vnsdom(Ps.111:10). Those who wish to haveunderstanding (Ps. 111:10) into thework (and word) of God, must beginwith the fear of the Lord. The transla-tors of theLXXwere so sure ofthisfactthat they added to the MT of Proverbs1:7 an explanatory phrase, 'and pietytoward God is the beginning of percep-tion [aisthsis] , (NETS).

For theological exegetes, 'the fearof the Lord' calls for a radical depend-ency upon the Holy Spirit, a dependen-cy v dthat least two implications. First,the theological interpreter approachesScripture with sin as an epistemologi-cal category. Without a favoiurable an-swer to the continual prayer of 'Lord,17 For Blocher (and for Augustine, Aquinas,

Jesus,have mercy on me', he is awareof his notorious tendency to suppressunsavoury truths (Rom.1:19 19; Ps.119:9,11).Secondly, dependency meems thattheological interpreters must be vsdll-ing to tum 'common hermeneuticalagendas upon their heads' by makingthe life of prayer 'utterlybasic'to theirpractice of theological interpretation.'*Jeroslav Pehkan has famously pointedout that for the first 1500 years of thechurch, nearly all the theologians ofthe church (i.e. theological exegetes)were either bishops orm onks.The vastmajority of these would have followedsome form of the Benedictine rule or alitiu-gy of the hours which would havethem praying through the Psalter, in-cluding Psalm 119, every week.Testimony to the influence of thispractice on medieval exegetesislegion:'whilst you were singing the psalms,did it not sometimes come about thatyou were illuminated by the brilhanceof the spiritual sense?'; or 'when fixedin a fervor quite new, I began to lovesinging the Psalms for God's sake,many things in the divine Scripturebegan to be unlocked for me in silenceas I was Psalm singing tha t I had beenunable previously to track down byre ading. ' Thife prayerful approach toexegesis is at odds with much west-em exegetical practices, where theprimacy of the life of prayer is rarely

18 Bartholomew and Holt, 'Prayer in/and theDram a of Redemption in Luke: Prayer an d Ex-


5/14

44 Hank Vossdiscussed.^ Is it realLy surprising th atearher theoLogical exegetes so oftenheard the divine voice in places wherewe find silence?When the Christian exegete ap-proaches the text with the prayer,'Open my eyes, so that I may beLioldwondrous things out of your Law' (Ps.119 :18), she is positioned betweenthe discredited positivism of 'objective'historical criticism and the despair ofthe derridian-deconstmctionist pLay-ground. In faith she approaches scrip-ture with neither blind optimism nordespairing playfulnessrather shecomes seeking the mind of Christ, anunderstanding of the divine voice, anda proper response of obedient love.Exegetical handbooks for the globalchiu^ch in the twenty-first century canno Longer ignore this basic posture ofthe ecclesial reader.

II Faithful to the OriginalCon tex ts {Grammatical

historicalExegesisThe human authors of Scriptiure arenot excluded from the golden rule. Wedo our best to hs ten to them a s we our-selveswou dwantto beheardnot theleast because we beheve each to havebeen individuaLLy shaped, chosen, and20 For exceptions see : Patrick Reardon, hrist inthe Psalms (Conciliar, 2000); DietrichBonhoeffer, The Prayerbook of the Bible (LifeTogether; P rayerboo k of the Bible, ed. GeffreyKelly, trans. Daniel Bloesch and James Burt-ness (Minneapohs: Fortress, 2006).21 Psalm 119 (Bonhoeffer's favorite Psahn )

empowered by the HoLy Spirit to writethe Holy Scriptures. While the churchhas sometimes become distracted fromthe 'literal' sense of Scripture, it hasalmost always agreed that the hteralsense was ie most important. Origenhimself built the spiritual sense uponthe literal. Sensitivity and care (evenLove) for the original grammatical,historical, and literary contexts of thetext remain a central practice of TE.Richard Hays has argued along similarLines:History therefore cannot be eitherinimical or irrelevant to theology'saffirmations of tmth. The more ac-curately we understand the histori-cal setting of lst-centiuy Palestine,the more precise and faithful wiLLbe our understanding of what theincamate Word taugh t, did, and suf-

