Literary critics always seem to write the most engaging exegetical papers. Or is it just me? Here’s from a fascinating article called “Drawn to Excess, or Reading Beyond Betrothal,” by Donna Nolan Fewell and Gary A. Phillips (Semeia 77 [1997]):
[C]ommentary is always a matter of reaching out for more, for what lies beyond the text per se. (After all, how can we ever absolutely separate the biblical text from the ways it is read or the contexts of its readings?) The biblical text itself is restless as well, ever reaching beyond its own borders as it speaks to its audiences, as it draws life from its literary and cultural surroundings, as it works to answer, correct, rebuke, trope, and trump other texts, as it collides with cultures and contexts it could never have anticipated…. As readers we too are caught up in this urgent outward push, constantly reaching beyond “the text”–for reasons that are not always clear to us–for that something more that helps us make sense. (pg. 31)
C. Orthodoxy 
Danna Fewell is great, I had her for seminar on Methods of Biblical Interpretation at Drew, fascinating.
By: Mike on May 6, 2009
at 5:01 am
So she is at Drew? I tried to track that down and wasn’t able to.
I’d really like to read her Gender, Power and Promise (with David Gunn). Have you read any of her work?
By: Ken Brown on May 6, 2009
at 3:08 pm
i got to ask is there any reference to earths as more then one or very distant travel as in more distant than the seas
the reason i ask is
the heavens will shake stars move
stars will fall {no longer visible or recognizable}
this all points to another planet when taken with merdern knowledge
there are references like being amongst the stars depending on who’s copy of the good book you read
based on what is happening to day the planet will likely become very uninhabitable and our idea of a paradise is well very materialistic
the bad part about this is when somebody who has lots of money thinks he is better then the next guy cause he has the money or when such poeple think they must have more then the next guy to feel better about them self as in not being happy as an equal even when they lose nothing but everybody else gains to their level
that is what makes our materialistic world so bad not to say it was not bad for the environment but this is a matter of how things are handled
but when computers/robots do all our work the labor to make goods and deposes of them is irrelevant and as we advance this seems to becoming possible on a scientific level but simple greed is getting in the way
as i mentioned above the idea that somebody is better than the next guy and no matter how much they have they must have more the me or you
like their computer is x fast if i was offered a computer of the same type then the so called elite would have to get an upgrade as to better then the average joe if they ware treated as equals they would feel it was unfair as they must be better then us
a big global event requiring a planet wide evacuation would effectively remove the powers at be by superseding them as in
refugees
now this interruption is in line with some other current interpretations of the bible and is in line with other sources like the myans and even Nostradamus
well Nostradamus goes blank after 2012 as in blank unknown
one thing you did not want to do in his time was tell the church they ware gonna lose there power nor would you like to say that about the government blank means unspeakable not necessarily unknown the myans have a bit of a mixed bag when you really dig into it when you first look at what the myans say about it well it seems like lights out the end
now this time frame is possibly a length of time of event over months or years so give me a day or an hour
that still holds true
or the time frame could be an approximation ware the main event happens very quickly without warning
either way give me an day or an hour
that still holds true
i have analyzed the bible allot and my one problem is i do not not speak any other language except English nor have i seen it in the original text
By: tom on May 6, 2009
at 9:35 pm
http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/edmonton-ab/T72HFC4CT9N7J8RA0/p43#lastPost
there you will find most of my work so far i am posting as Dihydrogen monoxide
i want somebody to give me an objective view on the bible
http://thetruthz.com/The_Truth/The_Truth.html
that is not an objective view yep somebody posted it though
so if you go there keep open scientific please on my other thread
we both agree this is the end times but what happens next well i think that has been distorted for personal gain and that will not stop gods will but will hamper them a bit i want to see if we can detangle things a bit
i would assume any changes made to the bible to form the bible we know today ware in part for personal gain or pride not all but some
i mean we have priests who do some interesting things in the robe is this new
just look at how short term our morals are
1920 and before marriage at age 15 was normal and accepted
we raise that reason is another whole debate but the effect is pretty clear the age of female infertility goes down aka the age at witch a women can no longer have children
and now this has religious backing even though the practice is less then 100 years old
god will
By: tom on May 6, 2009
at 9:49 pm
[…] objectivity, who have a primary loyalty to the text but also recognize that it must forever remain beyond our reach. In this way, the best interpreters are mirror images of the best books–those whose […]
By: Objectivity and Biblical Interpretation « C. Orthodoxy on June 18, 2009
at 3:48 pm
i try to look at things objectively and without bias
i make my conclusions based logic and and evidence and ignore the idea of being politically correct sometimes my conclusions are politically correct and sometimes not sometimes they seem stranger than fiction and they almost always end up being right
not to say i know every thing but when you look at all the facts before you you will find you know a lot more than then you first thought
no offense but
the bible was edited by the members of the church and it would seem they did so in part for their own gain of power
there is only one book in the whole world that instructs people not to challenge it
well i challenge it s authenticity on the idea that humans added and took things out of it and that it was translated so many times and that there other sources that seem to mirror the bible like Indian tribe Muslims and Islams and the mayan
i also have to mention the fact it tells us not to trust other sources that give us the same info from a different prospective
the bible seems to want us to have an incomplete view on things to come
and that goes against every fiber of god as described by the bible
