tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45895179954127701592024-03-05T15:14:39.652-05:00The Adventures of Maël & CindyWe've been saying our life is an adventure for quite some time now
... so I figured that we would share it with y'all.Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-32867223980105349522018-10-27T10:00:00.000-05:002018-10-27T10:00:02.712-05:00"Humans are also not like cats, or dogs, or even apes"I was driving down the road, heading to teach an 8:00 class about a decade ago. For some reason I was listening to NPR and heard the following comments on a segment entitled "<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794">Think You're Multitasking? Think Again</a>":
<br />
<blockquote>
"These are the things that make us the most human," Weissman said. "We are not like jellyfish — it's not like when you poke us, we always do the same thing."<br />
<br />
Humans are also not like cats, or dogs, or even apes, when it comes to controlling how our brain responds, and what it responds to. </blockquote>
Here is yet again data that points to the fact that we are not like any other animal because we were not created to be like them. Unfortunately, many in the evolutionary biology community will look at this data and use their presuppositions to reinterpret the data from an evolutionary perspective. Weissman, didn't miss a beat ...:<br />
<blockquote>
Weissman says this skill probably evolved to help humans — who are pretty vulnerable, physically — to do things like hunt animals that are bigger and stronger.</blockquote>
It is true: evolution is a religion!Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-18391027914532890612018-10-24T10:14:00.000-05:002018-10-24T10:15:33.243-05:00Beautiful weather and politely living in society - a letter to my students<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5QSU0ZwtYiR_NqxuSIIcb8aDIilJ9GNtDs86M-7NTqBXisPaUr7di-89u0omzBX9DdQ_v-aDWwXUeBNmRk_XzQQ_MS3jTRB1qsJtThNO7mnGzmlWwxNtoGb4EBIuUiMlWvNPaG1tKlul/s1600/christian_index_rocket_science_6x6_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1290" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5QSU0ZwtYiR_NqxuSIIcb8aDIilJ9GNtDs86M-7NTqBXisPaUr7di-89u0omzBX9DdQ_v-aDWwXUeBNmRk_XzQQ_MS3jTRB1qsJtThNO7mnGzmlWwxNtoGb4EBIuUiMlWvNPaG1tKlul/s200/christian_index_rocket_science_6x6_01.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
As a professor I have always seen my students as my little children. As dean of the <a href="https://truett.edu/academics/schools/theology-missions/" target="_blank">Balthasar Hubmaier School of Theology and Missions</a> at <a href="https://truett.edu/" target="_blank">TMU</a><span id="goog_869731703"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_869731704"></span>, I see all of our students as my chil'lens. Because of that, I often see it as my job to help them grown in faith and wisdom. I thought I'd share my latest letter with them.<br />
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Dear Chil’lens:<o:p></o:p></div>
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I pray you have been enjoying the fall weather, I sure have.
Cooler weather is invigorating, and given the fact that I am follically
challenged, brings back one my favorite accoutrements: hats! I know that some
of you love hats too, but unfortunately, given my generations’ need for
rebellion, we have done a bad job at teaching people societal rules associated
with hats (as a matter of fact, it seems that we have done a bad job at
teaching civics altogether if you look at how many in your generation are
behaving these days).<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, here is me doing my duty to help you live in polite
society, so that one day you will not make social faux pas that might hamper
your ability to share the gospel. BTW – for men, these rules apply to ALL hats,
including baseball caps, skullies, and casual hats.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Hats
are to be removed when inside, therefore a gentleman should remove his hat as
he enters a building. In case you were wondering, this includes: restaurants,
homes, classrooms, theaters, and church buildings. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The
exceptions to the above rule are places that are akin to public streets. This
includes places like lobbies, corridors, and public elevators. So, for example,
as you enter Miller hall you can leave your hat on, but when you enter an
office or classroom, your hat should come off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Gentlemen
are also expected to remove their hats during the playing of the National
Anthem, for the passing of the Flag, at funeral processions, and during prayers
(see 1 Cor 11, but be forewarned that in rabbinical Judaism, your head should
be covered when you pray, and in Muslim mosques and Sikh temples, your head is
often expected to be covered). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Removed
hats should be held in hand in such a way that the lining is not visible (for
example, you could hold the opening of the hat against your body).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Gentlemen
should tip their hats (slightly lifting the hat off your forehead) when meeting
a lady. If you stop to talk to a lady, you should remove your hat. If the
weather is frigid, you can ask the lady if she minds if you put your hat back
on. Since the tipping of the hat is a gesture of politeness, hats are also
tipped to say: thank you, hello, goodbye, you're welcome, or how do you do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->None
of these rules apply to cancer patients, for many of them need their hats on to
keep warm due to the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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For more information on male and female hat etiquette, you
can consult the following sites among many: <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.levinehat.com/pages/hat-etiquette">https://www.levinehat.com/pages/hat-etiquette</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://emilypost.com/advice/hats-off-hat-etiquette-for-everyone/">http://emilypost.com/advice/hats-off-hat-etiquette-for-everyone/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://lifehacker.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-proper-hat-etiquette-1818818343">https://lifehacker.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-proper-hat-etiquette-1818818343</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.hats.com/etiquette">https://www.hats.com/etiquette</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes about now, but
let me remind you that living in society requires following the rules of that
society, especially since we, as believers, seek, like Paul, to be able to say
“I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some”
(1 Cor 9:22). So why not impress the people you meet by showing politeness; you
never know, it might open up a door to share the gospel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In Christ, mldsd<o:p></o:p></div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-63669546642018530132017-06-02T19:42:00.001-05:002017-06-02T19:42:15.955-05:00TMU's Felix Manz School of MusicI thought I would continue to highlight some of TMU's schools and some of the history of the people that they have been named after.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://truett.edu/academics/schools/music/" target="_blank">TMU's Felix Manz School of Music</a> currently offers a <a href="https://qypgj1rh5cl302trg2mf26v1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-17-BA-in-Music.pdf" target="_blank">BA in Music with a concentration in General Music</a>, a <a href="https://qypgj1rh5cl302trg2mf26v1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-17-BA-in-Music-Conc-Worship-Church-Music.pdf" target="_blank">BA in Music with a concentration in Worship and Church Music</a>, and a <a href="https://qypgj1rh5cl302trg2mf26v1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-17-BS-in-Music-Education.pdf" target="_blank">BS in Music Education</a>.<br />
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The life of Felix Manz, the illegitimate son of a Roman
Catholic priest in Zürich, could have been unworthy of notice. Yet, as God
would have it, it was full of firsts, amongst which was the penning of what is
thought to be the first Anabaptist hymn: “With Pleasure I Will Sing.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Not much is known of the early life of Felix Manz except
that he had the privilege of an education with training in Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin; he was known early on as an accomplished Hebraist. In 1522, he joined
Zwingli’s circle of New Testament students, but by 1523 he was already starting
to be dissatisfied with the nature and pace of the reforms happening in Zürich.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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During this time, it was in Manz’s home on Neustadt Street,
a stone’s throw away from the Grossmünster, that the nascent Brethren movement
started meeting, and it was here that in 1525 the first Anabaptist baptism took
place. In the early days of the movement, Manz and Blaurock mainly focused on
converting farmers and artisans in the Zürich area, but eventually they
expanded their efforts to the wide region between the Lake Zürich and the Lake
Constance in the northeast corner of Switzerland. It was not long before Manz
and the others were arrested and imprisoned, first in the castle at Grüningen
and then in the Witch’s Tower in Zürich. Yet, after having escaped the latter,
Manz returned to minister in the same corner of Switzerland in which he had
been ministering. Eventually he was recaptured, almost exactly a year later,
and while he was soon afterward released, he was arrested again, for the last
time, two months later. On January 5<sup>th</sup>, 1527, only two years after
the start of the Anabaptist movement, Manz was sentenced to death, and on that
cold winter day, he was executed by drowning in the Limmat River, making him
the first Anabaptist martyr. While he walked from Wellenberg prison to his
place of execution, Manz proclaimed the gospel to the people whom he passed and
praised God for the opportunity to die for the truth. In the background a solitary
