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The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture

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The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture Durham E-Theses Hope as an Interpretive Virtue: The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture WYLD, RICHARD,MICHAEL How to cite: WYLD, RICHARD,MICHAEL (2014) Hope as an Interpretive Virtue: The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10648/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Hope as an Interpretive Virtue: The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture Richard Wyld Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Durham Department of Theology and Religion 2014 1 Hope as an Interpretive Virtue: The Grounds, Contents and Action of Christian Hope in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture Richard Wyld This thesis examines the theological interpretation of the Bible as Christian scripture in the light of the Christian doctrine of hope, with specific reference to hope as a human characteristic. Hope is thus discussed in terms of interpretive virtue, as one human characteristic that leads to good biblical reading. The doctrine of hope is examined with reference to Jürgen Moltmann and James Cone, and in both lines of thought is outlined in terms of grounds, contents and action. Common contours are drawn; hope is grounded in God’s promise and presence, and contains the dignity and transformation of humans in relationship with God and one another. Hope’s grounds and contents directly shape the hermeneutical situation in which scripture is read. The action of hope involves living in accordance with one’s grasp of these grounds and contents, and because these parameters have hermeneutical consequences, so living hopefully will shape the action of reading. The hopeful reader perseveres with the text in a tension between openness to God through the text, and ‘closed’ steadfastness in the reader’s grip on their perspective of hope. By incorporating Garrett Green’s description of the imagination, this steadfastness is described as a hopeful construal of reality that remains alert to alternatives. It is then argued that because Christian hope pertains to the renewal of human community, the hopeful reader seeks to read alongside diverse others. Finally, this thesis is tested by showing how hope is manifest in the reading of Howard Thurman and the South Sudanese People to People Peace initiatives. The thesis describes the hermeneutical circle in terms of Christian hope where hope aids, and results from, good biblical reading. Through this, the thesis creates a framework for theological interpretation which takes seriously the centrality of hope in Christian theology. 2 Contents Abstract 1 Contents 2 Abbreviations 7 Declarations 8 Introduction 9 1.1. Interpretive Virtue: The Character of the Reader 10 1.2. Hope as an Interpretive Virtue 14 2. Methodological Issues 16 i) The question of circularity: Reading scripture to interpret scripture 16 ii) The approach to a Theology of Hope 17 3. The Argument in Outline 19 Chapter One: Interpretive Virtue, the Bible and Hope 24 1.1. Introduction 24 1.2. The Bible and the Reader 24 2.1. Perspectives Leading to Interpretive Virtue 27 i) Virtue Epistemology: Vanhoozer, Treier and Pardue 28 ii) The Interpretive Virtues of the implied reader: Briggs and Bockmuehl 30 iii) Interpretive Virtue and Good Interpretive Performance: Fowl, Jones and Nicholas Lash 33 iv) Initial Comments 37 2.2. Love as an Interpretive Virtue 38 i) Love towards the text 39 ii) Love towards other interpreters 41 iii) Love and God 42 3 iv) Conclusion 43 2.3. Virtue, Phronesis and Wisdom 44 i) Phronesis 44 ii) Wisdom and the Bible 46 iii) Conclusion 48 3. Three Criticisms of Interpretive Virtue 49 i) Scripture is not for the virtuous, but sinners 50 ii) Virtue Theory and Public Agreement 53 iii) Formation and Transformation 55 iv) Formation, Transformation and Hope 58 4. Hope and the aim of Bible Reading 60 5. Conclusion 65 Chapter Two: Christian Hope: Grounds, Contents and Action 66 1.1.Introduction 66 1.2. Hope as a general concept in the New 67 Testament i) Grounds 68 ii) Contents 69 iii) Action 70 2.1. Moltmann’s Hope and Modern optimism 72 2.2. The Grounds of Hope: The Promise and Faithfulness of God 73 2.3. The Content of Hope 1: Newness, Imagination and Judgement 77 2.4. The Content of Hope 2: New Creation 81 2.5. The Action of Hoping: Living with a perspective of promise 84 3.1 Hope in Black Liberation Theology 88 3.2. The Grounds of Present Hope 1: Creation 92 3.3. The Grounds of Present