A Lifetstyle of Biblical Interpretation

Herma and Herman Neutics on a Lifestyle of Biblical Interpretation

The esteemed Scottish theologian Thomas Torrance developed a way or path for reading and interpreting the Bible that essentially involves what we are calling a "Lifestyle" of Biblical Interpretation. these are not the technical skills we use to better understand scripture but an approach that contextualizes the use of these tools into a living relationship with God.

This Lifestyle of Biblical Interpretation involves a fourfold movement of Following, Penetrating, Indwelling, and Listening. It struck us that, though Torrance does not mention this, this process is almost identical to that of Lectio Divina (Reading, Meditating, Praying, and Contemplating). this encourages Herma and I to believe this process has great potential to integrate heads and hearts in a seamless way not possible with other approaches.
  

Following

-the biblical storyline which establishes and governs its meaning                                       -allow the text to lead us to the divine realities toward which it points and on which it rests

Penetrate

-interpretation moves through the signs in the text to grasp what is behind them

Indwell

-how readers get an overall sense of Scripture’s meaning

-condition for discerning that scripture is a coherent if complex unity that yields itself to careful and meditative reading

Listens

-God speaks through the scriptures; we must listen for his living voice that comes through the biblical witness but is not generated by them.