voice could be heard, the one of his mother urging him to remain true to Christ
in this hour of testing. His final words on this earth were: “Into your hands,
O Lord, I commend my spirit.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Not much has been left by Manz in the way of writings, yet
the little that we have conveys a picture of one focused on his Lord and on
Scripture. In his <i>Declaration and Defense</i>, he paints the picture of a
Christ follower as one: who loves God through Christ, is full of charity, is
merciful, is devoid of hatred, and trusts the one “who knows my every distress,
and is mighty to deliver.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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As Manz was penning his hymn, while imprisoned in Grüningen
or possibly just before his death while in Wellenberg, he probably did not
realize that he would be the first among many in a glorious tradition of
Anabaptist hymn writers. Like many who would follow him, Manz wrote and sang
praises to God the Father and Christ as Lord. His hymn, as would many others,
also proclaimed radical obedience to Christ and God’s justice toward the unrepentant
sinners and grace to the humble. To this day it is immortalized in the <i>Ausbund</i>
and in the first three hymns of the <i>Anabaptist Hymnal</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In Felix Manz, therefore, we have the embodiment of what I think our
school of music seeks to produce: Christ followers who proclaim their Savior in
all humility, centered on Scripture, rejoicing in God Himself and in His grace,
and willing to follow Him, wherever He will take them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sources:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Atwood,
Preston Lee. “The Martyrs’ Song: The Hymnody of the Early Swiss Brethren
Anabaptists.” <i>Artistic Theologian</i> 2 (2013): 64–92.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Estep,
William Roscoe. <i>The Anabaptist Story: An Introduction to Sixteenth-Century
Anabaptism</i>, 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: W. B. Eerdmans, 1996.</span><b><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>“With Pleasure I
Will Sing” (<i>Mit Lust so will ich singen</i>)</b><br />
<i>Ausbund,</i> No. 6 (18 stanzas)<br />
Adaptations appear in Nos. 1 (“With Pleasure I Will Sing”), 2 (“I Will Delight
in<br />
Singing”), and 3 (“All Praise to Jesus Christ Our Lord”) of the <i>Anabaptist
Hymnal</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1. <br />
I will delight in singing,<br />
In God o’er-joys my heart;<br />
For grace He is me bringing,<br />
That I from death depart<br />
Which lasting ever, hath no end;<br />
I praise Thee Christ from heaven,<br />
Who dost my grief attend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2. <br />
Him God to me sending,<br />
Example and true light,<br />
Who me, e’er my life’s ending,<br />
Doth to His kingdom cite;<br />
That I with Him have endless bliss,<br />
And from my heart may love Him,<br />
And all His righteousness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">7. <br />
Christ, then, would I be praising,<br />
Who patience shows to all,<br />
With friendship us embracing,<br />
Moved by His grace withal;<br />
His love to all men shows He, too,<br />
In likeness to His Father,<br />
Which no one false will do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">9. <br />
Christ no one is co-ercing<br />
His glory-world to share;<br />
They heaven are traversing<br />
Who willingly prepare,<br />
Through faith and baptism rightly wrought,<br />
Repentance, with hearts holy;<br />
For them is heaven bought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">10. <br />
Christ, in His blood thus shedding,<br />
Which He did willingly,<br />
And His great task not dreading,<br />
This would He have us see,<br />
Us with His holy power endows;<br />
For who Christ’s love constraineth,<br />
In holy likeness grows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">12. <br />
Where Christ’s love is abiding,<br />
Is spared the enemy,<br />
And Christ proclaims this tiding<br />
To all who heirs would be;<br />
That who shows mercy lovingly<br />
And keeps His Lord’s clear teaching,<br />
Is glad eternally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">13. <br />
All shall be judged by Jesus Christ,<br />
Yet none does He accuse,<br />
Who falsely hate the life of love,<br />
The Word of God confuse;<br />
Until the final judgment day,<br />
When those who scorn He will repay,<br />
Their hope of heav’n refuse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">14. <br />
All love abides in Jesus Christ.<br />
He knows no scorn or hate.<br />
His servants follow in His steps,<br />
And daily demonstrate<br />
His life of light, His life of love,<br />
His wondrous joy, the witness of<br />
A heart compassionate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">15. <br />
Those hate and envy harb’ring,<br />
Cannot true Christians be;<br />
And those who evil, inj’ring,<br />
Fists strike enmity;<br />
Before our Lord to kill and thieve,<br />
Blood innocent they’re shedding<br />
In base hypocrisy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">16. <br />
Thus shall men be apprizing<br />
Those who with Christ are not,<br />
Who Christian rules despising,<br />
With Belial’s kind do plot,<br />
Ev’n as did Cain in sin o’erthrow,<br />
When God owned Abel’s offering;<br />
And hence must suffer woe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">17. <br />
Herewith shall I be closing;<br />
Observe, saints, one and all,<br />
It is not indisposing<br />
To notice Adam’s fall,<br />
Who, too, received the tempter’s voice,<br />
His God was disobedient,<br />
And death became His choice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">18. <br />
So those who Christ withstanding,<br />
Whom worldly lust ensnares,<br />
Shall likewise find their ending;<br />
No godly love is theirs.<br />
So closet here this hymn, indeed;<br />
With Christ I am remaining,<br />
Who knows and meets my need. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-56934696503882854692017-05-14T13:24:00.000-05:002017-05-14T17:57:04.903-05:00TMU's Pilgram Marpeck School of Science, Technology, Engineering and MathematicsI thought I would highlight some of TMU's schools and some of the history of the people that they have been named after.<br />
<br />
TMU's <a href="https://truett.edu/academics/schools/stem/" target="_blank">Pilgram Marpeck School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics</a> currently offers <a href="https://truett.edu/degrees/biology/" target="_blank">BS in Biology</a>, with concentrations in General Biology and Pre-Health Sciences, and a <a href="https://truett.edu/degrees/exercise-science/" target="_blank">BS in Exercise Science</a>. Starting Fall 2016, our STEM school will also be offering a <a href="https://truett.edu/news/archive/truett-mcconnell-university-announces-new-master-science-biology-program/" target="_blank">MS in Biology</a>.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Pilgram Marpeck was b</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">orn to a noble family in the city of Rattenberg in the Austrian
Tyrol, Pilgram Marpeck followed in his father’s footsteps and became active in the
civil, economic, and political life of the city. He most probably began his
religious journey as a Roman catholic, for his latter writings show his
familiarity with the doctrines of the Trinity, Christology, and councils like
Chalcedon, yet he had no formal theological training. In 1520, around the age
of 25, after having married Sophia Harrer, Marpeck enrolled in the Brotherhood
of Mining Workers and began his career as an engineer. During his tenure in
Rattenberg, he held the office of mining director (1525-1528), a very
prestigious position where he represented the king directly in matters of
commerce and law. At some point, before the death of Sophia in 1528, the
Marpecks had a daughter, Margareth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Civic duty led Marpeck to be Rattenberg’s representative as he
interceded on behalf of a Lutheran pastor, Stephen Agricola. Many speculate
that this incident led Marpeck away from the Roman church and its “system
composed of ‘human intentions’ that enslaved a person” with human accretions to
the gospel, and towards a newfound Lutheran freedom. As he would later narrate
in his <i>Exposé of the Babylonian Whore</i>, he “came to the truth partly
through [the evangelicals’] writing, teaching, and preaching,” but he quickly
grew dissatisfied with a lifestyle of fleshly freedom which he observed in many
of them. So, while they were instrumental in liberating him from “the
Babylonian captivity,” they failed to lead him “through the narrow gate through
which the flesh … could once again be led into the liberty of Jerusalem.” Furthermore,
he grew disturbed that those who did proclaim the Biblical message were “persecuted
by these teachers, who become their betrayers and executioners.” It is not
known when Marpeck joined the Anabaptist ranks, but it is most likely that he
was introduced to Anabaptist preaching in the Inn Valley in early 1527 and was
attracted by their “primitivist vision of a restored New Testament
Christianity.” It is also during this period that Marpeck was pressured to
police the miners’ religious affiliations so that the Anabaptists might be
apprehended and punished. After protesting this mandate, Marpeck promised to
uphold it as part of his office. Two days later, Leonhart Scheimer was beheaded
and burned, and five days later, January of 1528, Marpeck resigned from his
post. As a consequence, he and his new wife, Anna, were banished from
Rattenberg. Between their marriage and their banishment, the Marpecks adopted
three orphans of miner(s), who eventually remained in Rattenberg with portions
of the Marpeck estate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is uncertain what happened in the interlude; some oral
traditions have the Marpecks traveling to Moravia and being commissioned by the
Moravian brethren to go to “Strasbourg to baptize.” What we know for sure is
that Marpeck was listed as a citizen of Strasbourg in September of 1528. Here
he used his engineering skills and worked as the engineer of the city’s
forests, probably bringing to Alsace some of the Tyrolian engineering methods.
