Follow Me: Jesus and Paul Ricouer

image from here.

In thinking about how we read the Bible, in a time and a place that is alien and strange to its human authors, even as the Divine Author knew what would come, one particularly helpful idea/check that I have to be careful to incorporate into my own thinking is the notion of a 'hermeneutic of suspicion'. This, broadly, is an idea essentially stolen from Paul Ricouer (sorry, philosophy fans, this blogger is a limited theologian). It basically means that we need to recognise that when we approach a text (and the Bible, if nothing else, is certainly a text) we must be aware of our own pre-existing bias and ideas, and those of the culture around us. 

Let's take an example of this.

I am a regular and consistent (some would say overly so) user of Twitter. I have quite a few hundred people following me, and I 'follow' a few hundred people. This means that I can, if I want, read what they have to say, and interact fully with them through the channels that Twitter allows.

Consider, then, Matthew 4:19, where we read the following:

"And he said to them, 'Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men'"

Interesting. Now, if I were unaware of the concept of a hermeneutic of suspicion, I might read that, especially if someone had linked to it via Twitter, and think that I could add another to my 'following' list. I could reasonably infer that, actually, Jesus wants me to engage with him on social media and see what he has to say. My reading of that passage could be, in terms of practical application:

Follow Jesus on Twitter.

Now that is all well and good, but that would be a complete misreading of the text. For various reasons! But the main issue here is that what I have done is take some of my contemporary ideas ('follow' must related to following on Twitter) and misapply it back onto the New Testament. This is a somewhat flippant example, perhaps, but I hope it makes the point.

If, however, I am aware of the notion of a hermeneutic of suspicion, then I am (hopefully) more likely to come up with something like this, as a reading:

Jesus wants me to follow him (what does this mean? Perhaps I should read on and find out) and that in doing so he will give me a task, even though it sounds a bit odd.

There is a big difference between the two readings of the text, and it boils down, in part, to an awareness of the bias and ideas we all bring to the text as readers. The implications for an awareness of this are huge, particularly in relation to hot button issues like sex, money, and power. If we decide that there are extant and real 'things' like heterosexuality and homosexuality, our reading of the Bible will be clouded. If we believe that it is important to have money, our reading of the Bible will be clouded. If we believe that power is an evil (rather than a gift that can be abused, as Andy Crouch suggests in his excellent book 'Playing God') then our reading of the Bible will be clouded. 

This is just one of many ideas, then, that I think can be helpful for us as we consider what the Bible says, and how to read it carefully and intelligently. That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!