In a Missional Church class this week we asked the question, is there another hermeneutic other than a missional one? It seems to be something we would all agree with, namely, that the Bible should be read as the story of God acting toward the redemption of humanity and the world.
We did come up with two other hermeneutics, however. The first I called a "principle-oriented" or "propositional" hermeneutic. It engages individual texts in Scripture looking for a principle in each text that is then reapplied to today.
A second might be a "kingship" or maybe "glory of God" hermeneutic. John Piper, for example, sees God setting up the Fall and the partial election of some humanity. Somehow the word "missional" doesn't seem quite appropriate here either because the goal is not really to save the world but for God to demonstrate his own glory.
Can anyone think of another hermeneutic than these?
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3 comments:
Ken,
Hard to describe, but I think there is another hermeneutic that operates on a wide basis (I unconsciously thought this way for many years). I would describe it as an "individualized salvation" hermeneutic". The entire Bible is thought to focus on the death of Christ that paid for my sins. The Hebrew Bible is just a precursor, the gospels tell about Jesus' death, and Paul teaches us that it was for our justification. With this approach, everything is collapsed into "my personal salvation". This is not my approach now....but many people never get past this Sunday School hermeneutic.
Trinitarian?
The Jesus Hermeneutic asks, What did Jesus say about this?
The Problem of Evil Hermeneutic, which may be your Missional Hermeneutic, asks, How does this story/teaching deal with Evil in the world?
While the first might be objective, the second is passionate and pleading but ultimately more relevant to the real issues believers and unbelievers struggle with.
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