This allowed him to build a “water system for the city and wood-floating flumes
in the surrounding valleys.” Here, he also became an honored member of the
religious community. Reformers Wolfgang Capito and Martin Bucer spoke highly of
him, initially even referring to him as being “of unblamable conduct.”
Strasbourg was a home to many dissenters, such as Caspar Schwenckfeld and
eventually Melchior Hofmann, among others. In this setting, Marpeck quickly
became prominent among the Anabaptists, eventually holding meetings in his home,
and became instrumental in a parting of ways among the dissenters dealing with
issues of apocalyptic eschatology and Christology. It was also here where
Marpeck refined his theology of the incarnation and “grounded the authenticity
of the Anabaptism in ecclesiology, its theology as well as its practice.” Eventually,
though, Marpeck was thrown in prison by Bucer. Given his record as a public
servant and Capito’s intercession, he was freed. In December of 1531, he
requested a public debate with the clergy of the city mainly over the issue of
infant baptism, which he lost, resulting in the request from the city council
that he leave the city. Before departing, Marpeck appeared in front of the
council one more time and assured “them that he never had any intentions of
changing the political order in Strasbourg, but only desired to have freedom in
the spiritual realm.” After a second disputation in January 1532, he eventually
left the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The following years are usually considered the itinerant years of
his life and were most probably spent primarily in Switzerland and Moravia.
During this period, cities like St. Gall continued to benefit from Marpeck’s
engineering skills which he used working with municipal forests and water
supplies. Eventually, he ended up in Augsburg, where again he was recognized as
an asset to the city. Here he continued his Anabaptist work, both with the
local congregation and with the pen. He eventually died of natural causes in
1556. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In Marpeck we find an engineering theologian who “was not so much
concerned with precise theological definitions as he was with sincere and
entire obedience to God, whose will was revealed in Scripture.” Like an engineer
who applies the learned principles of physics and chemistry to his craft, Marpeck
took his thirst for theology and applied it as he “sought a church which could
provide sustenance for engineers and housewives.” We have in him, therefore,
the embodiment of what I think our school of science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics seeks to produce: a Christian leader in the sciences who serves his/her
community with his/her knowledge of science, yet stays passionate to the Lord
and His church by thinking biblically and living a sacrificial life to enhance
the Kingdom of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Klassen,
William. <i>Covenant and Community: The Life, Writings, and Hermeneutics of
Pilgram Marpeck</i>. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1968.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Marpeck,
Pilgram, Walter Klaassen, Werner O. Packull, and John D. Rempel. <i>Later
Writings by Pilgram Marpeck and His Circle</i>. Anabaptist Texts in
Translation, vol. 1. Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 1999.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Marpeck,
Pilgram. <i>The Writings of Pilgram Marpeck</i>. Classics of the Radical
Reformation, vol. 2. Edited by William Klassen and Walter Klaassen. Eugene, OR:
Wipf & Stock, 2000.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yarnell,
Malcolm B. <i>The Formation of Christian Doctrine</i>. Nashville: B&H,
2007.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-80119779100176354572016-10-31T10:00:00.002-05:002016-10-31T11:50:07.322-05:00On this reformation day ...It's been 499 years since the famous day when Luther nailed his 95 theses in Wittenberg. On this day I wanted to remind us of some words of Luther form his 1526 work <i>The German Mass and Order of Divine Service</i>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
... But the third sort [of Divine Service], which the true type of Evangelical Order should embrace, must not be celebrated so publicly in the square amongst all and sundry. Those, however, who are desirous of being Christians in earnest, and are ready to profess the Gospel with hand and mouth, should register their names and assemble by themselves in some house to pray, to read, to baptize and to receive the sacrament and practice other Christian works. In this Order, those whose conduct was not such as befits Christians could be recognized, reproved, reformed, rejected, or excommunicated, according to the rule of Christ in Matt. xviii. Here, too, a general giving of alms could be imposed on Christians, to be willingly given and divided among the poor, after the example of St. Paul in 2 Cor. ix. Here there would not be need of much fine singing. Here we could have baptism and the sacrament in short and simple fashion: and direct everything towards the Word and prayer and love. Here we should have a good short Catechism about the Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. In one word, if we only had people who longed to be Christians in earnest, Form and Order would soon shape itself. But I cannot and would not order or arrange such a community or congregation at present. I have not the requisite persons for it, nor do I see many who are urgent for it. But should it come to pass that I must do it, and that such pressure is put upon me as that I find myself unable with a good conscience to leave it undone, then I will gladly do my part to secure it, and will help it on as best I can. ... (1)</blockquote>
<br />
Such a sad statement: "But I cannot and would not order or arrange such a community or congregation at present. I have not the requisite persons for it, nor do I see many who are urgent for it." ... and even more sad is the fact that, years later, when some came who were "urgent for it," Luther opted to persecute the Anabaptists instead of "help[ing] it on."<br />
<br />
<br />
(1) https://history.hanover.edu/texts/luthserv.htmlMaëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-72363395688221185452016-02-04T14:57:00.001-05:002016-02-04T14:57:25.119-05:00Homosexuality: is it genetic ... or does it matter?As one looks at the current culture and the politicization of social issue, one is struck by the fact that evidence is often lacking or contradicting. Recently, one of the american presidential front runners stated that he thought that "<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-sexual-preference-something-people-born-with/">sexual preference is something that people are born with</a>" (one could argue then that it is not a preference, but a predetermined fact ... but that is not the train of thought that I want to follow today: this post is not inherently about politics, vocabulary, or logic). Facebook, which is always oh so helpful, had several links under the above post. One to an article that claims that "<a href="http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/blog/2013/06/identical-twin-studies-prove-homosexuality-is-not-genetic/">Identical Twin Studies Prove Homosexuality is Not Genetic</a>," and one which essentially claimed the opposite by purporting to present <a href="http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/10443/20141118/homosexuality-genetic-strongest-evidence.htm">the strongest evidence yet that homosexuality is genetic</a>.<br />
<br />
As I was thinking about these two diametrically opposed views, I was reminded that we live in a fallen world and that at the end of the day, our genetic predispositions are no excuse for our actions. As sentient beings who have free will, we are not bound to our fleshly desires. We have a choice to indulge in them or resist them. As a follower of Christ, God often calls me no to act the way I am, but to be transformed. For example, as someone who is inherently lazy, I am called to work; others who love alcohol are called not the get drunk; adulterers are called to be faithful; complainers are called to rejoice; and so on and so forth.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, it seems to me that our genome does not define us, our choices do, and I choose Christ. If He tells me that homosexuality is not His plan for humanity, then that is what I follow, no matter what my genetic predisposition is. I recently heard Wesley Hill (Professor at Trinity School for Ministry and author of <i>Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality</i>) speak of his experience as a same sex attracted man who understands that marriage (and inherently sexual relations, which God reserves for marriage) is only meant to be between a man and a woman. As a follower of Christ, he has therefore committed to a life of celibacy, realizing that God has called him to be different that what he is (whether genetically or preferentially, I don't think he ever said what he believed in his plenary session at ETS).<br />
<br />
So, at the end of the day, I don't think it matters whether homosexuality if genetic or not, if our source of truth is Scripture, then homosexuality is outside of God's will and for the ones of us who strive to be in God's will, it is never an option, just as drunkenness, adultery, and so many other things are never an option. May we be found faithful to follow Him, not our fallen genome.Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-57828261498343394582014-06-05T14:54:00.001-05:002014-06-05T14:54:43.570-05:00An interesting thought ...<div>That the member of every Church or Congregation should know one another so that they may perform all the duties of love one towards another both to soul and body. Matthew 18:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:14; 1 Corinthians 12:15. And especially the Elders should know the whole flock, of which the HILY GHOST has made them overseers. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2, 3. And therefore a Church should not consists of such a multitude that they cannot have particular knowledge of one another.</div><div><br></div><div>- Thomas Helwys, <i>A Declaration of Faith of English People Remaining in Amsterdam in Holland,</i> 1611</div>Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-82302185619600732282014-01-14T20:59:00.004-05:002014-01-14T21:15:42.920-05:00The “Love point” and similar punctuation marks<span style="font-family: inherit;">I came across these </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1m2qw6O" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and thought: hum, it would be interesting to adopt these new punctuation marks ... what do y'all think?</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>the “love point” (<i>point d’amour:<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> <a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_d%27amour.svg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Point d'amour.svg" height="17" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Point_d%27amour.svg/15px-Point_d%27amour.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Point_d%27amour.svg/23px-Point_d%27amour.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Point_d%27amour.svg/30px-Point_d%27amour.svg.png 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></a></span></i>) </li>
