The Development of Theological Hermeneutics (III): Hermeneutics and Christian Identity

Abstract

In this final chapter I wish to examine the significance of hermeneutics for theological thinking today. That hermeneutical thinking is of importance for theology hardly any theologian doubts today. Thus, the crucial question is not whether or not we need hermeneutics, but which hermeneutics may be considered to be adequate for a particular kind of theological thinking. Moreover, nobody in contemporary theology would wish to question the necessity of proper exegetical methods as far as biblical interpretation is concerned. Yet the effect of the choice in favour of a particular method of interpretation on the self-understanding of the interpreter or of the interpretative community as a whole is often not appreciated with equal clarity. Thus, theology’s actual commitment to hermeneutical thinking is not always quite comprehensive. This becomes particularly clear when we contrast those efforts in hermeneutics which are motivated by the goal to establish ‘correspondence’ with the Scriptures with those efforts which are aiming at a mutually critical ‘correlation’ between the interpretation of biblical and other religious texts on the one hand and the existing plurality of interpretation theories on the other.KeywordsChristian FaithChristian TraditionChristian ChurchInterpretation TheoryBiblical TextThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.