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In John Bartkowski’s Beyond Biblical Literalism and Inerrancy, he uses hermeneutic theory to analyze and critique biblical literalism via the Protestant tradition. In this article we’ll explore and summarize his perspective on hermeneutic theory as critiquing biblical literalism.
Before reading onward, make sure to click on the following to read my individual articles on hermeneutic circles and biblical literalism if you’re not already familiar.
With that said: hermeneutic theory focuses upon interpretation of text as a process involving understanding an entire text through parts, and parts of the text through an understanding of the whole.
It furthermore notes one’s biases and prejudices in this cycle of understanding, as it posits understanding a text as an active, dynamic process involving both interpreter and text.
Meanwhile, the core arguments of biblical literalism go as follows:
The Bible is the literal, inerrant word of God, and thus every passage should be taken at face value unless it clearly references metaphor or allegory.The meaning of Biblical texts is an unchanging constant and interpretation’s purpose in identifying this single, dominant meaning.The Bible holds ultimate authority over all other sources of moral guidance and knowledge.The Bible objectively reveals truth about the universe, humans, and God.
Both concepts within hermeneutic theory (interpretation as a process dependent upon the reader’s biases and interpretation as being subjectively marred by either singular parts or vice versa) draw contrary to these tenets of biblical literalism. Here are Bartkowski’s specific critiques of biblical literalism through the lens of hermeneutic theory:
All Bible interpretations are inherently subjective since interpreters approach texts with pre-existing experiences, beliefs, and ideological frameworks.Asserting Biblical inerrancy ignores cultural and historical context which Bartkowski argues are inherent to creating such a text.Interpreters oscillate between understanding individual passages in texts and understanding the overarching narrative of the Bible. Thus, interpretations of specific verses must be influenced by an interpreter’s perception of the Bible as a whole and vice versa.Pre-existing biases strongly alter the understanding of the same passages; take fundamentalists versus progressives viewing the same text.
One can argue under Biblical Literalism that Hermeneutic theory simply means humans will fail at properly interpreting the Bible or the Word of God, as opposed to any critique of the ideal of Biblical Literalism.
In practical terms this means the same thing; that resulting texts, under Bartkowski’s argument, cannot be inerrantly fully taken at face value.
So, that sums up how Bartkowski uses hermeneutic theory to analyze biblical literalism — let me know in the comments if you agree or not! Also, Check out my full Religion 101 article list (useful for studying, or just learning!) here.