<li>the “irony point“ or ”irony mark” (<i>point d'ironie: <span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">ψ</span></i>) </li>
<li>the “certitude point” (<i>point de conviction:</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i> </i><a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_de_certitude.svg" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Point de certitude.svg" height="18" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Point_de_certitude.svg/10px-Point_de_certitude.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Point_de_certitude.svg/15px-Point_de_certitude.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Point_de_certitude.svg/20px-Point_de_certitude.svg.png 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="10" /></a></span>) </li>
<li>the “authority point” (<i>point d’autorité:</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> <a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Point d'autorité.svg" height="18" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg/10px-Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg/15px-Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg/20px-Point_d%27autorit%C3%A9.svg.png 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="10" /></a></i>) </li>
<li>the “acclamation point” (<i>point d’acclamation:</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> <a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_d%27acclamation.svg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Point d'acclamation.svg" height="16" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Point_d%27acclamation.svg/10px-Point_d%27acclamation.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Point_d%27acclamation.svg/15px-Point_d%27acclamation.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Point_d%27acclamation.svg/20px-Point_d%27acclamation.svg.png 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="10" /></a></i>) </li>
<li>the “doubt point” (<i>point de doute:</i><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> <a class="image" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Point_de_doute.svg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Point de doute.svg" height="16" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Point_de_doute.svg/10px-Point_de_doute.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Point_de_doute.svg/15px-Point_de_doute.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Point_de_doute.svg/20px-Point_de_doute.svg.png 2x" style="border: none; vertical-align: middle;" width="10" /></a></i>)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-34740356207269975802013-11-15T18:25:00.002-05:002013-11-15T18:25:38.671-05:00Privileges and Responsibilities."If it is part of the privilege and duty of each Christian to study scripture, and to read it devotionally, it is important that the wider church should be able to hear what individual readers are discovering in the text. Of course, not all private readings will come up with significant new insights; but many will. The church needs to facilitate, through small groups and other means, this bringing of particular viewpoints to the attention of the whole body, both so that the larger community may be enriched and so that maverick or clearly misleading readings can be gently and appropriately corrected."<br />
<br />
from N. T. Wright, <i>The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture</i>, 1st ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005), 134.Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-70043349139265650412013-05-20T18:27:00.000-05:002013-05-20T18:27:00.121-05:00GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How? - Concluding Remarks<br />
<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .7in;">
Two
questions were asked at the beginning of this series of posts. First: how can or should
hermeneutics be done in community? Second, but conceptually needing to precede
the first: what characterizes this community in which and by which hermeneutics
is being done? Through our conversations with various historical groups, the following
conclusions were drawn. A hermeneutical community is one that necessarily
brings together Scripture, Spirit, and a discerning body. This community has
come into existence by the proclamation of the Gospel, is sustained by the
proclamation of the Gospel, and sustains the proclamation of the Gospel. It is
inherently centered on Scripture and Scripture is at the genesis of said
community. While this community is centered on a text, this fact does not
preclude the possibility that illiteracy is present within the community.
Tradition provides a good hermeneutical safeguard but is not a hermeneutical
community in itself. The participants' sinfulness requires the working of the
Holy Spirit, and requires a communal platform to make sure that the work of the
Spirit is being interpreted correctly. All of this precludes a close knit
believing community that practices repentance and forgiveness and that does not
isolate itself from other communities. This community is composed of people
possessing a diversity of knowledge, and it appropriately uses all the gifts
with which it has been endowed. What has just been described, then, is a
community that is created from the authorial intent of the author of Scripture
and that has for its scope the correct understanding of the authorial intent of
the author of Scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
In
addition, four vignettes were presented of possible hermeneutical communities.
Two of the vignettes were deemed not to match the three elements of Scripture,
Spirit, and a discerning community as described above. The other two
communities, the community holding the pastor accountable and the community
with congregational participation, did match the criteria for a hermeneutical
community and represent two families of possible applications for community
hermeneutics.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: always;" /></span>Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-41117518244183020312013-05-18T18:25:00.000-05:002013-05-18T18:25:00.507-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - Congregational Participation, but What of Divisions?; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .7in;">
When discussing such a model, the topic of disagreement often is broached.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> As Fowl claims, disagreement
is to be expected, but charity needs to be the governing trait of the
participants involved. The community "provides part of the context in
which disagreement can best be articulated, debated and, at least
provisionally, resolved, so that Christians can live and worship faithfully in
the situations in which they find themselves."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Ultimately, unity is the
work of the Spirit of God, and therefore should be entrusted to Him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>See:
Roth, "Community as Conversation," 45.
</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Fowl, <i>Engaging
Scripture</i>, 87. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-36381988771995818852013-05-16T18:25:00.000-05:002013-05-16T18:25:00.580-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - Congregational Participation; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
This
vignette could have multiple expressions. It is the one that is most fully
participatory and which truly requires the threefold characteristic community
described above. Murray claims that this type of communal hermeneutics would
have distinguished Anabaptists from state churches, Spiritualists, and
Catholics. "Given what Anabaptists believed about the nature of the
church, the work of the Spirit, and the ability of all to interpret," it
is not surprising that many among them seemed to assume the need for a communal
process. This can be seen in <i>The Swiss
Order</i>, which circulated with the Schleitheim confession and was also known
as the <i>Congregational Order</i>. In it,
Article 2 states that "when the brothers and sisters are together, they
shall take up something to read together. The one to whom God has given the
best understanding shall explain it, the others should be still and listen, so
that there are not two or three carrying on a private conversation, bothering
the others."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
This also is attested in some tracts where the listener, "bound by
Christian love," is compelled to share with the congregation "if
something to edification is given or revealed to him." The contributions
might "include reading texts of Scripture, expounding them, asking and
answering questions, prophesying, and discussing what has been said."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
In
this model of hermeneutical community, individualism is criticized since due to
it "consensus is seldom sought; discussions are mere forums, and in most cases
are not intended to lead to binding commitments; controversial issues are
avoided."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
In opposition to this, Burkholder
introduces some structural lines describing the framework of what he refers to
as a discerning community. First, congregationalism and the congregational
meeting (which could take the form of open forums) should be the basic
decision-making instrument. Second, discussion should "be considered just as
'spiritual' as preaching and no less central to the congregation's life."
Dialogue should "be conceived as an avenue through which the Holy Spirit speaks."
