Thoroughly Post-Modern Biblical Interpretation

Being new to all this interpretation jargon (pre-modern, modern, post-modern), it's difficult for me to comment on much of the debate surrounding the different school of thoughts, but difficulty hasn't stopped me yet - and so we continue.

Check out what ensued at SIF in the discussion about half-truths...

And then check out this piece by Ben Witherington, professor at Asbury Seminary, entitled, "Thoroughly Post-Modern Biblical Interpretation". It helped me shed some well needed light on the issue at hand, and gave me a little hope for Methodists everywhere...

excerpt:

"Why is this important when it comes to the study of the Bible? There is a simple answer--- THIS IS GOD'S WORD. I do not get to decide for myself what God's Word says or means. It would be arrogant for me to think so. It is for me to discover the meaning of the text encoded in the sentences and paragraphs, for it had an objective meaning long before I ever looked at the text or studied the text. God through the vehicle of various inspired human beings put that meaning there. Post-modernism has problems with objective truth claims, especially texts that make claims on us before we can even begin to make claims about them. It likes to use the pejorative term 'foundationalism' when people start talking about objective truth claims. Frankly, this seems to me to be yet one more human ploy to hold the truth claims of the Bible on us all at bay. Put simply most post-modern theory involves an epistemology that violates the whole Biblical theory and reality of 'revelation'-- a truth conveyed by God through human vehicles to us in perspicuous words that involve truths that not merely relative but absolute and makes an absolute claim on us all."

Carry on,
bro. Hank <