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Hermeneutics and the Doctrine of Scripture: Why They Need Each Other
Author(s) -
WATSON FRANCIS
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of systematic theology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.149
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1468-2400
pISSN - 1463-1652
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2400.2010.00505.x
Subject(s) - hermeneutics , appeal , doctrine , philosophy , relation (database) , epistemology , word (group theory) , theology , linguistics , law , computer science , political science , database
Current attempts to understand Scripture theologically typically appeal either to modern hermeneutics or to more traditional doctrines of Scripture – but not to both together. It is argued here that hermeneutics can help to identify and resolve certain problems bequeathed to posterity by the characteristic sixteenth‐century equation of Scripture with ‘Word of God’. The problems in question relate to the past and present modes of divine speech, the relation of text to community and the fundamental significance of the ‘Word of God’ concept itself.