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PNEUMA 39 (2017) 146–152
The Interpretation of Scripture An Examination of Craig S. Keener’sSpirit Hermeneutics
Kevin L. Spawn
Regent University School of Divinity, Virginia Beach, Virginia
Abstract
This essay will offer, first, an overview of Craig Keener’s Spirit Hermeneutics, and then a response from a biblical specialist in the charismatic tradition. To explore the contributions of Keener’s volume further, some suggestions are made on the following subjects: the conceptualization of his proposed global readings, the role of canonical narratives in biblical hermeneutics, the construction of biblical theology, and the implications of his thesis for the development of future theological leaders in both the church and the academy.
Keywords
Spirit Hermeneutics – global readings – canonical narratives – biblical theology – theological education
Craig S. Keener’s recent Spirit Hermeneutics: Reading Scripture in Light of Pen- tecost is a welcome addition to the contemporary examinations of the theory and method of biblical interpretation.1 Keener offers an epistemological and theological approach for reading Scripture after Pentecost in the context of the experiential, eschatological, and global perspectives he develops. I was invited to contribute to thisPneumaRoundtable on Craig’sSpirit Hermeneuticsto offer the perspective of an OldTestament/Hebrew Bible specialist in the charismatic tradition. Keener advances his thesis (see below) not only by several examples
1 Craig S. Keener, Spirit Hermeneutics: Reading Scripture in Light of Pentecost (Grand Rapids,
mi: Eerdmans, 2016), 2. Parenthetical references toSpirit Hermeneuticsfollow below.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi: 10.1163/15700747-03901010
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of interpretation of Scripture, inclusive of the Old Testament, but also by draw- ing upon the resources of both church history and his experiences in global Christianity.
Throughout his monograph Keener underscores that the role of the Spirit in the interpretation of Scripture is best viewed as an expression of a vibrant, bib- lically informed relationship with God in Christ Jesus, empowered by the Spirit of God. This enablement of the Spirit is not only at the heart of the Christian walk, but it also continues in the interpreter’s analysis of both hermeneutical horizons. This latter work of the Spirit informs the exegesis of the biblical text and the contextualization of the original sense of Scripture in application and modern meaning (142, cf. 5, 11, 24).
Based on this interpretive foundation Keener’s method is developed in a series of claims and a variety of styles, both of which are presented below. First, the direct, emphatic Keener is worth quoting: “I have little patience for approaches that claim to be ‘of the Spirit’ yet ignore the concreteness of the settings in which the Spirit inspired the biblical writings, settings that help explain the particularities in the shape of such writings” (2). According to Keener, to attend to the contexts in which the Spirit inspired Scripture, we should endeavor to hear the author’s message to the original readers (hearers) of the text. Though direct, the declarative Keener always remains a gentleman, handling the views of others with both care and conviction.
A second perspective on Keener’s general methodological approach above underscores specific issues related to the provenance of Scripture and its related literary features. He finds particularly helpful methods that illuminate the composition of the biblical literature we possess (137). Responsible, rea- sonable historical reconstructions should not be diminished in interpretive value, even though they remain imperfect (141). Keener also does not ignore the insight of the critical study of Scripture when it aids the historical recon- struction of the original meaning of the text. The implied reader’s relationship with the author may often bear upon the meaning of a text, while the author’s purpose may be illuminated by the remainder of this individual’s corpus in Scripture (135). The historical foundations of Keener’s approach to the role of the Spirit in Scripture cannot be missed in Spirit Hermeneutics or many of his other published books, which number more than twenty.
Keener’s theological lens on the biblical text provides a third perspective on Spirit hermeneutics.The construction of biblical theology requires a sensitivity to the Spirit’s voice throughout Christian Scripture.
Fourth, Keener occasionally admonishes his reader about certain threats to the approach described above. Reading Scripture in light of Pentecost can be supplanted by the subjectivity and spontaneity of readers, a growing number of
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autonomous interpretations of the authoritative text, or undiscerned dreams and visions (85, 106–108).These approaches do not listen to Scripture well. Con- versely, he exhorts his reader to persist at interpretation in light of Pentecost: “The Spirit gets blamed for too much of our indiscipline with study, sometimes substituting imagination for hearing God instead of submitting our imagina- tion to God (Jer 23:16; Ezek 13:2, 17)” (109).
