In 2013, I presented a paper at SVS on Vineyard Hermeneutics and the role of discernment. This year I return to the topic of Vineyard Hermeneutics with a slightly different slant. My question is: how do we construct hermeneutics that reflect the unique values of Vineyard and provide us with a helpful means to move into the current context of biblical and theological hermeneutics? Put another way: I asked myself: What is core and necessary to all forms of biblical hermeneutics and how can Vineyard provide its own voice in the chorus of biblical hermeneutics? My answers to these questions are largely consistent with several of my previous hermeneutics projects, but my hope is that in this paper, I can provide a few steps forwards from my previous work.
In my co-authored conclusion with Stan Porter in Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views, I suggest a synthesis of the five views presented in the book that moves towards a constructive evangelical biblical hermeneutics. I discuss four major foci that believe are key to biblical interpretation: “(1) the world(s) external to the biblical text, (2) the biblical text itself, (3) the author(s) of the text and (4) its current reader(s).” Exploring these notions of biblical interpretation lead to three major avenues of understanding: (1) identifying the role and context of the author, the text, the readers both ancient and modern, and the biblical interpreter; (2) allowing for literary integrity and diversity, as well as interpretive integrity and diversity, by identifying literary features of the text and acknowledging the larger narrative of the overall biblical account, while balancing this with awareness of the specificity of the biblical culture(s); and (3) acknowledging the vital role of faith in interpretation, both as influential for our interpretation and as constructive for theological and ethical implications.
For this paper, I will suggest that these notions can be constructed in terms of a Vineyard- specific constructive biblical hermeneutics. Towards this end I will discuss five main points regarding the nature of biblical authority and Vineyard hermeneutics; the role of exegesis and kingdom theology in Vineyard hermeneutics; the impact of a praxis-oriented approach on Vineyard hermeneutics; the value of living in the tension as a basis for Vineyard hermeneutics; and the movement from faith to action in Vineyard hermeneutics.
The full paper is attached to this post as a PDF.
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