The Ethics of Interpreting the Bible

We’re formally inaugurating the first Disseminary seminar, which Trevor and AKMA will co-lead. In “The Ethics of Interpreting the Bible,” we’ll explore how the human pursuit of understanding encounters resistance and encouragement from the interpretive circumstances, and what sorts of ethical mandates derive from the complex interactions of these.

Must we always interpret according to what the Scriptural text’s author would have wanted us to understand from his writing?

Can we tolerate conflict between our consciences and the Scriptures that inform them?

If we admit any critical discernment in our approach to the Bible, how are we to distinguish our interpretations from casual picking-and-choosing? And if we deny any such discernment in the name of “the plain sense,” how do we avoid projecting onto divine authority our own predilections?

The seminar starts here.