Fifth, the witty Keener makes a memorable argument by analogy with orni- thology. According to Keener, if God had communicated to us in Scripture by means of the chirping of sparrows, interpreters of Scripture would cor- rectly invest their energies in the study of the behavior of such creatures (102). Accordingly, due to the actual shape of Scripture, we must invest our energies in the form of Scripture as given, including the specific languages, histories, cultures, and literary genres assumed by these various audiences to whom God did speak originally.
Finally, Keener the warm pietist speaks practically about his essential claim. Keener’s appeal is “for disciplined devotional reading of Scripture” and “a sound approach to the biblical text” that does not use Scripture for other agendas (265). Hermeneutics in light of Pentecost relies on the Spirit’s leading before and during the exegetical process, including the application by analogy of the principle of the ancient text (for example, 117, 219). Keener envisions “the best of evangelical exegesis of the text combined with the best of charismatic power to embrace and carry out its message” (289).
Keener’s method above is then developed in conversation with three per- spectives of reading Scripture: experiential, eschatological, and global. If our readingflowsfromthebiblicaltext,experientialreadingisinevitable,desirable, and biblical. By experiential readings, Keener is not referring to purely rational interpretations, but includes “believing to the depths of our being what we find in the text” (25) with the expectation that God is actively present (28). Accord- ing to Paul, the faithful read Scripture with hope (Rom 15:4) (29). Our partici- pation in miracles, visions, prophecy, and other works of the Spirit affects how individuals interpret the testimonies of these experiences in Scripture (44, 56). “Rather than wrapping Scripture around our experience we should be so full of the biblical message … that we read our experience in light of Scripture” (116).
By his eschatological-continuationist perspective of reading Scripture, Keener stresses that the use of Joel in the book of Acts is not only historically descriptive but also theologically prescriptive (cf. Acts 2:17–18). Consequently, “[p]rophetic empowerment of God’s people characterizes the eschatological era in which Jesus’ followers live” (52).
Keener also develops a global perspective of interpreting Scripture. Any reading of Scripture in light of Pentecost is an interpretation prepared to
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engage the cultures of the world (66). Believers living in the West may not hear the full testimony of Scripture on hospitality, courage, sacrifice, faith, and mir- acles (88). The experiences of believers from other regions of the world “are closer to those assumed in the biblical text than are others” (87). Consequently, Keener presents his Spirit hermeneutics as a theological extension of both Pen- tecost and Lukan theology (65–66). The broken individuals of society and the world may often hear the Spirit in Scripture better than those with professional training (46–48). “If we really hear God’s heart in Scripture, we will read Scrip- ture differently” (40).
Next,Keenerexpandstraditionalepistemologicalaccountsof realitytocom- port with his method above. Beginning with God and his revelation in Scripture Keener constructs an epistemology that presses beyond mere empirical consid- erations to include the pursuit of the loyalties of humanity, that is, the keryg- matic dimension of his redefined epistemology (158, 159–162). Keener develops a worldview that informs the reading of supernatural testimonies in Scripture and the interpretation of reality in general. The Spirit of Scripture continues to admonish people to loyalty, conviction, a new mind in Christ, the difference between light and darkness, the embrace of God’s truth, and the expectation of divine action (172–174). Based on the God revealed in Scripture (creator and redeemer), the perception of biblical truth includes dependent trust on God and an encounter with the risen Lord. For those without certain spiritual expe- riences, the epistemological claim of such practical knowledge may appear irrational or insane to some, while certain sorts of divine action may be wrong- fully ruled out altogether by others (174). In a world of conflicting views of real- ity, Keener’s epistemology shapes the interpreter’s reading of miracle accounts and a biblical assessment of reality (for example, the cross points Christians to the resurrection, 1Cor 1:18–25; cf. 2Cor 5:16–17).
