In an article in the Review of Metaphysics (1997), David Weberman argues for the “nonfixity of the historical past.” He starts from Arthur Danto’s argument that historical inquiry and writing cannot be a reconstruction available to an “ideal chronicler” who knows . . . . Continue Reading »
E. Miner wrote, that “the ability to declare typology absent is a kind of proof of sound modern critical method.” Which translated means, Skepticism about typology is the union card of serious biblical scholarship. . . . . Continue Reading »
A. K. A. Adam offers a useful critique of what he calls “brick hermeneutics.” Taking a cue from George Herriman’s early 20th-century comic strip Krazy Kat, he describes brick hermeneutics as follows: “Most of our discourses take for granted the premise that we communicate by . . . . Continue Reading »
Ephesians 2:13-14: But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. Why can’t we all just get along? Why can’t everyone just . . . . Continue Reading »
Ephesians 4:4-6: There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. After Paul describes how Jesus unites Jew and Gentile as one new man, he exhorts the . . . . Continue Reading »
In a volume on Philo’s etymology of Hebrew names, Lester Grabbe notes that allegory and etymology played an important role in Greek interpretation of myths: ” In the physical types of allegory the gods were related directly and baldly to the nature elements by etymology, so that Hera . . . . Continue Reading »
The inventive Calum Carmichael ( The Story of Creation ) argues that “John, in an imaginative, allusive approach to the text of Genesis that is akin to Philo’s approach before him does indeed lay out the equivalent of the seven days of creation. The elements of each day in Genesis have . . . . Continue Reading »
Anthony Thiselton ( New Horizons in Hermeneutics ) notes that “It may readily be granted, without any difficulty that some (or even in principle many) biblical texts do function in ways which invite a reader-oriented hermeneutic.” A very wise statement, that. Wise, first, in . . . . Continue Reading »
Eco is not uncritical of Derrida, but he disagrees with Searle’s claim that “Derrida has a distressing penchant for saying things that are obviously false,” insisting instead that “Derrida has a fascinating penchant for saying things that are nonobviously true, or true in a . . . . Continue Reading »
Umberto Eco ( Limits of Interpretation ) criticizes Barthes’s notion that connotation occurs when “a sign function (Expression plus Content) becomes in turn the expression of a further content.” He argues that “in order to have a connotation, that is, a second meaning of a . . . . Continue Reading »
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