The way to interpret a part of the Bible depends on what part it is.
Like, the way to interpret an email from a Project Manager instructing his onsite staff-person, would be different to what you're meant to infer from a still-photo taken of a couple on an outing. And some parts of the Bible include similar components all in one.
So "part at least of the task of literary criticism is...to lay bare, and explicate, what the writer has achieved at this level of implied narrative, and ultimately implied worldview, and how", said Tom Wright.
"The deepest level of meaning consists in the stories, and ultimately the worldviews, which the texts thus articulate".
So, the normative reading of Romans 9-11 for example, is not only about what it means subjectively to me or to you or to someone else, or about what I or you or someone else thinks it positively objectively means (which really is still subject to one's own 'story' and worldview) - it is informed as much by how the passage fits in the larger flow of the Epistle, and also by how it fits in Paul's overall life-work and message, and by how it fits in Paul's 'story' and worldview, and by how it fits in first-century 'story' and worldview, and by how it fits in first-century Jewish and Roman story and worldview, and also in light of other things the Bible says about the circumstances in which it was written, and not only the Bible but also extra-Biblical sources.
Like, the way to interpret an email from a Project Manager instructing his onsite staff-person, would be different to what you're meant to infer from a still-photo taken of a couple on an outing. And some parts of the Bible include similar components all in one.
So "part at least of the task of literary criticism is...to lay bare, and explicate, what the writer has achieved at this level of implied narrative, and ultimately implied worldview, and how", said Tom Wright.
"The deepest level of meaning consists in the stories, and ultimately the worldviews, which the texts thus articulate".
So, the normative reading of Romans 9-11 for example, is not only about what it means subjectively to me or to you or to someone else, or about what I or you or someone else thinks it positively objectively means (which really is still subject to one's own 'story' and worldview) - it is informed as much by how the passage fits in the larger flow of the Epistle, and also by how it fits in Paul's overall life-work and message, and by how it fits in Paul's 'story' and worldview, and by how it fits in first-century 'story' and worldview, and by how it fits in first-century Jewish and Roman story and worldview, and also in light of other things the Bible says about the circumstances in which it was written, and not only the Bible but also extra-Biblical sources.
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