Third, "the congregation would live 'under' the Bible, while employing
critical methods of interpretation." Ultimately, these discerning
communities would need to seek to 'listen' to the Spirit.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 161. This practice was
often referred to as <i>lex sedentium</i>,
the Latin for the "law of sitting." The practice was historically
connected to the school of prophets instituted by Zwingli, and biblically
connected to 1 Cor 14. See: Yarnell, <i>The Formation of Christian Doctrine</i>, 101.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 161. Also see Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 76-86.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>J. Lawrence Burkholder, "The Peace Churches as
Communities of Discernment," <i>Christian
Century</i> 80, no. 36 (1963): 1072. Dumais and Richard, in M. Dumais and J. Richard, <i>Église et Communauté</i> (Anjou, QC: Fides, 2007), 95-96,
connect an individualistic relationship with God, due to Calvinism in France,
with a loss of communal identity and the exiling of one's religious identity to
individual consciences. One can see then why individualism (which is a plight
in Western culture) is antithetical to communal hermeneutics. It is not
possible to have an individualistic outlook on life and want to participate in
a hermeneutical community. Ultimately, the former will inhibit true community
formation, rendering the latter impossible. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Burkholder, "The Peace Churches as Communities of
Discernment," 73, 75.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-71822511605971850072013-05-14T18:23:00.000-05:002013-05-14T18:23:00.605-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - The Community Holding the Preacher Accountable; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Probably
the next simplest type of community hermeneutics is the one where the community
serves as an accountability tool for the official teacher. Holder refers to
this as a "community of discourse,"<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> and tries to identify it
in the hermeneutics of Calvin. Similarly, this mode of community hermeneutics
was practiced among some strands of Anabaptism,<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> and is suggested as a
viable contemporary model by Westphal.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
While
John Calvin often is seen as placing the "whole interpretive authority in
the hands of the preacher," and as not always accepting criticism and
correction there is evidence, according to Holder, in Calvin's writings
(including the <i>Institutes</i>) and in the
life of the Genevan community to indicate that Calvin saw the church as a
discerning community. This communal aspect of interpretation manifested itself
in two ways. First, by insisting on a scripturally literate congregation,
Calvin "implicitly acknowledges that the understanding of the Scripture by
the laity allows, or forces, scriptural sermons to be preached."
Therefore, the congregation serves at a minimum as an accountability partner,
holding the teacher responsible for correct teaching and therefore for a
correct exegesis of the text. This implies the second, closely akin point: the
community sits in a place of judgment, judging the exegesis of the text. Calvin
warns against "easy credulity, which does not test teachings by what is
known of the Word of God," and "specifically warns the congregation
against a too-passive reception of the words of the preacher and bids them to
test the words of men by the Word of God."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Westphal,
after arguing that hermeneutics "cannot be the exclusive task of an
ecclesiastical elite, namely, theologians and pastors," points to the
claims of the reformation to argue for the involvement of the entire
congregation. "If we take seriously the Reformation theme of the
priesthood of all believers, we will have to acknowledge that hermeneutical
conversation is the privilege and responsibility of the laity as well." By
postulating that "to read is to interpret," Westphal asserts that
there are therefore three levels of interpretation in which the laity partakes:
individual, family, and congregation. It is at this point that Westphal
postulates that one aspect of the congregational interpretation is keeping the
pastor in check because of his knowledge that others have looked at and thought
about the text that he is teaching.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Unlike the preceding
vignette, this community does fit all three aspects of the threefold
description presented above: Scripture, Spirit, and a believing community. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Holder,
in Holder, "Church as Discerning Community
in Calvin," 277n22, notes that the terminology "community of
discourse" is a concept he drew from modern hermeneutics, especially the
writings of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. He also is indebted to Stock
for his notion of a "textual community." In the article, Holder
defines this "community of discourse" is several ways. At first, he
defines it as the "the communal context in which particular textual
readings come to have meaning" (277). He then defines it as the
"community without which the interpretive project makes no sense–being
shorn both of the community to whom the message is addressed and the community
of joined interpreters" (277-78). In his conclusion he more specifically
defines it as a community which "is consciously and existentially formed
by the desire to live by the dictates of the interpretation of this central
text, God's Word" (288).</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 17. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Westphal, <i>Whose
Community? Which Interpretation?</i>, 146.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Holder, "Church as Discerning Community in Calvin,"
275, 277-79, 281. Holder does hedge his argument by warning his reader
not to read too much into the texts that he presented and claiming that
"Calvin may well have been offering up the task of arbitration to the
congregation. He may instead have been attempting to teach it enough so that it
would give an educated 'Amen' to his exposition" (287).</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Westphal, <i>Whose
Community? Which Interpretation?</i>, 143, 146. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-69631891178133482302013-05-12T18:22:00.000-05:002013-05-12T18:22:00.737-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - Tradition; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Like
the previous vignette, tradition lacks the third characteristic of a
hermeneutical community: a close knit believing community. In addition one has
to ask questions about interaction. While Westphal, based on Gadamerian
theories on conversation, would argue that static texts can be a conversational
partner (and admitting that similar terminology has been used metaphorically in
the introduction of this series of posts), it is hard to imagine a conversation with a
static document. Conversation has to be dialectic. Therefore, tradition, while
a good hermeneutical safeguard, does not in itself constitute a hermeneutical community.<o:p></o:p></div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-50494294969095459622013-05-10T18:21:00.000-05:002013-05-10T18:21:00.036-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - Openness to Correction; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;">Some have seen the
Anabaptists' openness to correction as the simplest way in which congregational
hermeneutics was practiced,</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;">
for in doing so they opened themselves up to a conversational partner. This
community fits two of the threefold descriptions presented above: Scripture and
Spirit. Yet, "openness to correction" as a hermeneutical community is
not a very good fit when it comes to the community of believers criteria, for
it often lacked the tight interconnection and relationships postulated as
essential by Fowl.</span></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>See
the discussion in Murray, <i>Biblical Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 166-69. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-30823168155728278262013-05-08T18:20:00.000-05:002013-05-08T18:20:00.099-05:00Vignettes of Community Hermeneutics - An Introduction; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Throughout the last two millennia there have been different
embodiments of the concept of the church. Since the concept of the church is
integral to our understanding of what a hermeneutical community should look
like, it come as no surprise that since the time of Christ there have been different
kinds of communal hermeneutics. These might have "family
resemblances," but ultimately will still look different.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The following vignettes are an attempt at systematizing some of these families
of hermeneutical communities as identified in the literature. The list is not
exhaustive or prescriptive, just descriptive.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Michael G. Cartwright, "The Practice and
Performance of Scripture: Grounding Christian Ethics in a Communal
Hermeneutic," <i>Annual of the Society
of Christian Ethics</i> (1988): 49-50. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-14442533616851849012013-05-06T18:18:00.000-05:002013-05-06T18:18:00.065-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Believing Community, but a Community Beyond the Local Church?; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
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If this community is defined in terms of an independent hermeneutical body of
believers, another question poses itself. Is there not a danger in creating
such a hermeneutical community that potentially isolates itself from the rest
of the world? Fowl understands that there is always the potential that there might
be something wrong with how a hermeneutical community interprets Scripture.
Consequently, he suggests that the community should be "willing to subject
their interpretive practices to scrutiny and criticism." This scrutiny
obviously can come from within, but can also come from members of different
Christian communities, or even those outside any Christian community.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Ens points out that
Hubmaier did envision the possibility of the local church erring in its
conclusions and therefore was open to the scrutiny of a wider council.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Yarnell highlights the
fact that the Anabaptists' belief that "the Spirit spoke to the entire
community as it read the Scripture together encouraged the Anabaptists to seek
conversation with other Christians." This resulted in their willingness to
participate in debates even when it resulted in their persecution and
execution.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In Anabaptist writings,
one often can find open pleas for their enemies to correct them if they are
wrong, as long as their enemies only used Scripture to do so. So one can say
that this community, while independent from other groups, should be open to the
scrutiny of other Christians.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Fowl, <i>Engaging
Scripture</i>, 82. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 81-83.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Yarnell, <i>The
Formation of Christian Doctrine</i>, 100. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>We
see here the traditional pattern of associations seen throughout Baptist
history. Churches who are independent, but who associate for the sake of
missions, help, and to demonstrate unity amongst Christians.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-74318623142071331202013-05-04T18:16:00.000-05:002013-05-04T18:16:00.132-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Believing Community, but a Community of Scholars?; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
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Given the last paragraph, one can ask legitimately: what is the role of
scholars, if any, in this type of community? While Murray claims that
Anabaptists "searched the Bible for themselves and participated in the
congregational process of discerning its meaning and application," he also
claims that this did not underplay the role of their leaders, especially
educated ones. Instead, this created a special dynamic in the hermeneutical
process. The leaders' sermons and writings provided "foundational
teachings," but "they did not give authoritative answers to every
doctrinal question or final interpretation of every biblical text." In
addition, the leaders also provided guidelines that "prevented Anabaptists
from lapsing into naive subjectivism." On the other hand, since
non-leaders were very involved in "exploring and interpreting
Scripture," Murray sees their contribution, "which was encouraged and
expected," as providing a way to help "prevent leaders from
uncritically adopting traditional or Reformed hermeneutics." According to
Murray, it was the leader who set the tone as to whether the congregation would
operate as a hermeneutical community or not. The ones who did allow it saw
themselves as guides, rather than dominating figures, and acted as
facilitators, rather than sole participants. Therefore, "their task was to
ensure that Scripture was being read and that, through the contributions of all
members, it was being understood and applied." This did not prohibit them
from still exerting much influence on the congregation by providing "basic
teaching and guidance in selecting and interpreting biblical texts." Even
if many Anabaptists underplayed the need for education, Murray believes that in
practice, the contribution of educated and respected leaders would carry
greater weight, "for in congregational hermeneutics, there is no
requirement that every contribution carry the same weight, but every
contribution must be weighed."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Even
the topic of leaders, though, has the potential of being at the genesis of a
hermeneutical community. Although among Anabaptists "communal emphasis was
well-established in the very early years while the movement still had some
scholars and theologians at its head," Murray postulates that there might
also have been some pragmatic reasons for the development and continuation of
communal hermeneutics. Murray sees the eventual lack of theologians and
leaders, due to persecution, as requiring the congregation to "develop
ways of operating that could survive the removal of their leaders."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> He supports this theory among
the Hutterites by quoting Oyer's and Miller's conclusions: <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is possible that for the Anabaptists
sharing preaching or instruction . . . was a necessity, since many of the
educated leaders were killed off. . . . Maybe they made a virtue out of
necessity - since there were few strong, literate leaders, everyone needed to
help out. . . . This became known as <i>zeugnis</i>,
'witness,' and such commentary was open to anyone, even those who had quite
contrary words to speak.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 16-17, 163-65. </span></div>
</div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ibid., 173, 171. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ibid., 171. Murray also points to other
possible reasons that led to the development of communal hermeneutics.