CLarity on tLiis point m akes it w orthrepeating. Attention to the divine iLLo-cution of a text does not replace atten-tiveness to the human autiiors whomGod divinely prepared and equippedto speak his own words. Tolerancefor interpretive sLoth and pride arenot to be condoned. GHE seeks to at-tend carefuLLy to the human authors'voices as individuals within a particu-lar book, corpus, or tes tam en t. It is22 'Reading the Bible with Eyes of Faith: ThePractice of Theological Exe gesis', 1 2.23 Anthony Thiselton, The Two Horizons:New Testament Herm eneutics and Philosophi-calDescription with Special Reference to Hei-degger Bultmann Gadam er and W ittgenstein


6/14

From G ram m atic al-h isto rica l Exegesis to Th eolog ical Exegesis 1 4 5easier to hear clearly one voice, thanmany speaking at the same time. Bycarefully hstening to each human au-thor, theological interpreters are moreacciu-ately able to hear the divinevoice speaking through the canon as aw ho le. Thus evangehcal TE does notdenigrate GHE, but seeks to recoveralongside of it the historic emphasis ofthe church on the divine voice speak-ing in Scripture as a whole.

I l l The Analogy o f Faith{ n lo fideiThe analogy of faith [analogiaidei hasalways played an essential role in ec-clesial exegesis, but it moved to evengreater prominence as a reading strat-egy during the Reformation due to themovement's mottoosolascriptura.Thispractice eventually came to mean thatmore difficult-to-understand passagesin Scripture should be interpreted bythe clearer ones. Henri Blocher help-fully traces four versions of the prac-tice in the Protestant tradition.^* Hecalls the first version the 'traditional'view and it corresponds to wh at I havecalled 'the rule of faith' in the next sec-tion (the term 'rule of faith' does notappear in the article). Blocher's fourthuse, endorsed by the Second HelveticConfession, refers to what I mean by

24 Examples of evangehcals who have of-fered helpful proposals of what this couldlook like on a larger scale include Paul House,Charles Scobie, and Chris Wright.25 Daniel leier. IntroducingTheological In -

analogiaidei,but he calls it the analo-gia totusScripturae, and explains thatit means(T[he comparison of all relevantpassages on any topic, under themethodical dutyt avoid substantialcontradictions. It imphes a system-atic character in biblical interpreta-tion, the to tahty of a coherent Scrip-ture being the norm .This rule is an essential compo-nent of Protestant interpretation andis also commonly referred to by theLatin phrase:scriptura ipsius interpres(Scripture is its own interpreter). Inshort, the analogy of faith requirestheological exegetes to take the wholecanon of Scripture into considerationwhen interpreting a biblical passage.Vanhoozer calls this idea of the divine

voice speaking through the canon asa whole a 'canonical locution', andhe defines it as 'what God is doing bymeans of the human discourse in thebibhcal textsatthe levelo fthecanon .^^We find a compelling example ofthe analogia fidei in Jesus' readingstrategy in Matthew 22:29-32. Whenchallenged by the Sadducees about hisbehef in the doctrine of the resurrec-tion (a behef that had developed moreclearly during post-exihc Judaism andthus was not acceptable to the Saddu-cees who accepted only the Pentateuchas canonical), Jesus 'proves' the doc-trine from Exodus 3:6. Grammatical-historiccd or historical critical study27 Blocher, 'The Analogy of Faith in the


