No timeless truths
David Ker draws attention to a (sort-of) hermeneutical quiz that offers you the opportunity of answering each question A, B, or C. David rightly answers D, although I’m not quite sure that his “D” and my “D” are exactly the same.
There is a strange misapprehension that there are such things as timeless truths. Well, in an abstract sense, I’m happy to admit there are such things in some noumenal Platonic realm. But all attempts at expressions of more-or-less truth in the language worlds we inhabit are conditioned by the linguistic system in use, and by the culture(s) within which that language is used. To say that Jesus is God incarnate, for example, depends for its meaning on the particular stories we tell about God and the ways in which we think of ourselves. There is neither a universal concept of God, nor one of flesh.
Lingamish is right(ish): “D. Cultural, and for contemporary interpretation.” is the only possible answer for those who seek to read scripture as a means of faithfulness in today’s church and world.
June 11th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Where my brain implodes is the point when we say something like, “Mark was recording Jesus’ words to Galileans for the benefit of citizens of Rome so he said…” No one in all honesty is able to keep track of all the layers of interpretation.
I think I like your D better than mine. To be honest I didn’t even read the whole list on Ben’s blog or think about it too long before firing off a response. Shameful, isn’t it?