Communitarian Hermeneutics

Post-Modern Theology - by popular demand

One of the main tenets of post-modern theology is a community hermeneutic. (So none of you have to look this up, a hermeneutic is an interpretation, and this can be an interpretation of anything, but in this instance it's the interpretation of the Bible.) What is a community hermeneutic? The community decides what they believe. Take the example of the feminist community, I don't have any specific non-biblical examples, but they would understand some parts of the Bible where it teaches wives to submit to their husbands, as no longer applicable, because this is patriarchal, and Jesus taught that everyone was equal. The concerns of the feminist community would guide the manner in which they read the Bible. A liberation hermeneutic reads the Bible in a revolutionary manner, if a liberation community is being oppressed, they would understand Exodus and 'The Exodus' of Moses and the Israelites to apply to them. Hence those in the oppressed community would then use whatever means necessary to overthrow their oppressors. If this means they get out the AK-47 and kill their oppressors, then this is what they do.

Many post-modern theologians encourage this type of hermeneutic. Why? Because there is no God's-eye perspective. The only person that has a God's-eye perspective is God, but even then we can't be sure what God is telling us. Therefore, we really can't know what is true, so truth is determined by the community that we live in. (Not to get the GA Dem riled up, but there might be a 'Republican' hermeneutic - not to say that Christians ought to be democrats though, just making a value-neutral statement.)

Obviously this is very problematic for the Christian community. We need to have some standard or criterion for a true biblical hermeneutic and truth. I suggest that we have a community hermeneutic, but among the church as a whole. This includes the entire community of the Church, from Adam to John the Apostle, from Clement of Rome to Kevin Vanhoozer. This would include, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, and etc. Hopefully you get the picture. Not that an individual shouldn't read the Bible by herself, but that she ought to read the Bible with the entire church in mind. If an individual interprets the Bible in such a manner that no one else agrees with that person's interpretation. Then that individual ought to re-examine the Scripture. Throughout the entire history of the Church, including St. Augustine and John Calvin, famous theologians have made mistakes interpreting Scripture. Why can we as individuals expect to do any better? We need to interpret Scripture in light of the entire community of the Church. There is an absolute truth and God uses the Holy Spirit acting and present among the Body of Christ to reveal His truth to us.