7/14

46 Han k Voss

might no t find the doctrine of the resur-rection in Exodus 3:6, but Je sus' teach-ing in Matt 22:29-32 reveals that theidea of resurrec tion is par t of the divinelocuon.^'Jesu s' final words to the Sadduceesin Mark's version, polu planasthe ('Youare quite wrong', ESV), continues towam theological exegetes of the dan-ger of failing to attend to the divinevoice found in the canon as a whole. AsCraig Blomberg notes: 'Contemporaryobjections to Jesus' logic here perhapsreveal an imnecessciry rigidity in ourmodem historical/grammatical herme-neutics rather than any fallacy with Je-sus' interpretation.'^ Vem Poythress,whe not discussing theanalogia fideiin particular, makes a simar point,'We must attend to God's meaning.And God's meaning is not boxed in.Rather, it wl become evident in thesubsequent events and in the subse-quent words of explanation.'^'Whe the value of the analogyof faith has repeatedly proven itselfthroughout church history, its impor-tance can also be illustrated from re-cent westem evangehca l theology, bib-lical studies, and biblical theology. Intheology, Kevin Vanhoozer's proposalfor a 'canonical-lingtiistic approach' toChristian theology presen ts a powerfulappeal for the recovery of the analogy29 Although see J. Gerald Janzen, 'Resur-rection and Hermeneutics: On Exodus 3:6 inMcirk 12 .26. , foumal for the Study oftheNew estament 23 (1985): 56.30 Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew, NAC (Nash-ville,TN: Broadman, 1992), 334.

of faith as a component of TE . Withinbiblical studies, the recent explosionof interest in the use of the Old Tes-tam ent in the New, intertextuaUty, andintracanonical criticism illustrates itsincreasing imp ortance.'' A third exam-ple can be seen in evcingeHcals' contin-ued commitment to a form of biblicaltheology which displays many of thequalifications of TE.'*To these w estem examples must beadded the testimony of pastors serv-ing among the world's more than onebuHon urban poor. Many of these lead-ersW never be able to afford morethan three or four books beyond theirBible.'^ The exegetical fruits of theseteachers of the church, who almostalways rely upon the canon for their'commentary' on a pericope, is not tobe quickly despised.'*

32 'A theological exege sis will therefore payas much, if not more, attention to the canoni-cal context as the historical in order to discernthe communicative intent of the divine play-wright' (Vanhoozer, rama of Doctrine, 249).3 3 See articles on 'Intertextuality' and'Scripture, Unity of, inDictionary for Theologi-cal Interpretation oftheBible, 332-34; 731-3434 See T. Desmond Alexander et al., eds..New ictionaryof Biblical Theology: Exploringthe Unity and Diversity ofScripture (DownersGrove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000); and the NewStudiesinBiblicalTheologySeries edited by DA. Carson.3 5 The T reasury of Scriptural Know ledge (a'precritical' Bible study aid with some 300,000intratextual references), or some similar tool,should be one of those few books.36 I think of conversations on 'suffering'


8/14

From G ram m atic al-h isto rica l Exegesis to Th eolo gical Exegesis 1 4 7

IV The Rule o f Faith regula fidei)

Evangehcal interpreters are becomingincreasingly aware of a fourth ecclesialinterpretive practice; Scripture mustbe read according to the Rule of Faith.This ne cannot be neglected if an in-terpretation is to be considered 'Chris-tian' at least this h as been the unani-mous opinion of the 'one, holy, catholicand apostohc church' (Nicene Creed)since the iovnth century. AlthoughThomas Aquinas identified the rule offaith assola cannica scripturaest regu-lae fidei (canonical Scriptin-e alone isthe rule of faith)which would makeit analogous to the Protestant versionof the analogy of faith {scriptura ipsiusinterpres , the rule is better thought ofas an authoritative summary of Scrip-ture's messagea trustworthy map toScripture.The rule of faith is referred to byboth Ignatius (d. c. 107) and Polycarp(d. 156), although it receives its firstsignificant development with Irenaeus(d. c. 185) and Tertulhan (d. c. 225).^^Its content was perhaps most clearlyarticulated by Vhicent of Lerns (d. c.445), who described it as that whichhas been beheved everywhere, always,by au . Whe the exact form of this37 Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama ofDoctrine,208; John Calvin, Institutes of the ChristianReligion, 4.9.14, ed. John Thomas McNeill,trans. Ford Lewis Battles, Library of Christianclass ics V. 20 -2 1 (Philadelphia: Westm inster,1960), 1165.3 8 Kathryn Greene-McCreight, 'Rule of

rule is debated, its essence is three-fold: Scripture narrates the story of themission of God (His-story), Scriptiureleads us to Christ, and, the God whocreated the world is the Father of theLord Jesus Christ who together withthe Holy Spirit is to be worshipped asYahweh. The three elements of thisrule are most authoritatively summa-rized hi the Nicene Creedthe 'pledgeof allegiance' for the one (holy, catho-hc,apostohc) nation imder God (1 Pet.2:9).^1. The Rule of Faith ReadsScripture as a Single S tory

