I just finished reading Inspiration and Incarnation by Peter Enns. It was a challenging book but worthy of my time. I will continue to contemplate his theses. I found the following quotes on biblical interpretation to be personally timely and insightful.
Perhaps we should think of biblical interpretation more as a path to walk than a fortress to be defended. Of course there are times when defense is necessary, but the … task of biblical interpretation should not be defined by such. … The burden of “getting it right” can sometimes be discouraging and hinder effective ministry. I would rather think of biblical interpretation as a path we walk, a pilgrimage we take, whereby the longer we walk and take in the surrounding scenes, the more people we stop and converse with along the way, the richer our interpretation will be. Such a journey is not always smooth. At times what is involved is a certain degree of risk and creativity: we may need to leave the main path from time to time to explore less traveled but promising tracks .
… as we attempt to understand scripture, we move further along the path. At the end of the path is not simply gaining of knowledge about the text, but God himself who speaks to us therein. The goal toward which the path is leading is that which set us on the path to begin with: our having been claimed by God as coheirs with the crucified and risen Christ. The reality of the crucified and risen Christ is both the beginning and the end of Christian biblical interpretation.
It is always an option, I suppose, to halt the journey and stand still, or perhaps turn around and walk back a few hundred yards, so as to stand at a safe distance from what lies ahead. we should continue the journey, however, not because we are sure of the footing, but be cause we have faith in God who placed us our journey to begin with.
