George Hunsberger on a Missional Hermeneutic

‘The Gospel and Our Culture’ eSeries no. 2 has just been made available (as html here with a pdf link at the bottom of the page). It contains an essay by George R. Hunsberger on ‘Proposals for a Missional Hermeneutic: Mapping the Conversation’ (available separately here).

The essay reviews existing and forthcoming materials, and outlines four streams of emphasis – or ‘four points of gravity’ that ‘comprise an expanding and rich force field’ – as follows:

1. The missional direction of the story
The framework for biblical interpretation is the story it tells of the mission of God and the formation of a community sent to participate in it.

2. The missional purpose of the writings
The aim of biblical interpretation is to fulfill the equipping purpose of the biblical writings.

3. The missional locatedness of the readers
The approach required for a faithful reading of the Bible is from the missional location of the Christian community.

4. The missional engagement with cultures
The gospel functions as the interpretive matrix within which the received biblical tradition is brought into critical conversation with a particular human context.

Hunsberger suggests that future reflections in the area should take place around these four areas and questions:

1. Missio Dei: what is the story of the biblical narrative and how does it implicate us?

2. Equipping witness: what is the purpose of the biblical writings in the life of its hearers?

3. Located questions: how shall the church read the Bible faithfully today?

4. Gospel matrix: what guides our use of the received tradition in the context before us?

The issue also contains responses by Michael Barram and James Brownson. (I recently read a book by the latter on mission and hermeneutics and may write a few summary posts on it in the near future.)