Monday, December 1, 2008

Gold from Gerald

This is the scholarly boat rocking that I've tuned into lately. It's interesting to note that there is awhole glut of evangelical books to help you understand the historical background or context of a passage. The problem is evaluating the quality of this 'extra-biblical' material and determining when and how to use it. Some authors do it well, but they do it well because they use existing evidence very carefully and don't rush into interpreting the text based on it. In this article by Gerald Bray, he argues for a return to theological interpretation which is the historical tradition of the church. Humans interpret Scripture by the power of the Holy Spirit so therefore given that the Holy Spirit is God our interpretation is theological first and foremost. (I've noticed that Michael Jensen is blogging along these lines recently, as well.)