Brotherly Wisdom

"In both legal and theological hermeneutics there is an essential tension between the fixed text on the one hand and, on the other the sense arrived at by applying it at the concrete moment of interpretation, either in judgment or in preaching. A law does not exist in order to be understood historically, but to be concretized in its legal validity by being interpreted. Similarly, the gospel does not exist to be understood as a merely historical document, but to be taken in such a way that it exercises its saving effect." Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, p. 307

Gadamer is reminiscing about a time when legal and theological hermeneutics were treated together. The benefit was that a text was not said to be "interpreted" until it had been applied to the readers current situation. This doesn't fit a culture where the pastor and the biblical scholar are two different people who got different degrees from different schools, or--at best--pursued two very different majors.

It's sad to say that our pastors have a lot to learn from our lawyers.