The Ethics of Interpreting the Bible: Biblical Theology, Interpretive Ethics, and Faith

October 01, 2003

Biblical Theology, Interpretive Ethics, and Faith

What I appreciated most about Child’s thesis was the way he reintroduced faith into the Biblical Theology equation. His thesis, that “the canon…is the most appropriate context from which to do Biblical Theology” rests heavily on premises that cannot be logically demonstrated and must therefore be appropriated on the basis of the interpreter’s faith. He writes in chapter six, “The status of canonicity is not an objectively demonstrable claim but a statement of Christian belief,” in other words, a proclamation of faith in the God who speaks through the canon. Later in the same chapter, he opines, “The claim for the inspiration of Scripture is the claim for the uniqueness of the canonical context of the church through which the Holy Spirit works.” I would expand slightly upon this statement; the claim for the inspiration of Scripture is a claim for the miraculous-ness of the canonical context. Like the wedding wine at Cana, something fundamentally new is brought into being in the canon: “The confession of the canon as a context is a claim that the juxtaposition of the two Testaments in a particular order and form creates a context that is different from either of the two Testaments alone.” Like the multiplied bread on a remote hillside, a supernatural creating of something from nothing takes place: “The whole [of the canon] is more than the sum of its two parts.” Like all miracles, the Bible must be accepted and appropriated through faith. While reliance upon the canon for the context of Biblical theology is probably not required for a valid Biblical theology (though I must admit a sympathy for Childs’ argument), reliance upon faith most certainly is.

This is germane to our discussion of ethics because, in the final analysis, all theologically significant interpretations require a measure of faith. In fact, one might even argue that the more theologically significant the interpretation, the greater the measure of faith required to appropriate it. (Compare, for example, one’s interpretation of Luke 2:7, “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son,” with one’s interpretation of John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The first merely asks us to accept that a woman named Mary gave birth to a male child; the second implies something of far greater theological import.) Judgments of the “soundness” of one interpretation over another cannot be made outside the framework of faith or without reliance upon propositions that are not objectively provable.

What, then, is the role of faith in discovering the “sound interpretation?” I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter, as well as your critique of my line of reasoning.

Posted by DanielR at October 1, 2003 09:47 AM

Comments

"While reliance upon the canon for the context of Biblical theology is probably not required for a valid Biblical theology (though I must admit a sympathy for Childs’ argument), reliance upon faith most certainly is."

I go with this, particularly the latter.

I am concerned that if we build a reliance on the canon then like the earlier imprecise definition of "history" there are problems. Canon means something different for Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians. In fact I believe there is more than one Orthodox canon.

Mind you I suppose we might also need to clarify what is meant by "faith".

Posted by: Dave W at October 1, 2003 06:51 PM

Childs addresses the issue of the definition of canon: "The fundamental theological issue at stake is not the extent of the canon, which has remained in flux within Christianity, but the claim for a normative body of tradition contained in a set of books."

Regarding a definition of faith, I don't suppose Hebrews 11:1 would do? =)

Posted by: Daniel at October 2, 2003 02:11 AM

If I was feeling awkward I might call that sentence by Childs a fudge ;-) It is true but weak and if there were issues that came up between the different canons then it will not help hold things together much.

Despite all my comments in my post about the power issues with selectivity and the dificulty in defining unity in the Bible I like Hebrews 11:1 for this :-)

Posted by: Dave W at October 2, 2003 03:27 AM

Oh, I completely agree that Child's statement on the differences in canon across Christendom is weak; I was merely pointing out that he *made* a statement on the matter. One wonders who Childs' original audience was. (Can you illuminate, AKMA? Am I the only one who can't access Religion Online today?) I have a feeling it was largely made up of those for whom the canon was a closed question.

Regarding a definition of faith, I'll confess I was making a bit of a jab as a member of the "less-powerful conservative remnant" that has "retreated to the margins" of the theological discussion when I suggested Hebrews 11:1. *wink wink* But if we're interested in developing a Biblical definition, might I add 1 Peter 1:8-9 and John 20:29 to the mix?

Which propositions must the ethical interpreter accept by faith in performing his task?

Posted by: Daniel at October 2, 2003 08:29 AM

Friends, I have to short-change you some this evening; I’m busy with much serving, as St. Luke said of Martha.

First, “whose canon?” is a question that has bedevilled Childs since he first made these proposals. From his point of view, it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference, since most Christians function with a core canon that’s identical across denominations, and the disputed books don’t deflect the interpretive tradition a whole lot. On the other hand, if you’re a Roman Catholic hearing a Presbyterian throw around ideas about “the canon” being a privileged locus for interpretation, you’re much more likely to think that he’s equivocating about his terms.

(I’m getting Religion-Online well, but it has given me problems before.)

Now, as to setting biblical texts as definitions of the right ethos for biblical interpretation, there’s a certain risk of circularity (this is one of the problems relative to grounding defenses of biblical inerrancy on 2 Timothy 3:16). But we’re getting at the business we’ve gathered to discuss, and that’s a great thing.

Posted by: AKMA at October 2, 2003 08:34 PM

So, to what extent is a canon necessary for faith? Or to what extent do canon and faith work to define each other? Faith is necessary for biblical theology, but to what extent is faith necessary for ethical interpretation?

Posted by: Trevor Bechtel at October 2, 2003 11:38 PM

"So, to what extent is a canon necessary for faith?"

Historically faith could not have depended on a canon as it was not there. Isn't the canon more a requirement for othodoxy and consistancy rather than faith.

"to what extent is faith necessary for ethical interpretation?"

Without faith why would you be interested in ethical interpretation?

Posted by: Dave W at October 3, 2003 06:56 AM

Dave brings up a good point with his final sentence; if we are entering the interpretive task with the intent of edifying the body of Christ, then faith seems to be part of the intellectual-spiritual substrate, a "given." But this is where a good definition of faith becomes important. Faith in what? I sense that we're talking about more than some nebulous "faith in Christ" here, and probably more than faith in the "Biblical Christ." Perhaps it comes back to something AKMA mentioned in his "Points of Interest" post: "[I]nterpreters sensed that historical interpretations of the Bible might be academically correct without being spiritually edifying." Perhaps the faith that is required is faith that "all sound interpretations are spiritually edifying," or that "all sound interpretations are both academically correct and spiritually edifying." (Of course, there is a danger of circularity here as well, particularly when we try to define "spiritually edifying.")

This train of thought feeds into some ideas I've been trying to pull together on the meaning of intellectual integrity and its role in discerning the sound interpretation. I'll post as soon as I have the chance to digitize my thoughts, if you think that would be appropriate.

Posted by: Daniel Robinson at October 3, 2003 09:11 AM

Daniel, that would be amply appropriate; please do post your obesrvations.

And much of the point of our conversation here will entail attending to the question of what makes for "sound interpretations" and edifying interpretations," and whether they're identical.

By and large, the academic perspective on these matters has been that "historically sound interpretations" must be the ones to which faithful interpreters turn for edification. One can marshal numerous arguments for and against this (I tried to lay out the cases in my dissertation lo these many years ago), but the typical result is that conservative-tending interpreters find enough evidence to believe even the challenging portions of Scripture, and thus confirm their confidence that historically-grounded interpretations are the proper ones; liberal-tending interpreters find less evidence for confidence in the historical accuracy of parts of the Bible, and so assert that the decisive element involves those historical facts, intentions, inclinations toward which they can point.

My own position holds that all such interpreters are missing something important about what's going in in their work. But by now, we should prabably be starting in on another posting, rather than reserving all this to the comments.

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