Hermeneutics Reflections: Part 1

...or 'Why I Began My Presentation With A Beer Commercial Yesterday'

Obviously the guys in this Coors Light spot were not in the room when the original press conference was taking place. But there they are--asking Dick Vermeil their questions and receiving answers just as if they had been there all along. Just as if they belonged there. Just as if the press conference was intended to answer their questions.

The problem?

Nothing if our aim is comic relief...which is, I'm assuming, what Coors was hoping for with this ad. But it's no laughing matter when a similar situation occurs in Biblical interpretation.

My contention is that this kind of phenomena happens all too often in our readings of the Bible. Each person comes to the text hoping to get something that will speak to them personally, as if that was the text's primary concern, giving no credence to the pertinent historical/cultural background. What does God have to say to me today??? Just open the Bible at random and point. Let's confess, friends. We've all done it.

But what if...

What if our questions are not the questions the text is trying to answer? What if our questions are of relatively little importance in light of the themes the text is trying to bring to light? What if the text was not written, as has been so often assumed, to us? What if, instead it was written for us.

But have we really been missing things? I mean important things in our readings of scripture? How is that even possible? I think the Coors ad answers these question well. On one level, it really seems like Dick Vermeil is answering a question about onion dip. Both he and the 'reporters' are using language about 'making something' and showing some sort of uncertainty about the whole situation. Someone who knows absolutely nothing about American football may be satisfied at this point. But how about those who have played and/or watched football frequently? I bet those people can venture a guess what the original question was about. It probably had something to do with making or not making a touchdown or field goal...and nothing to do with onion dip.

These are some of the questions I've been working through lately. I think they're very important and, despite the objections I expect this post to illicit, I don't think the implied answers make Biblical study into an elitist exercise. But it does mean the task of interpretation needs to be undertaken more seriously and with more care. I fear that if we do not begin to ask some of these hard questions about the way(s) we read the Bible we run the risk of asking questions of God's word that have little more relevance than 'Doesn't this guy's hat look awesome backwards?'

Lord have mercy on me--the chief of sinners.