According to him, anticlericalism could have been a reason for communal
hermeneutics, since in this hermeneutical model the congregation assumed for
itself the key clerical responsibility, that of interpreting Scripture. Murray
also suggests that the lack of formal meeting places with typical "church
architecture" could also have been a probable facilitator of multiple
participation. (171-72)</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-4735933216395314262013-05-02T18:15:00.000-05:002013-05-02T18:15:01.151-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Believing Community; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
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This
emphasis on the interaction between the community and the Spirit of God points
to a community of regenerate believers, indwelled by the Spirit of God, who are
disciples of their Lord Jesus Christ.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> For the Anabaptists,
"obedience as a prerequisite for understanding Scripture meant that only a
community of would-be disciples could expect illumination."<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> </span>A community of disciples creates a community
of obedience and faithfulness, which is essential, as the Anabaptists knew, for
"unfaithfulness could make a congregation unable to function properly as a
hermeneutical community."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> This line of thought
parallels Fowl's emphasis on a community that recognizes that it is populated
by sinners. Fowl argues that this problem of sin can only be solved by creating
vigilant communities where individuals are aware of their sinfulness and the
sinfulness of others, and where all are single-mindedly focused on Jesus. This
requires a community that is actively practicing forgiveness, repentance, and
reconciliation, and where the goal is for all to grow in virtue, particularly
when it comes to interpreting Scripture.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Ultimately,
"recognizing oneself as a sinner is necessary but it must lead to growth
in virtue, particularly growth in virtue as an interpreter of scripture."
This growth should produce individuals who have what he calls a Christological
density. In a community, this characteristic allows others to be able to judge
the interpreter's interpretation. "Unless Christians can offer this sort
of christological density to their judgment about the character of any
particular interpreter, they will have good reason to be suspicious of that interpreter's
counter-conventional interpretation."<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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This
community has to be tight knit so as to be able to judge each other's
interpretation and the to judge the work of the Spirit in each other. As a
believing community that is wanting to practice communal hermeneutics, this
community also has to recognize and value the diversity of gifts that God has
given to it.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
It has to realize that the work of the ministry of the church is the
work of the entire body, not of a select few.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Like its Anabaptist predecessors, it should believe that the Holy Spirit speaks
to the entire community as it reads Scripture together and should believe in
the participation of multiple members in its gatherings.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>This
can be seen as the ideal of many free churches, and some have identified it as
the distinctive mark of Baptist churches. See for example: John S. Hammett, "Regenerate Church
Membership," in <i>Restoring Integrity
in Baptist Churches</i>, ed. Thomas White, Jason G. Duesing, and Malcom B.
Yarnell (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2008). Yet, the free church does not have
the corner on this type of community. In many ways, this is the community that is
described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as he describes the communal experiment that
he experienced with his seminarians at the seminary and at his home in
Finkenwalde. Since such a community is a spiritual community, Bonhoeffer argues
that its basis must be "the clear, manifest Word of God in Jesus
Christ" and truth. Its essence must be light. It must be a community of
called ones who will embody the love of Christ in lives of service. This
service is simple and humble and characterized by love: "unsophisticated,
nonpsychological, unmethodological, helping love." This community is characterized
by order and humble submission to one another. It will be ruled by the Word of
God alone, which is binding. In it, all "power, honor, and rule" are
surrendered to the Holy Spirit, allowing the Spirit to rule the community. In
line with the Pauline emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12, this community recognizes
the importance of all its members and therefore does not exclude the "weak
and insignificant, the seemingly useless people," for their exclusion may
well be the exclusion of Christ. See: Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, <i>Life Together</i>, ed.
Geffrey B. Kelly, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, and Albrecht Schönherr, trans., Daniel
W. Bloesch and James H. Burtness, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1996), 39-40, 45.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 213, 214. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Fowl, <i>Engaging
Scripture</i>, 78. In other words, what is envisioned here is a
community that practices the "one anothers" of Scripture. For
a complete list see: Maël
Disseau, <i>Those "one another"s</i>
[on-line]; accessed 22 April 2011; available at http://maelandcindy.blogspot.com/2010/11/those-one-anothers.html;
Internet.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ibid., 83, 159.
Cf. Thiselton's similar thoughts about doctrine presented above.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>See:
Maël Disseau, <i>Hierarchy in the Body of Christ - another
small excursus </i>[on-line]; accessed 22 April 2011; available at http://maelandcindy.blogspot.com/2010/06/hierarchy-in-body-of-christ-another.html;
Internet. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>See:
Maël Disseau, <i>The NT Concept of Ministry - a small
excursus</i> [on-line]; accessed 22 April 2011; available at http://maelandcindy.blogspot.com/2010/06/nt-concept-of-ministry-small-excursus.html;
Internet.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Yarnell, <i>The
Formation of Christian Doctrine</i>, 101-02. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-27366637372352514032013-04-30T18:13:00.000-05:002013-04-30T18:13:00.060-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Spirit Led Community; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Fowl,
who is acutely aware of the effects of sin on the interpreter of Scripture,
postulates that "the Spirit's intervention and interpretive work is
crucial if the followers of Jesus are faithfully to carry on the mission Jesus
gave them."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Treier, basing himself on the work of Fowl and Jones, argues for the reading of
Scripture to be a pneumatological practice.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Yet, this needs to be done
heeding Fowl's warning that the work of the Spirit "does not imply that
one can ignore scripture." Using Acts 10-15 as his scriptural support,
Fowl argues that Christians are to read scripture with the Spirit, but that to
do this, they must be able to discern the work of the Spirit in themselves and
in others. This necessity for discerning the work of the Spirit in themselves
and in others logically results in a tight community.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Such tight communities
were common among the Anabaptists whose reliance on the Spirit made them open
to correction and communal discernment: "they would listen to one another
to discern what the Spirit was saying."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> To summarize, due to our sinfulness
we need the Spirit of God to be able to do hermeneutics. This, in turn,
requires us to be capable of discerning the work of the Spirit in our lives and
in the lives of believers around us, therefore postulating the need for a tight
hermeneutical community.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Here
again, though, one is confronted with a multidimensional interaction. Human sinfulness
requires the role of the Spirit in communal hermeneutics, but at the same time
renders the discernment of what the Spirit is doing suspicious. The Anabaptists
recognized the importance of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of
Scripture, yet they also "realized the danger of antinomianism inherent in
simply allowing everyone to interpret a passage in accordance with some
internal impulse ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Hence, the need arose for some
kind of 'testing the spirits'," and "the congregation became the
locus for that kind of testing."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Murray emphasizes the
importance of the Anabaptist understanding of the Spirit's work in the gathered
church. "Although the Spirit illuminated individuals as they read
Scripture, such an emphasis would require that until the individual's
understanding was tested in the congregation it was to be treated cautiously.