to believe the bible in its current form knowing it contradicts it self in more ways than we can count is almost like worshiping a false god
some will reply to this with the response that the message is still the same
but i have to ask why does the bible give us such details unless they matter and if they do we need a proper context for these details
if you look at the bible from the prospective of a limited vocabulary of the time that it was written and then translate from there you end up with a different story
non the less i will say my interptiaion is still incomplete as i lack the langage skills to translate it from the original texts but i have done so to some extent by knowing what was in existence in that time and what was not
those the bible could not refer to something that did not exist nor could it explain something that was far outside of the understanding of the people in that time such as a space craft if the people seen such things and wrote about it
he who comes from beyond the stars
seems like a pretty accurate description
think about it coming down from the sky it was a faint light in the distance dimer than most of the stars then it is right in front of you
and the only description they get is they come from a distant star or origin that can only be explained by pointing at the night sky
how would one write about this experience in Hebrew 2000 years ago
so if you are going to dedicate your life to the bible then make sure you get it right
you must have faith does not work well for me
if i have the means to verify something of importance then i will do so
and when i see that it is as it appears then life goes on if it is not then we should set the record strait
the church is not perfect we all know that do i need to talk about their imperfections that seem to be self inflicted not only upon them self’s but all of us
when the bible is twisted and reinterpreted to suit the needs of the powers that be
faith in the bible amounts to standing on some train tracks late at night and looking into the light so that you may go to heaven
well you will leave this place very soon if you do not wake up and look at things objectively
the church no matter what church you go to is government pawn they get tax breaks they get government money to help those in need thoses who donate to their church can claim a tax break
and favors like this have to get paid back in the game of politics or bad things happen to them rather it be a criminal frame up terrorist act bad press or some other misfortune or they may infiltrate the group at the very top and take what they want
most recently our freedom
http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=6937987
we protest what we feel is wrong and now the leaders of the church are working with same people who we do not trust and wish to protest
By: tom on August 30, 2009
at 10:43 pm
i have nothing against the biible except i beleive it was mis interpreted and twisted
it is a simple source holistical data of data as far as i am concerted no matter who wrote it
i have a small problem calling it the word of god if man cose what to keep in it and what not to keep in it as whole and then changed some it
lets not forget the lack of separation of church and state
do you trust the government well the church get money from the government for this that and the other tand tax breaks
money= favors =
church becoming an extension of government
and what is the prymary group that decides what the bible says well is it the church
if so i look back to the slalom witch trails and the Spanish inquisition and the earth being flat along side the idea of people being burned for making a telescope
you want to dedacate your self to the text then search for the true meaning
the way i would do that is look at the details when all the details add up then you most likely have it
when i think about a flaming chariot i think about a space craft as in a ufo/ Klein space craft
cause they glow and i know hat any sorce of liight was considered a fire back then
to think of chariot with horses flying and lite a blaze cojours up images of the beast
butt the modern description of an alein space craft well it glows it flies iit could take people from place to place so it would be considered a chariot in that time frame
it does not hsve to be all ah in innerspring but never the less a simple parlor trick would be just as mystical as a computer is to man living 2000 years ago
lets try to look at what they might of saw by the words they chose to use as they could not of written words that did not exist yet that would more acutely describe what they saw
ya flaming chariot could have been a real chariot with real horses covered in flames does that fit well it fits the text
but knowing the limitations of the language at that time a flying saucer also fits and it would be a bit more inviting and heaven like
i am sorry the bible does not have pictures so all we have is the text we have to look at all the possible meanings then piece it all together until it makes sense all the way down to the details
when the details add up to support the story then we have it right
waiting for things to come and pass then saying that it was predicted by the bible does us no good if we need to act on these events as they happen
i know how this is going to end though science i do not know the day nor the hour i do know life on this planet may end completely as in this planet having more in common with mars then its current state when it is all done and over with
could extraterrestrials be the hand of god
that also fits the texts from what i can tell and seems to be our only way out and nobody seems to be willing to even think about it cause no pasture would ever say it
well if he did he would be come the laughing stock and if he managed to keep a strait face he would be killed then his flock would be a labeled as a suicide cult this way nobody ever gets to the truth
the government is run by the devil right then when the church is standing side by side with the government they can not be trusted for true answerers as the devil wants to sway everybody away from the truth
and he seems to be doing a very good job at that he has everybody ignoring the details so they will miss their chance to be saved as they will not trust the people who come to save em
if i had the chance to leave this planet i would do so in a heart beat
all i can say is when you are in the dead of winter having 70 degree {f} days that is a sign of our sun going super nova do you wish to stay or go live on a new earth
i take new to mean unseen or unknown as in a new way of doing something
it is not new as in newly created but rather unseen or previously unknown
By: tom on October 1, 2009
at 8:05 pm