{"id":7744,"date":"2016-01-06T20:00:44","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/?p=7744"},"modified":"2016-01-05T15:17:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T07:17:43","slug":"can-we-escape-the-hermeneutical-spiral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jacksonwu\/2016\/01\/06\/can-we-escape-the-hermeneutical-spiral\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Escape the Hermeneutical Spiral?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over at Reformed Margins<\/a>, Andrew Ong has posted a generous and constructive review<\/a> of my book One Gospel for All Nations<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Reformed<\/a>Reading reviews of your own book always leads to mixed feelings. People sometimes misrepresent your thoughts or nitpick small details. However, I truly appreciate Andrew\u2019s thoughtful comments. His balance and breadth of understanding of the related issues demonstrates why he is PhD student in World Christianity under Andrew Chow <\/a>at the University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Although he gives a kind endorsement of the book, he does give some push back. In particular, he says, \u201cWu does not lead us out of the hermeneutical spiral<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this, he means that One Gospel for All Nations<\/a> <\/em>is bound by the same sort of limitations for which I critique other theological views. That is, I stress the fact that our interpretations of Scripture are often constricted by our systematic theology, which tends to reflect our (sub)cultural context.\u00a0 As a result, I urge people to prioritize biblical theology (not systematic theology) when doing contextualization.<\/p>\n

\"spiral-24981_640\"<\/a>To this, Andrew replies,<\/p>\n

if there is no acultural theology, can there still be an acultural biblical theology? Though few biblical scholars might disagree with Wu\u2019s admittedly broad threefold framework of creation, covenant, and kingdom, if his biblical theology is inevitably\u00a0influenced by his local culture, why should readers accept his gospel framework as \u201cfirm\u201d for them, and not just for him? Is his perspective not merely one perspective on biblical theology that has been shaped by his own unique cultural perspective? Is Wu\u2019s advancement of this \u201cfirm\u201d gospel frame just another attempt to extract an \u201cacultural gospel\u201d from Scripture?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He then adds,<\/p>\n

one wonders whether his insistence upon a firm gospel framework is either another attempt to identify an acultural gospel, or a less than firm framework that was influenced by Wu\u2019s own specific cultural context.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In reply, I can simply say one this: I agree<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There is no \u201cacultural\u201d perspective<\/span><\/h1>\n

In fact, he highlights exactly the phenomenon that I think we must acknowledge if we are to do contextualization well. We all come to the Bible with a cultural lens, which limits our ability to interpret Scripture in an entirely balanced way. Our backgrounds will inevitably influence whether we notice certain things and overlook other parts of the text.<\/p>\n

As I explain in the book, this does not mean that theology must devolve into utter relativism<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, the biblical narrative has a number of fixed points that provide a framework for interpreting the whole. Of course, these broad items require explanation if we are to grasp their fuller significance. Yet, they exist nonetheless.<\/p>\n

(By analogy, we can speak about the existence of genders, human language, and rulers that control entire groups of people. These are consistent aspects of the human experience. Pointing this out, however, does not make \u201cgender\u201d and \u201clanguage\u201d acultural concepts.)<\/p>\n

When I suggest that creation, covenant, and kingdom are the three \u201cframework themes\u201d used by the biblical writers to explain the gospel, I certainly don\u2019t imply that these these form an \u201cacultural\u201d gospel. In fact, these motifs belong to a historical narrative<\/em><\/strong> spanning many centuries and cultures.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The gospel is necessarily cultural; otherwise, it is an abstraction.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is why I also emphasize the importance of \u201cexplanation themes,\u201d which clarify the significance of the framework themes (creation, covenant, and kingdom) as used in the Bible. They are the \u201cflesh\u201d that gives life to the \u201cbones\u201d of the Bible\u2019s narrative framework.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thankful for Andrew\u2019s careful review. He rightly identifies some of the most pressing issues related to contextualization.<\/p>\n

Let me know what you think? Can we actually escape the hermeneutical spiral when doing contextualization? Why or why not?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Photo Credit:<\/p>\n

Book Review (ReformedMargins.com)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Spiral (Pixabay, Public Domain)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over at Reformed Margins, Andrew Ong has posted a generous and constructive review of my book One Gospel for All Nations. Reading reviews of your own book always leads to mixed feelings. People sometimes misrepresent your thoughts or nitpick small details. However, I truly appreciate Andrew\u2019s thoughtful comments. His balance and breadth of understanding of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2368,"featured_media":7745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,23,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contextualization","category-interpretationexegesis","category-one-gospel-for-all-nations"],"yoast_head":"\nCan We Escape the Hermeneutical Spiral?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over at Reformed Margins, Andrew Ong has posted a generous and constructive review of my book One Gospel for All Nations. 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