The first element of the rule of faith isa commitment to reading Scripture asa single story in which we as readersare participants. N. T. Wright pointsout that the unity of the first Chris-tians was to be found in the story theyshared:Their strong centre, strong enoughto be recogrzable in works as di-verse as those of Jude and Igna-tius, James and Justin Martyr, wasnot a theory or a new ethic, not anabstract dogma nor rote-leamingteaching, but a particiar story toldand hved.

Jehovah' in some 230 countries, adding cur-rent weight to St. Vincent's concern. See alsoJames Kombo, TheDoctrine ofGodin African hristian Thought,21 - 22 .4 0 Jam es K. A. Sm ith calls the Nicene Creedthe 'pledge of allegiance' for the church (De-siring the Kingdom : Wo rship, Wo rldview, and ultural Formation[Grand Rapids: Baker Aca-


9/14

148 Hank VossPaul Blowers, in a seminal article onthe Rule of Faith, ha s built on Wright'sobservation to show that the heart ofthe church's rule of faith is a sharedstory. He writes:

My premise here is that at bottom,the Rule of Faith (which was alwaysassociated with Scripture itself)served the primitive Christian hopeof articulating and au thenticating aworld encompassing story or met-anarrative of creation, incamation,redemption, and consummation.*^An increasing number of bibhcal schol-ars and theologians recognize thatChristian interpretation of Scripturemust be done within the interpretiveframework of the cosmic drama ofsalvation in which we pa rticipa te." Al-though the embrace of a participatory

exegesis within Scripture's metanar-rative is celebrated under labels suchas 'Salvation History' and 'MissionalHermeneutics' these movements aresimply rediscovering the ancient Ruleof Faith's emphasis on the mission ofGod in the canonical bibhcal narra tive.

2.The Rule o f aithFinds Christat the Centre o f Scripture s StoryIf the first com ponent of the rule of faithhas to do with interpretive practice be-ginning and ending within the storyof God, the second component of therule makes clear the goad of all TE: toknow Christ, for he is thetelosof both

42 Paul Blowers, 'The regula fidei and the

Scripture and the Christian life." Itlistens in Scripture for the voice of theSpiritw oleads us to Christ.*^ It seeksto know Christ in all of Scriptiure, forChrist through the Spirit reveals theFather (Matt 11:27). The exact way inwhich Christ is met in the canon is notspecified by the rule of faith, but it doesagree tha t he is its res.**Debates rage as to what it meansto read Scripture with a Christologicallens (e.g.. Is such reading christocen-

tric, christo-ecclesiological, christo-monic or christotehc?). Whatevermethodological lens is used, the rule offaith requires us to read all of Scripturein a manner informed and normed byan orthodox Christology.*' However, wemust keep in mind Kevin Vanhoozer'swarning, 'Spiritual formation can bethe aim, but not the norm, of bibhcalinterpretation. The norm must remainthe author's illocutionary intent.'*'

44 Mt. 5:17; Lk. 24:27, 44; Jn. 5:39; Heb.10:7;Gal. 4:19; Eph. 4:13.4 5 Typology th us becomes a vital interpretiveskul in TE. See discussion in: Daniel J. TVeier,'Typology,' inDictionaryfor Theological Interpretation oftheBible 823- 27 .46 'The imphcaon is tha t exegesis does notconfine itself to registering only the verbalsense of the text, but pres ses forward throughthe text to the subject matter (res) to whichit points.' Brevard Childs, 'Toward RecoveringTheological Exegesis',Pro Ecclesia 6 (1997):19.47 For a well-developed example of Augus-tine's practice of Christological reading, seeTeier, IntroducingTheological Interpretation oScripture 70-77 .4 8 'From Speech Acts to Scripture Acts: The


