So far in the series, a missional hermeneutic -- a way of interpreting the Bible with the mission of God as a framework -- has been argued for, but without a solid argument in place. Thus the first step in Wright's book is to search for a missional hermeneutic. Such a hermeneutic goes beyond simply finding biblical justification for "missions". It is of course important to know that what we are doing falls in line with Biblical teaching, but the purpose in question here is much grander and knitting together all of the passages perceived as relevant to missionary work.
Wright even points to a danger in such an approach to Scripture. Instead of letting it speak as it wants to speak, we come to it with something we want to prove, and we collect the texts that confirm our preconceptions. Thus, "the Bible is turned into a mine from which we extract our gems - "missionary texts". We only have to look at an extreme case study such as Westboro Baptist Church to see that this way of reading and interpreting the Bible is fraught with danger. As a Church we are not charged with taking one or multiple texts and running with them, forgetting the rest of the biblical revelation of who God is and what He is about. As Dave Bosch writes,
The hypothesis of Chris Wright is that missio Dei is the essence of the message of Scripture. Now of course the mission of God is not just one thing. It is a multi-faceted framework, which encorporates God's past, present, and future action. "Essence" may suggest something narrow, but the truth is that the mission of God as the essence of Scripture is a framework as broad as God Himself. If the Bible is about God -- and I strongly contend that it is -- then our reading of it needs to take into account as much of the revelation of God as we can know. We must understand the Bible in the light of a God who is a whole being, lest we end up with a pseudo-god who simply "hates fags", or a god who knows nothing of holiness.
So the first step to finding a missional hermeneutic is treating the Bible -- and ultimately, God -- as one. After all, this view of God is the primary creed of our ancestors of the faith, expressed in the Shema:
Hear O Isreal, the LORD our God, the LORD is One.
Proof-texting -- using individual texts to support a doctrinal position or behavioural pattern -- is not enough. Mission goes much deeper than that, and it is far broader than something we do in repsonse to what the Bible says. Far broader.
Wright even points to a danger in such an approach to Scripture. Instead of letting it speak as it wants to speak, we come to it with something we want to prove, and we collect the texts that confirm our preconceptions. Thus, "the Bible is turned into a mine from which we extract our gems - "missionary texts". We only have to look at an extreme case study such as Westboro Baptist Church to see that this way of reading and interpreting the Bible is fraught with danger. As a Church we are not charged with taking one or multiple texts and running with them, forgetting the rest of the biblical revelation of who God is and what He is about. As Dave Bosch writes,
What is decisive for the Church today is not some formal agreement between what she is doing and what some isolated biblical texts seem to be saying but rather her relationship with the essence of the message of Scripture.
The hypothesis of Chris Wright is that missio Dei is the essence of the message of Scripture. Now of course the mission of God is not just one thing. It is a multi-faceted framework, which encorporates God's past, present, and future action. "Essence" may suggest something narrow, but the truth is that the mission of God as the essence of Scripture is a framework as broad as God Himself. If the Bible is about God -- and I strongly contend that it is -- then our reading of it needs to take into account as much of the revelation of God as we can know. We must understand the Bible in the light of a God who is a whole being, lest we end up with a pseudo-god who simply "hates fags", or a god who knows nothing of holiness.
So the first step to finding a missional hermeneutic is treating the Bible -- and ultimately, God -- as one. After all, this view of God is the primary creed of our ancestors of the faith, expressed in the Shema:
Hear O Isreal, the LORD our God, the LORD is One.
Proof-texting -- using individual texts to support a doctrinal position or behavioural pattern -- is not enough. Mission goes much deeper than that, and it is far broader than something we do in repsonse to what the Bible says. Far broader.
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