Hope 2: The Presence of God 95 4 3.4. The eschatological future as hope for the imminent future 97 3.5 The Ultimate Future as the Content of Present Hope 101 3.6. Judgement 104 3.7. The Action of Hope 106 4. Conclusion 107 Chapter Three: The Grounds and Content of Christian Hope and the Questions of Theological Hermeneutics 111 1. Introduction 112 2.1. Meaning and Plurality in Stephen Fowl and A.K.M. Adam 114 i) The problematic nature of ‘meaning’ and the importance of interpretive interest 114 ii) Questions arising from the concept of interpretive interest 119 2.2. Selfishness, Power and the Hermeneutics of Suspicion 122 i) Manipulative self interest and the theology of suspicion 122 ii) Power, suspicion and the biblical text 126 iii) Questions arising from the hermeneutics of suspicion 130 3.1. Christian Hope, the Biblical Text and the Interests of the Reader 131 i) Hope in God and the Bible reading situation 132 ii) The transformation of readers and their interpretive interests 138 3.2. Christian Hope, Interpretive Plurality, and the Possibilities for Dialogue 142 5 i) Community and Common Life 143 ii) Interpretive disputes and the hope for a common life 145 iii) Interpretive disputes and the hope of being transformed in love 149 4. Conclusion 152 Chapter Four: Characteristic Actions of the Hopeful Reader of Scripture 154 1. Introduction 154 2. Hope, Imagination and Scripture 156 i) Future possibilities and the imagination 156 ii) Imagination, Possibility and Reality 158 iii) Imagination and Scripture: Walter Brueggemann 160 iv) Clarifying the relationship between imagination and hope 164 3.1. The Hopeful Reader 1: Perseverance and Openness in Rereading 166 i) Perseverance and the circle of hope: Hope leads to rereading 166 ii) Perseverance in openness to the text 169 iii) Perseverance, Openness and problematic Texts 172 3.2. The Hopeful Reader 2: Perseverance and Steadfastness in Hope 175 i) The other side of the circle 175 ii) The hopeful reader and the transformed imagination 176 iii) Perseverance as stubbornness in rereading problematic texts 179 iv) Discerning hopeful reading 182 6 3.3. The Hopeful Reader 3: Plurality and Coherence through reading with others 186 i) Initial comments 186 ii) Communities and the Church 188 iii) Plurality and coherence: hope and judgement in reading together 190 5. Conclusion 195 Chapter Five: ‘Love your Enemies’: Hopeful Reading in Practice 198 1.1. Introduction 198 1.2. Approach 198 2.1. Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited 200 i) Fear, deception and hate 202 ii) Love 206 2.2. Thurman as a Hopeful Reader 209 2.3. Critical Questions 214 3.1. People to People Peace in Southern Sudan 220 3.2. Background to Conflict 221 3.3. The Wunlit Conference 226 3.4. The Church at Wunlit as a Hopeful Interpreter 231 3.5. Conclusion 233 4.1. Returning to the ‘home’ context 234 4.2. Who is my enemy? 235 4.3. Love for enemies for the privileged reader 237 5. Conclusion 240 Conclusion 243 Bibliography 252 7 Abbreviations BTIJ: Black Theology: An International Journal EDNT: Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, eds., H. Balz and G. Schneider, 3 Vols (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990-1993) IGPS: Thiselton, Anthony C., Interpreting God and the Postmodern Self: On Meaning, Manipulation and Promise, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995) JAAR: Journal of the American Academy of Religion JBL: Journal of Biblical Literature JD: Thurman, Howard, Jesus and the Disinherited, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1949; repr. Boston: Beacon press, 1996) JRE: Journal of Religious Ethics JRH: Journal of Religion and Health JTSA: Journal of Theology for Southern Africa JTI: Journal of Theological Interpretation LXX: Septuagint NLH: New Literary History (Journal) NRSV: New Revised Standard Version NSCC: New Sudan Council of Churches PPP: People to People Peace Initiative SBL: Society for Biblical Literature SCM: Student Christian Ministry SJT: Scottish Journal of Theology SPCK: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge 8 SPLA/M: Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army/Movement STR: Southern Theological Review (Journal) TDNT: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, trans. and ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, 10 Vols, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964-1976) Declarations All material contained in this thesis, excepted where cited from other sources, is original to the author, and has not been submitted in this or any other form for another degree.
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