A Post for David (Theology class)

In my younger days, I would think it surprising that the Holy Books of most religions are basically stories. They all have their rule books and canon laws, but the Scriptures are stories. I would realize only later that the only way to convey a religious experience is through stories. I couldn’t agree with you more that the heart of religion (and language) is metaphor. I should wait for your book (I hope I will get a free signed copy!).

I agree that “context is an important aspect of understanding metaphor”. To really understand the parables of Jesus, we need to know the context in which Jesus lived. At the same time, I also believe that the context in which we read those parables also give a meaning to them. The meaning may be different from what the author intended; but all the same, I think the meaning is valid. That is the beauty of the metaphor. I was admiring a new painting of a friend, and asked her what it meant. She asked me what I saw in it. I told her that it looked like a person trying to catch the moon. She looked surprised, but said, “That’s exactly what it means!” It is often the viewer, the reader, the listener who provides the meaning to the metaphor.

In this context I want to emphasis the role of the community in interpreting metaphors. You may remember that in the last class in our small group discussion on authority etc, I said how I value the wisdom of my community. I think this is the original meaning of tradition in the Catholic Church when the first Christian communities reflected together and decided on what sustained them as a believing community. That meaning has horribly gone wrong now to mean the hierarchy. Especially after reading about contextual theologies in Migliore, I am convinced that the spirit works through the community. The community, on the basis of its collective experience, should interpret the metaphors.

Thanks for the excellent review of the chapter. It was tough reading, but I liked it.

P.S. I see that you are pissed with Browning’s use of hermeneutics so many times! I can relate to that. In my community (where we have a lot of Philosophy students), it has become a fashion to use and abuse that word for any silly reason. There is a hermeneutic of service, a hermeneutic of cooking (I don’t know if there is one for using the rest room!). Let’s look at it as another metaphor, searching for meaning!