After several examples of interpretation (Part iv) and models for reading Scripture (Partv), contemporary lessons are drawn from the portraits of inter- pretation in the New Testament.2 Subject matter includes the following: the priority of some contents of Scripture over others (209), the modeling of the NewTestament’s use of biblical literature attached to figures such as Moses and Isaiah (213–214, 242–243), and the surpassing legal instruction in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5) in comparison with that of the Law. The accounts of the New Testament commonly exhibit the concern of its authors to instill the ideal of God’s reign in the lives of people (213–214). In this manner, Keener identifies
2 The portraits of the scriptural interpretation practiced by Christ Jesus and the apostle Paul,
together with the analogical readings of narratives of the biblical text, are of special note.
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hermeneutical principles in the testimony of the biblical literature itself. The true meaning of the Parable of the Seed was reserved for those who persisted in understanding. This is an example of his experiential perspective of reading Scripture and demonstrates that all receptions are not equal (207). Examples of the context-sensitive quotation of the Old Testament in the New are offered as well—for example, Jesus’s use of Deuteronomy in his encounter with the adversary in Luke 4 (208–209). Keener distinguishes two ways in which inter- preters may read Scripture: the law of works (self-justification) and the law of faith (reliance on God’s grace) (219). Along the way he also notes various analo- gies, models, patterns, and christological readings of Scripture elsewhere in the New Testament.
Finally, Spirit Hermeneutics identifies a number of landmines impeding interpretation, for example, inadequate experiential readings (265–276), dan- gers in appeals to community (277–280), and the diminishment of the charis- matic life (282–284). Regarding the hermeneutics of the community, Keener underscores that Paul appealed to the body of Christ, in other words, to “the global church” (italics original) (279). At a time when many are abandoning cessationism conceptually, Keener urges his reader to be charismatic in word and deed.
Keener provides an important epistemological and theological articulation of the role of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of Scripture. Since the Spirit of God was the impetus of the subject matter related to the provenance of Scripture, it is difficult to downplay either the importance of the study of the historical, cultural, and generic shaping of the biblical text or the construction of biblical theology.3The foundations of his method underscore the prophetic voice of Scripture that calls for a biblically informed transformation of the reader in terms of epistemology, hermeneutics, and the reader’s relationship with God. His construction of an epistemology for Spirit hermeneutics, based on God’s revelation in Scripture, is a strength of this volume. For those “read- ing Scripture in light of Pentecost” Keener’s spiritual and experiential reading of the biblical text invigorates current discussions by recovering the best of the heritage of sound biblical interpretation while developing Spirit hermeneutics in light of contemporary issues. Craig’s extensive experience in global Chris- tianity today equips him as a steady guide to the narratives of interpreters of Scripture from around the world.
3 See Kevin L. Spawn and ArchieT.Wright, “The Emergence of a Pneumatic Hermeneutic in the
Renewal Tradition,” and Spawn and Wright, “Cultivating a Pneumatic Hermeneutic,” in Kevin
L. Spawn and Archie T. Wright, eds., Spirit and Scripture: Exploring a Pneumatic Hermeneutic
(London:t&tClark International, 2012), 3–22, 191–198.
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Even though I am in broad and deep agreement with Keener’s approach, there remain profitable areas of discussion. The first subject that emerges from Keener’s monograph concerns his proposed “global perspective” in bib- lical hermeneutics. Since hermeneutics is, after all, concerned with concepts, could Keener’s observations regarding the reading of Scripture with global per- spectives be expressed in a hermeneutical method or principle? There are, no doubt, many practical ways to become more globally competent with interpre- tations and testimonies of Christians across the globe, but the hermeneutical topics that endure are conceptual.