The Spirit's work involved <i>both</i>
revelation <i>and </i>unity." The Anabaptist
emphasis on the role of the Spirit therefore "meant that only a
congregation where there was freedom for the Spirit to guide individuals and
unite the community around the Word could operate properly as a hermeneutical
community."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Fowl, <i>Engaging
Scripture</i>, 98.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Treier, <i>Introducing
Theological Interpretation of Scripture</i>, 87. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Fowl, <i>Engaging
Scripture</i>, 113, 115. Fowl claims that "to be able to read the
Spirit well, Christians must not only become and learn from people of the
Spirit, we must also become practiced at testifying about what the Spirit is
doing in the lives of others. . . . The only way to counter the privatizing
tendencies of contemporary church life, which make it unlikely or impossible
that Christians would be in a position to testify about the work of the Spirit
in the lives of their sisters and brothers, is to enter into friendship with
them" (116-17), and therefore in community with them.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 145. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 75-76.
</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 146, 213. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-34660116144285327482013-04-28T18:00:00.000-05:002013-04-28T18:00:00.860-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Bibliocentric community, but a Community Linked with Tradition?; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .7in;">
It has been argued thus far that this community is Bibliocentric, but what
about the role of tradition or doctrine. What role do they play in a
hermeneutical community? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
While
focusing on the local community, Holder also identifies in Calvin an appeal to
a larger "transhistorical community, through the appeal to earlier
authorities."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Conversely, "Anabaptists who accepted that the church has a role in
biblical interpretation located this role in the present rather than the past,
in the local congregation rather than a monolithic structure." In general,
Anabaptists discouraged the "exploration of earlier writings." Murray
claims that this was due to the Anabaptists' radical view of the fall of the
church. While this "released Anabaptists from dependence on past
authorities to make fresh discoveries," Murray laments that it
"impoverished their interpretation and deprived them of much scholarly and
spiritual counsel." Ultimately, he sees this as an important warning that
it is "unnecessary so completely to jettison the contribution of earlier
generations."<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title="">[2]</a> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Treier,
dealing with the interaction of theological interpretation and doctrine,
suggests that imitation allows us to learn virtuous judgment, and consequently
echoes what he sees as Fowl's warning that "contemporary Christians need
to pay attention to ancient Christian interpreters."</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Thiselton, also dealing
with doctrine, emphasizes that doctrine does not inhibit innovative thought. On
the contrary, according to him, "only within a tradition of firm communal
identity-markers can constructive 'going on independently' be distinguished
from maverick idiosyncrasy and self-indulgence." Therefore, doctrine is
not "unimportant, repressive, or merely theoretical,"</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> rather it is a good
safeguard and consequently a good hermeneutical tool for the hermeneutical
community.</span></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Holder, "Church as Discerning Community in Calvin,"
285n37. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 158, 180-81. Murray is
not the only one to lament the Anabaptists' jettison of tradition. The majority
of the authors that discuss this issue do likewise.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Daniel J. Treier, <i>Introducing
Theological Interpretation of Scripture: Recovering a Christian Practice</i>
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 89. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .7in;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Thiselton, <i>The Hermeneutics of Doctrine</i>, 97.
According to Thiselton, the system
(doctrine) furnishes coherence and boundary and identity markers. He postulates
that this is what is seen in the second and third century when "the <i>communal identity</i> of the apostolic
church, founded upon biblical writings, could be publicly discerned through
what Irenaeus and Tertullian called 'the rule of faith.'" While life
experiences were different between each believer scattered throughout the
ancient world (life-world), "the interaction between life-world and system
guaranteed a continuity of recognizable corporate identity as <i>this trans-local church</i>." (140)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
</div>
Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-44077121914608058022013-04-26T17:50:00.000-05:002013-04-26T17:50:00.854-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Bibliocentric Community, but What About Illiteracy?; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .7in;">
It is important to note that identifying Scripture and scriptural knowledge as
essential to a hermeneutical community broaches the topic of literacy and its
role in the process.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Stock notes that "the
question of oral versus written tradition need not be framed in inflexible
terms. What was essential for a textual community, whether large or small, was
simply a text, an interpreter, and a public. The text did not have to be
written; oral record, memory, and reperformance sufficed."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> While, as mentioned above,
Calvin strove for a biblically educated commonwealth, Holder does admit that
Calvin's assumption was that at least <i>some</i>
members of the congregation were reading the Scriptures.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> It is also appropriate to
mention again that even illiterate Anabaptists had intricate knowledge of
Scripture. <i>The Book of Martyrs</i>
presents many disputations between Anabaptists and their persecutors where even
illiterate Anabaptists are described as being able to argue their Biblical hope
in front of and to the amazement of their judges. Illiteracy was not then and
is not now a barrier to a community's having as its focus the text of Scripture
and interpreting it communally. On the contrary, it would seem that the Anabaptists'
communal focus was an impetus for the memorization of large portions of
Scripture by those who were illiterate,<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> ultimately helping to make
Scripture central to the community.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; text-indent: .7in;">
And what of tradition then? We'll talk about it next time.</div>
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<br />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Roth,
for example, in Roth, "Community as
Conversation," 43, discussed the oral and visual nature of early
modern Europe, in contrast to the print nature of our age. He notes that "many
Anabaptists first encountered Scripture through the spoken word -- sermons,
disputations, discussions -- rather than in the written word, and in a communal
context of conversation and debate rather than as individuals engaged in silent
reading and study." Consequently, he questions how this predominantly oral
setting could have shaped the understanding of Scripture.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Stock, <i>Listening
for the Text</i>, 37. Here, Stock presents Pierre Valdo, the father of
the Waldensian movement, as an example of an <i>interpres</i> (the one who was the contact between the illiterate
culture and the literate culture), for he "memorized and communicated the
gospel by word of mouth." Later in his book, Stock goes on to make a
parallel argument when he argues that the Jewish and Christian attitude toward
the text "is true for Scriptures that are actually read as well as for
those that are memorized and recited, such as the oral gospel and the oral
Torah. This recall is a type of reading" (149-50).</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>In
his commentary on 2 Tim 2:15, Calvin writes: "Has not every person an opportunity
of reading the Bible?" (John Calvin <i>Commentaries
on The Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon</i> 2 Tim 2:15). Holder, in Holder, "Church as Discerning Community in
Calvin," 274, identifies four other evidences of this assumption in
Calvin's writings. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 76n26. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
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<div id="ftn4">
</div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-5705926010652171462013-04-24T17:43:00.000-05:002013-04-24T17:43:00.289-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - A Bibliocentric Community; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;">Central
to any hermeneutical endeavor is the fact that there must be something to
interpret. Yet, a Christian hermeneutical community is not necessarily like any
other community: it is a community that has come into existence due to the
proclamation of Jesus Christ, is sustained by the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
and sustains the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Therefore, to use Westphal's
terminology,</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;">
this community's "classic text" has to be the revelation of Jesus
Christ: the Bible. As Stock argues, "the 'text' is what a community takes
it to be. . . . For, like meaning in language, the element a society fixes upon
is a conventional arrangement among the members."</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span></span></a><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;"> Yet, for a Christian
hermeneutical community, the text of Scripture is not only the agreed upon text,
but more importantly, it is the necessary nucleus of such a community.</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
This
cohesion around a text creates what Stock refers to as a textual community:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .35in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
Through the text, or, <span class="IntenseQuoteChar">more accurately, through the interpretation of
it, individuals who previously had little else in common were united around
common goals. Similar social origins comprised a sufficient, but not necessary
condition of participation. The essential bond was forged by means of belief;
its cement was faith in the reality of belonging. And these in turn were
by-products of a general agreement</span> on the meaning of a text.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
Consequently, this textual
community is by default an interpretive community as well as a social entity.
