Reading Scripture with the Church: Toward a Hermeneutic for Theological Interpretation

Reading Scripture with the Church: Toward a Hermeneutic for Theological Interpretation. By A. K. M. Adam, Stephen E. Fowl, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, and Francis Watson. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2006. 160pp. $17.99 (paper). Developed from the Winslow Lectures of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, the four creative essays and four engaging responses in this book offer a generous feast of insights and perspectives on the assumptions and practice of biblical interpretation in the life of the church. Instead of proposing more methods or strategies of reading which have oversaturated the field of biblical studies, these four authors-each of whom has written extensively on the hermeneutic issues of theological interpretation of the Scriptures-challenge each other and their readers to examine the fundamental way in which they approach Scripture. In imaginative ways, they address the same basic questions such as: What does one look for in Scripture? What is theological interpretation of Scripture? How does one discern one meaning from another as valid or appropriate? Each author tackles a special concern of his own concerning the current state of biblical hermeneutics. A. K. M. Adam is concerned about the captivity of imagination by the textuality of Scripture. Traditional hermeneutics based on the translation model and conduit metaphor, he contends, tends to result prematurely in the enclosure of meaning. To embrace the semiotic abundance of the text, therefore, he proposes doing biblical theology as a "signifying practice" that includes lives of discipleship and worship as well as verbal interpretation. Stephen Fowl finds that most modern theological debates are predicated on a misconception about the literal sense of Scripture as having only one determinate meaning. Thomas Aquinas recognized, however, the "multifaceted literal sense," as attested in his theological commentary on John 1:1. The literal sense is authorial intention as expressed in the words, but the Spirit of God is capable of understanding all and intending more by the words of Scripture. For Fowl, therefore, the legitimate diversity in the interpretation of Scripture can open and regulate diversity in our own interpretation, and the final goal and test of biblical interpretation is its ability to draw us to a deeper friendship with God. Kevin Vanhoozer takes issue with recent interpreters, both historical critics and ideology critics, who assume a posture of mastery toward texts. Since the task of biblical interpreters is to discern what the Holy Spirit is saying by means of what the human authors of Scripture have said to the church, theological interpretation is the process of discerning the discourse, human and divine, in the canonical work of the church which can be characterized as "theodrama. …