10/14

From G ram m atic al-h isto rica l Exegesis to Th eolog ical Exegesis 1 4 93. The Rule o f aith is TrinitarianThe third component of the RuLe ofFaith exegetes Yahweh. The God ofAbraham, Isaac andJacobis to be iden-tified with the Father, Son, and Spiritof the NT documents. C. Kavin Rowehas shown how the canonicaL texts ex-erted pressure on the earLy church to'conclude that there is a necessary andessential connection between the OldTestament and, a t least, economic Trin-itarian doctrine'.' The Rule of Faithdoes not require the ecclesial exegeteto find the Trinity in every pericope,but it does require the exegete to facethe canonicaL 'press ure' of relating theCreator God of Genesis 1:26 with whatthe Spirit has revealed about God theFather of our Lord Jesus CLirist.The earh est form of the Rule of Faithis difficult to confirm, but its threefoldemphasis was rehably embodied in theNiceno-Constantinopohtan creed of385 The Nicene Creed thus serves asa foundaonal guide for the theologicalexegete. S. Mark Heim remarks:

The [Nicene] creed is not only oneof the unifying factors of pa st eccLe-siasticaL history, it is the most tradi-tionally authoritative expression ofthe CLuistian faith. If we are inter-ested in other forms of unity, we canbypass the creed, but a unity in faith4 9 Hebases hisclaim on exegetical studiesof: 1)Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:13; Acts 2:21;2) Jn.20:28;3) 2Cor.3:17a;4)Gal. 4:4 -6; 5) Rom.8:9-ll(C. Kavin Rowe, 'Biblical PressureandTrinitarian Hermeneucs', Pro Ecclesia11:3[2002]:306).50 While th e Roman Cathohc and most

has no other focus or ba sis .Has Heim overstated the case? Per-haps, but if so he is correct at Leastto insist that the Nicene Creed cannotbe bypassed by the evangehcal theo-logical exegete. The creed capturesthe cosmic story of redemption and theChristologicaL and Ittnitarian rules ofthe ancient church.^^ It provides an es-sentialmap, rehably laying out theLandin which TE is do ne . It serves theo-logical exegetes as a 'fence', heLpingthem recognize when a certain readingof Scripture hes beyond the bounds oforthodoxy. The creed is 'the touch-stone and guarantee of orthodox, bibli-cal faith'; it is the pLedge of allegiancefor evangelical theoLogical exegetes.

V W ith in the Com muni ty o fFaith {c tholic regulaW e hav e so far Laid out foiu- essentiaL

51 S. Mark Heim, 'Introduction', inFaith toCreed: Ecumenical Perspectives on the Affirma-tion of the A postolic Faith in the Fourth Cen tury:Papers of the Faith to Creed Consu ltation Com-mission on Faith and Order, ed. S. Mark Heim,Faith and Order Series (Grand Rapids: Eerd-mans, 1991), 19 .52 Myintroduction to theological exegesisand the importance ofNicene orthodoxy camefrom Don Davis. Most recently, see hisSacredRoots: A Primer on Retrieving th e G reat Tradi-tion (Wichita, KS: The Urban Ministry Insti-tute, 2010).53 PhiHp Turner, 'Introduction', in NiceneChristianity: T he Future f or a New Ecumenismed. Christopher D. Seitz (Grand Rapids: Bra-zos, 2001), 11;cf. Vanhoozer, Drama of Doc-trine 204 , 449-50.


11/14

150 an k Vossprac tices of TE. Although all are inter-related, they have been presented in adogmatic order. Faith in Christ is thedoor through which one approachesScripture in order to do TE (practiceone).Afterbelieving,one listens first toindividual scriptural soloists (practicetwo), and then to the canonical choir(practice three) in order to hear whatthe Spirit is singing in the Word. If thesong that is heard does not resonatewith the rule of faith, it must be tunedinto harmony (practice four). Finally,the theological exegete recognizes thatwh at he has heard in a given text m ustnow besung in a local theatre (practicefive). But should this final stage be asolo or ensemble performance?Rene Decartes (d. 1650) is wellknown for his basic premise,cogitoergo sum (I think therefore I am). Oneof my professors was fond of pointingout that it was the 'I' not the 'think'whichw srevolutionary and thus foun-daonal for the Enhghtenment. Threehundred years later, most westem ex-egetes have deeply imbibed the princi-ple of individualism from the Father ofmodem philosophy. But emphasizing'my thought', 'my interpretation', 'mysong ' is a theological danger for the ec-clesial exegete. According to Paul it is'we' who 'have the mind of Christ' (2Cor. 2:16), but who are we? Vanhoozeroffers helpful insight on this point:

