Reading between Places: Participatory Interpretive Praxis

Abstract

The Bible is often read in ecclesial contexts without considering the wider social and political consequences of biblical interpretations. In this essay, I contend that committed reflective participation is essential for responsible reading. I begin by using an autobiographical narrative to identify obstacles which prevented me from reading responsibly, and, to demonstrate how a range of experiences in Australia and Afghanistan enabled me to read differently. I then engage Francis Moloney's “An Adventure with Nicodemus” to propose that confessional biblical scholars might enhance the reading-capacity of other readers and encourage congregations to embrace the interested and contextual nature of biblical interpretation by sharing explicitly confessional readings which avoid objectivist/subjectivist dichotomies and testify to the authority of Scripture. I conclude by drawing on Stephen Bevans' praxis model of contextual theology and contemporary community development praxis to propose an “Animated Reading Process” which might be used to facilitate responsible reading.