Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 10/1-2 (1999): 475Ð485. Article copyright © 2000 by Merling Alom’a.
Some Basic Hermeneutic Principles Established By Christ for the Exegetes of All Centuries Merling Alom’a Peruvian Union University
Modern hermeneutics is in a crisis. It is confused, disoriented, and in a state of revolution. Each exegete interprets as he thinks best and moreover wants his particular perspective to form one of the basic norms in the hermeneutic world, or at least each exegete wants his particular interpretation to be kept in the forefront of the academic world.1 As Larkin has precisely noted, the pluralism of the postmodern hermeneutic enterprise is one of chaotic diversity that generates in its participants a cynical or apathetic lack of commitment.2 Third world biblical hermeneutics can roughly be divided into two categories, a liberation focus and a culturally sensitive approach.3 Over the past years, western theological circles have mainly been exposed to the theology of the Latin American liberation movement with its strict liberation agenda. The feminist movement, which has been felt in all cultural contexts, has also left its mark on the field of hermeneutics,4 with various feminist interpretations emerging in recent years. This ex1 Barton emphasizes that this situation is not so much an issue regarding the interpretation of any particular book, but is more acute in regards to the methods that should be employed in studying them all. John Barton, ÒIntroduction,Ó in The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation, ed. John Barton (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998), 1; hereafter Biblical Interpretation. Ur’barri in turn mentions that the plurality of current exegetical methods have notably divorced the exegesis from the theology. Gabino Ur’barri, ÒInterlocutores de la teolog’a de la segunda etapa postconciliar,Ó Estudios Eclesi‡sticos, 73 (1998), 172. 2 William J. Larkin, ÒCulture, ScriptureÕs Meaning, and Biblical Authority: Critical Hermeneutics for the 90s,Ó Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992), 172. 3 R. S. Sugirtharajah, ÒVernacular Resurrections: An Introduction,Ó in Vernacular Hermeneutics, ed. R. S. Sugirtharajah (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic P, 1999), 11. 4 For a synthesis of the liberation theologies see, T. Schmeller, ÒLiberation Theologies,Ó John Hayes, ed., Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999), 2:66-74, hereafter DBI. For a description of the method of feminist interpretation see, V. C. Phillips, ÒFeminist Inter-
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