It is the success of Craig’s comments on the global perspective of reading Scripture that cause me to raise the issue above and make the following obser- vation. His treatment of missiological topics in his Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accountsmay suggest a way forward.4While humbly admit- ting his limitations on the topic of missiology,5 his Spirit Hermeneutics raises the question of whether or not the missiological or anthropological principles touched upon in Miracles might aid the conceptualization of the global per- spectives he develops in Spirit Hermeneutics.6 Could a recovery of a biblical sense of “spiritual realities” in biblical interpretation result from a development of the cause-and-effect relationships employed widely in the weighing and syn- thesis of exegetical data in the West (88–89)?7 It seems to me that Keener is well positioned to attempt such a conceptualization of the global perspective of reading Scripture.
A second matter raised by Keener’s proposal concerns the synthesis of exe- getical issues into larger theological descriptions. The construction of exegeti- cally informed biblical theology occurs in the context of the canonical narra- tive(s) of the interpreter. These narratives function as “a framework for reading
4 Craig S. Keener,Miracles:The Credibility of the NewTestament Accounts, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids,
mi: Baker Academic, 2011).
5 Ibid., 12 n. 20.
6 For these missiological and anthropological principles, see ibid., 312 n. 15, 807–808, 832–
833, 832 n. 303, 843–845, cf. 230–231. This suggestion for an interdisciplinary development
of the principles of missiology and hermeneutics might be compared with the development
of the classical principles of historiography for a conceptualization of a Spirit hermeneutic
in Spawn, “The Principle of Analogy and Biblical Interpretation in the Renewal Tradition,”
in Spawn and Wright, Spirit and Scripture, 46–72, and Spawn, “The Intersection of Biblical
Testimony and Experience: Toward the Conceptualization of the Role of the Holy Spirit in
the Interpretation of 1Kings 17:17–24,” in Johnson T.K. Lim, ed.,Holy Spirit: Unfinished Agenda
(Singapore: Armour, 2015), 3–7.
7 Keener discusses “spiritual realities” in biblical interpretation here in connection with the
work and career of Paul Hiebert, prominent missiological anthropologist.
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the Christian Bible as a theological and narrative unity.”8 Since canonical nar- ratives are often assumed and, at times, differ dramatically from interpreter to interpreter, tradition to tradition, an exhaustive method of biblical interpre- tation cannot be completed apart from a coherent canonical narrative that is specifically and comprehensively tied to the biblical text (for example, cre- ation, the patriarchs, biblical Israel, the God of Israel acting in Christ for all humanity, the filling of the Spirit, and recreation). For instance, according to the New Testament, Peter, Stephen, and Paul consistently presented the Gospel to a variety of audiences in the context of the works of God in the lives of the patriarchs, the history of ancient Israel, and other interpreted events of salvation history (for example, in Acts 3; 7; 17; Rom 1–6). Do some canonical narratives or biblical theologies cultivate reading Scripture in light of Pentecost better than others? What are some distinctive features of Keener’s canonical narrative that inform his reading Scripture in light of Pentecost?
Third, Keener’s method has sweeping implications for theological educa- tion and the development of future theological leaders. For example, the mas- sive historical, linguistic, cultural, and literary “footprint” of the Old Testa- ment remains a challenge for many to interpret the Hebrew (-Aramaic) Bible effectively. Keener’s method of reading Scripture does not appear to fit ide- ally with some contemporary trends of theological education in the academy and the church. The pressures upon degree programs and instructional modal- ities today probably do not need to be reviewed in great detail in this forum. In addition to the challenges to the training in Old Testament studies above, church leaders and colleagues in related theological disciplines have similar challenges as well. It would be helpful, based upon Craig’s experience in the- ological education and his use of nontraditional formats, to have him expand upon the effective dissemination of his methodology in the academy and the church today.
In conclusion, Craig Keener is to be commended for the composition of a superb book that is worthy of a Pneuma Roundtable. Spirit Hermeneutics deserves to be read well and widely.
8 R. Kendall Soulen,The God of Israel and Christian Theology(Minneapolis,mn: Fortress, 1996),
13 (italics removed). In this monograph Soulen applies the general principle quoted above
to the specific problem of the canonical narrative of supersessionism in church history, a
problem that is not exhibited, in any manner, in Keener’sSpirit Hermeneutics.
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