Word and Church, by John Webster: Part 2

Coming to the end of chapter 2 of John Webster's book, Word and Church (Published by T&T Clark, 2001), I am both encouraged and challenged by his ability to deal with crucial philosophical issues, while at the same time reorienting the theological trajectory of the church. He was once again able to successfuly articulate an orthodox theological position capable of withstanding the questions of modern, philospohical hermeneutics, and historical criticism.

More specifically, Webster addresses the issue of how modern hermeneutics has impacted the way the church views and employs the biblical text. He claims that one of the primary reasons that an orthodox Chrisitian view of the biblical text has declined in influence has been due to the trajectory of hermeneutics and its interaction with philosophy; he points out that a contextual reading of the text has been marginalized in favor of a rareified, philospohical hermeneutic that can be applied to the reading of all texts. In addition, he explains, that while the objective has been to achieve an objective means of interpreting all texts, what has actually been accomplished is an implicit refusal to recognize the inherent divine nature of the Bible. Not only does this diminish the Bible's role in God's revelation, but it also diminishes the authority of the Bible for the church.

One of the most interesting features of the chapter is the way he recognizes and maintains the tension in discussing what the text actually is; between the reality that modern hermeneutical and historical critical readings of the text have created a distance between the text and reader, while fundamentalist accounts of the text fail to recognize its inherent historical contingency. The effect, as I finished reading the chapter, was to leave me with a need for Webster to explain his view of revelation in a more robust way. Fortunately, he recognizes this shortcoming early in the chapter as he sets the scope, and it looks as though he might address this issue in chapter 3.