This leads Stock to claim that the Christian community's faith might be in the
Word of God, but "proof is in the text" that they are interpreting,
therefore again emphasizing the centrality of the text.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
This
centrality of the text of Scripture to the Christian community is clearly seen
in the reformation. In the proclamation of s<i>ola
scriptura</i>, the reformers identified Scripture as fundamental to their
movement. They were "committed to the careful study of scripture, . . .
and utterly convinced of the Scripture's authority and relevance in all matters
of faith and daily life."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Accordingly, one of the
characteristics of the participating church in Geneva was Calvin's expectation
of a biblically literate commonwealth.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Likewise, among the
Anabaptists, Scripture was central to their life and their identity as seen by
"the intricate knowledge of Scripture that even illiterate Anabaptists expressed."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .7in;">
Scripture
is not only at the core of the hermeneutical community, but it is also at the
genesis of this community, in both a theological and a pragmatic dimension.
Space does not allow a full discussion of the theological dimension. Suffice it
to say that in the New Testament there are descriptions of local communities
formed around the Word of God. Acts 2 is a good example of such a community,
for the believers are portrayed as devoting themselves to the apostles'
teachings and fellowship: the scriptural and the communal dimension. In Hebrews
10, believers are instructed to gather for the purpose of encouragement, but
only after they are instructed to hold fast to the confession of their hope:
the communal and the scriptural dimension, yet again. As for the pragmatic
dimension, Ens believes that the importance of Scripture's "interpretation
and application to the life of a Christian" was actually a motivating
factor that made Anabaptists search "for a process of interpretation that
would ensure correct understanding and proper application."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> In many such communities,
this process was that of communal hermeneutics. "The hermeneutical
community was both the locus and focus of their interpretation of Scripture and
their implementation of it." This dynamic between community and Scripture
was in no way "the church sitting in authority over Scripture but the
church as the Spirit's chosen location for interpreting Scripture." Their
focus was often ecclesio-centric and ultimately, the "congregation both
shaped and was shaped by how Scripture was interpreted in order to produce
something true to their understanding of biblical ecclesiology."<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> This highlights the
multi-directional interaction between community and Scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div>
<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Merold Westphal, <i>Whose
Community? Which Interpretation?: Philosophical Hermeneutics for the Church</i>,
ed. James K. A. Smith, The Church and Postmodern Culture. (Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2009), 118. Westphal tries to apply Gadamerian theories on
conversation and classic texts to the Bible. Westphal does admit that the Bible
being the word of God makes it much more than just a classic text, but he
insists that "it is not less than the church's classic text" (147).
While discussing classic texts, he concludes that "classic texts found
communities, are sustained by communities, and in turn sustain communities. But
this means that their interpretation is also a communal affair, a dialectic and
not a monological process. It takes place among individuals within a community
and among communities. If the Bible is the 'classic text' of the Christian
church, that church, in turn, is the community of the Bible's interpretation.
It belongs to the church's identity that it is the conversation in which its
members and its communities seek to understand the Bible and its subject
matter: God and our relation to God." For Westphal, therefore, the
relation between Scripture and community is multi-directional. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Brian Stock, <i>Listening
for the Text: On the Uses of the Past</i> (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1996), 146. </span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Stock
portrays post antiquities textual communalities as not centering on the Torah
and the New Testament, but as centering on other texts like the Mishnah and the
Rule of St. Benedict, for example. This is because, according to him, "it
is the rules, not the Scriptures, that transcend preexisting economic or social
bonds, since it is the rules that are both the basis and the result of common
interpretive efforts." (Ibid., 150-51.)
Since Stock's focus is on medieval society where monasteries were the important
textual communities, one can see his identification of documents like the Rule
of St. Benedict as the focal texts of those communities. Yet, if it is the
Scriptures that are both the basis and the result of common interpretive
efforts, as is the case in the communities under discussion in this paper, then
it would seem that Stock would agree with the claim that the text of Scripture
is the focal text of a Christian textual community.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ibid., 37. Similarly, Hamilton, in Neill Quinn Hamilton, "Hermeneutics and
Community," <i>Drew Gateway</i> 44, no.
1 (1973): 4, claims that "community must arise from
conviction rather than arrangements of convenience and expediency." Yet, Hamilton
also notes that "Christian conviction has as much power to prevent, as to
create community." Cf. Roth, in John D. Roth, "Community as Conversation: A New Model of Anabaptist
Hermeneutics," in <i>Essays in
Anabaptist Theology</i>, ed. H. Wayne Pipkin (Elkhart, IN: Institute of
Mennonite Studies, 1994), 43-44, uses the work of David Sabean on rural
communities in early modern Germany to similarly argue that Anabaptist
hermeneutical communities "were not united by a specific set of shared
values, the familial bonds of love, or even a clear sense of corporate
purpose." Yet, instead of providing a text as the cohesive element, he
posits that it was the conversations or arguments that each community was
engaged in that produced their essential bond. Ultimately, Roth concludes that
while Anabaptist hermeneutics were not "merely a reflection of material
forces or pragmatic considerations," he thinks that it is "clear that
Anabaptist theology did not emerge directly from Scripture." In this he
seems to be alone, for while others agree that other factors molded Anabaptist
theology, none deny the role of Scripture as he does.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Stock, <i>Listening
for the Text</i>, 149, 150. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Roth, "Community as Conversation," 36.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Holder, "Church as Discerning Community in
Calvin," 274. Below it will be argued, based on Holder's research,
that even in Calvin one can find an element of hermeneutics in community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Yarnell, <i>The
Formation of Christian Doctrine</i>, 102. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 73.
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Murray, <i>Biblical
Interpretation in the Anabaptist Tradition</i>, 181, 176-77. </span></div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-20610446572512212142013-04-22T17:36:00.000-05:002013-04-22T19:16:33.301-05:00Characteristics of a Hermeneutical Community - An Introduction; In the series: GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE: Who & How?<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;">Ens,
looking at the Anabaptists' view of a hermeneutical community, posits that their
understanding of the Bible resulted in its practical application in life. For
most Anabaptists, right living had to be "a prerequisite to or concomitant
to right knowing," and therefore became "one of the qualifications for
proper interpretations." This interpretation-application necessitated a
community and "brought together scripture (sole authority), Spirit
(essential interpreter-teacher), and church (discerning body)."</span><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></a><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.7in;"> Here, the Anabaptists
furnish us an embodiment of a community seeking to identify the will of the
author of Scripture for the purpose of implementing it. In doing so, they
elegantly provide a universal paradigm for understanding the ethos of a
Christian hermeneutical community. At least two parts of this paradigm, the
centrality of Scripture combined with the necessity of the work of the Spirit,
seem to recur in most other discussions about Christian hermeneutical
communities, confirming its universality. While the elegance of this model is
in its simplicity, its outworking is not necessarily simple. As will be seen
in the following posts, the interaction between Scripture, Spirit, and community is not one-dimensional
and unidirectional, but multi-dimensional and multi-directional.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ma%C3%ABl/My%20Documents/SWBTS/Hermaneutics/GEMEINDETHEOLOGIE.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>Ens, "The Hermeneutical Community," 82-85. </span></div>
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Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4589517995412770159.post-52188435429651610632013-04-20T21:28:00.001-05:002013-04-20T21:29:12.798-05:00Decorating a lemon tarteletteThe other day Cindy and I were looking for ideas of how to decorate a lemon tartelette. We looked around for a while, but never did find any ideas we liked, so I figured I'd suggest this one. Blueberries, a mint leaf, and some lemons rind. Enjoy!<br />
<br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihqGarJrX4jYC4gborqAD0Xqb7MkrlfW_7g5qmB7k9_fX1Pb1Xxwg9N709tTYbdLMujRPYd0yJwxXvhuamP86QjFz9hw53g13TVPmBXyzcTAUEtksTGU-vgUjBDLe4OuezOAVZmbkaMNto/s640/blogger-image--1817195581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihqGarJrX4jYC4gborqAD0Xqb7MkrlfW_7g5qmB7k9_fX1Pb1Xxwg9N709tTYbdLMujRPYd0yJwxXvhuamP86QjFz9hw53g13TVPmBXyzcTAUEtksTGU-vgUjBDLe4OuezOAVZmbkaMNto/s640/blogger-image--1817195581.jpg" /></a></div>Maëlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14413309286655265584noreply@blogger.com0