Postmodernism and the interpretation of biblical texts for behavior

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2003 by John F. O'Grady

What Post Modernism Questions (Guarino)

Language

Some continuity exists in the translation of language, but great discontinuity also remains. This is true also within any given language. Meanings change. "Gay" fifty years ago meant happy. Today it evokes anger, resentment, and intolerance on the part of some--and pride on the part of others. Anyone who has lived in English speaking countries other than the United States knows personally the discontinuity of the same language and the same words. "Knock up" in England differs considerably from the same words in the United States.

Postmodernism questions the possibility of accurately translating from one language to another. There may be some continuity, but often nuances are lost. The language comes from a particular moment in history and can be understood only in that context. Further applications can be made only with some hesitation and uncertainty (Guarino: 673-80).

Objectivity and Truth

Is anything objective? What one generation took as "true" is now lying around in pieces. What is true for me is not necessarily true for you. The old "givens" have been torn down (Jones: 49-51). The loss of objectivity leads us to question the existence of eternal or perennial truths. How can one person unequivocally tell another what is true? How can one person hand on to another understandings that alone will give meaning to life? For the postmodernist, human finitude, sociocultural embeddedness, and contextualized reason lay the axe to metaphysics and ontologies of all types, and they fall. Philosophies can offer neither final answers nor ultimate structures. Radical historicity constitutes every person and every thing. Human nature emerges from a combination of history, cultural clutter, unfinished societies, and ambiguous language, which always belies the existence of a common human nature for all times and places.

Practical Truth

Truth in postmodernity is reached by the community through free appreciative inquiry and not through any coercion or the stipulation of first principles. Only public acceptance can redeem practical truth from the cultural and historical experience of diverse peoples in heterogeneous populations, customs and mores. Most ordinary people agree on most ordinary things apart from any metaphysics or transcendental principles.

The Bible and Interpretations

At this point the reader should realize that postmodernism calls into question much of what has been presented as eternal biblical truths, valid for all peoples at all times. The distinction made among the three groups --ordinary believers, scholars and religious leaders--comes into play when members of the second and third group take biblical texts and impose specific interpretations upon the first group. Postmodernism prohibits anyone from giving an eschatological, irrevocable, never-to-be-changed interpretation to any biblical text. The Bible teaches the truth, but not necessarily truths that include eternally valid norms of behavior. Rather the Bible tells stories that help individuals to come to conclusions and hypotheses for living ordinary life. The Bible offers values and virtues, which are practical helps for living to be interpreted and lived out by individuals. Pay attention to the story and not to the individual verses that tell the story. Examine the values and virtues to be handed on, and then encourage believers to make their own application.