A canonically-centered cathohc tra-dition tha t includes voices from pastand present. North and South, Eastand West, thus corresponds to thenature of the Bibleitself To affirm

meaning of Scripture.^'The 'Pentecostal plurality' of whichVanhoozer speaks includes those pas-tors and teachers hving among theworld 's one bulion lu^ban poor.

Theological exegetes must be hum-ble enough to hear what the Spirit issaying to the whole body. It is not onlythe meritocratic elite, 'qualified byguud certification', who have been giv-en ears to hear what the Spirit is say-ing to the churches.^' Wise ecclesialexegetes from across the ages wam usto pay careful attention to the cognitpermodum connaturalitatis (Aquinas),^ 'to 'the spiritual instinct of the chil-dren of God',* and to those formallyuntrained who have a 'theological in-stinct' attuned to the mind of Christ.*'Theological exegesis requires a type of'corporate discernment of spirits','^ a

5 6 Since the individual comes to faith in a lo-cal community, there is also a circular dimen-sion to the process.57 Kevin Vanhoozer, 'Theological Method',in Global ictionary of Theology ed. WilliamA. Dymess et al. (Downers Grove, IL; IVPAcademic, 2008), 896. See also The rama ofDoctrine 27.58 Yeago, 'The Spirit, Church, and the Scrip-tu res ' , 50.59 Discussed in Johannes Baptist Metz andEdward Schillebeeckx, eds., 'The TeachingAuthority of All-A Reflection about the Struc-ttire of the New Testament', in The TeachinAuthority of Believers (Edinburgh; T. and T.Clark, 1985), 19.60 Helmut Thielicke, A Little Exercise forYoung Theologians (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans,1962),26.6 1 Torrance, 'The R econciha on of Mind; A


12/14

From 'Crammarical-historical Exegesis' to 'Theological Exegesis' 51process which John Powell explains iscalled 'connatura ty':

As the life of Christ is deepened inus by the Holy Spirit, there is cre-ated in the Christian a 'sense ofChrist,' a tast e and instinctual judg-ment for the things ofGod a deeperperception of God's tmth, an in-creased understanding of God's dis-positions and love toward us. Thisis what Christians must strive toattai individually and corporately;theologians call it Christian connatu-rality. It is like a natural instinct orintuition, but is not natural, since itresults from the supematural reali-ties of the Divine Indwelling and theimpulses of grace. No account of di-alectical or analytical facuity, whichis purely human, Cctn provide thisconnatural instinct. It is increasedonly by the continual nourishmentof the life of God that vivifies theChristian.*'Theological exegetes recognize thatthey are m embers ofthebody of Christ,and their interpretations of Scriptureare offered with interdependence uponthe perspectives of other members ofthe body. The body has a variety of

ways of knowing: ears (hearing), eyes(sight), hands (touch), nose (smell),tongue (taste). No one member of thebody (e.g. a seminary trained exegeti-cal 'eye') understcinds a text of Scrip-ture as well as the whole body whotogether share in the 'mind of Christ'.'*

63 John Powell, The Mystery o f the Church(Milwaukee: Bruce, 1967), 8. Cited in Dulles,

Secondly, if the one Spirit (Eph. 4 :3 -4) who speaks in Scripture is speakingto aU Christians, in all places and atall times, then wisdom dictates thattheological exegetes carefully consid-er how members of the body in othertimes and places have heard the Spir-it's voice. Our confession of a 'ca tholic'or universal church is of great weightfor TE, since no one contemporaryculture has a complete understandingof Scripttu-e.*' The ecclesially attunedexegete seeks to avoid the bund spotsof our age and the chronological snob-bery of most historical critical exegesisby listeningtothe commtmion of sa intsacross the ages. He also seeks to avoidthe westem academic captivity of theBible by dialoguing with global ex-egetes whose location outside of theWest allows new insights to emerge.

