This Old Text: An Analogy for Biblical Interpretation

Abstract

The PBS program “This Old House” provides a useful analogy for envisioning and understanding contemporary, critical, responsible interpretation of Scripture. Thus if we are renovating a house we live in (i.e., working with the biblical text which we inhabit) we will need to make extensive investigations into its many past features and study its aesthetics as well (historical and literary study of the text). However, our current, particular, and situated existence as a family will be the major driver in our choices for renovating, and those will need study and consultation as well (ideology and pragmatic studies). The essay reviews how the Bible has been approached as Scripture across three main periods of pre-critical appropriation and then explains, with consistent reference to the analogy, what changes in Modernity and beyond as well as what remains stable. It concludes with a consideration of the interface between biblical studies and biblical spirituality.