In Conclusion Siblings andNeighbours'And now the end has come. So listento my last piece of advice: exegesis,exegesis, and yet more exegesis Keepto the Word, to the scripture that hasbeen given tous ' , ' 'said Karl Barth. Butbach, Sadhu Sundar Singh, or 'uneducated'pastors like A. W. Tozer or John Bunyan. Seefurther: Billings,TheWordof God orthe Peopleof God 117-18 .65 For well-developed thinking on this di-mension of catholicity see: Jonathan R. Wil-son, Why Church Matters: Worship M inistryandMissioninPractice (Grand Rapids: Brazos,2006),125.66 Karl Barth in a farewell sermon from


13/14

Modeb of the Church 19.

52 Hank Voss

what kind of exegesis is it to be? In thisessay I have argued that theologicalexegesis (TE), rather than grammati-cal historical exegesis (GHE) alone,W best serve the global church. Evan-gehcal theological exegesis requiresfive ecclesial practices, and GHE isonly one of the practices necessaryfor pastors and chiu-ch teachers to beadequately equipped (2 Tim. 3:17) tointerpret the Word of God.*' A 'distinc-tive ecclesial enterprise of scripturalinterpretation' reqxures wisdom and abalance of these five practices; this iswhere future research on evangehcalTE needs to focus.'*

FinaUy, what about our non-Chris-tian neighbours? For Jesus sind hisdisciples, there were only two types ofreading: reading with siblings (Luke8:21) and reading with neighbours(Lk. 10:26, 33, 36-37). Our eyes areoften opened when we read Scripturewith neighbours, and we leam invalu-able lessons. If one thinks theologicalexegesis provides an excuse to ignoreAdler's art, Stemberg's poetry, or anagnostic's critical commentary, one ha s

missed the point of the theological in-terpretation movement.*' Rather, theo-logical exegesis is a reading strategyfor the community of readers who havedecided to foUow Jesus as Rabbi. It isnot something to be forced upon thosewho have not made a faith commitmenttoJesus,nor does it imply tha t evangel-ical theological exegetes have no needto leam from others.Theological exegesis is analogousto that old Mennonite slogan, 'A hum-ble proposal for world peace: Let aUChristians agree to stop killing eachother.' The point is not to exclude non-behevers from the p roposal, the point israther to say that one must start some-where. Theological exegesis is a read-ing strategy for teachers of the church,intraecclesiam;it is for those who claito foow the way of Jesus, and who arecaed to teach (Matt. 28:19-20) otherdisciples how to read the Scriptiuresthat testify to Christ (Luke 24:27).The practices of theological exegesisprovide the kind of help 'serious youngtheologians' and pastors need. I hopeBonhoeffer would be pleased, and thatSharifW be helped.'

6 7 In a longer version of thi s pap er I describethe neglect of these five practices as the Re-lationalFallacy Exegetical Fallacy CanonicalFallacy TheologicalFallacy and theEcclesialFallacy.6 8 See for exam ple, Daniel Treier,Virtue an dtheVoice ofGod Toward Theology as Wisdom(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2 006).

69 Roberi: Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry(New York: Basic Books, 1985): Meir Stem-berg, The Poetics of Biblical arrative(IndianaUniversity Press, 1987); Wilham Propp,Exo-dus 19-40 AB (New York Doubleday, 2006 ).70 Thanks to Ifyan Peterson, Timothy Lar-son , D an TYeier, and John W alton for feedbackon previous versions of this paper; remainingerrors are my own.


14/14

Copyright of Evangelical Review of Theology is the property of Paternoster Periodicals and its content may n

be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

voss-five essential hermeneutic practices - very good

Documents

theological exegete

theological exegesiste

theo logical exegesis

divine voice

god svoice

t helpthem

thevoice of god

evangelical practice