Table Of ContentThe Bible remains the main resource for faith communities. How can Documentation 57/2012
it be read fruitfully in ways that strengthen the community of readers
in their faith, witness and service to the world? In what ways can
convergence be found in diverse, sometimes confl icting, interpretive
contexts? This collection of essays seeks to attend to these and
similar questions. The focus on the thre interpretive poles highlights “You have the
these as central to biblical interpretation. The Gospel of John is
used as a base text, read in light of different contexts and through
the lens of the ecumenical, Lutheran and Reformed traditions. This of
bok is the fi rst in a series that wil further explore the relationship Words
between these hermeneutical poles.
Contributors: Eve-Marie Becker; Hans-Peter Grosshans; Anni
Hentschel; Martin Junge; Sarah Hinlicky Wilson; Craig Koester; Eternal Life”
Monica J. Melanchthon; Kenneth Mtata; Dennis T. Olson; Bernd
Wannenwetsch; Vítor Westhelle. Transformative Readings of the Gospel
of John from a Lutheran Perspective
The Lutheran World Federation ISBN 978-2-940459-25-4
150, rte de Ferney ISSN 0174-1756
CH-1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland The Lutheran World Federation – A Communion of Churches
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DOC 57/12 “You have the Words of Eternal Life” LWF
“You have the Words
of Eternal Life.”
Transformative Readings
of the Gospel of John
from a Lutheran Perspective
Edited by
Kenneth Mtata
on behalf of
Te Lutheran World Federation
– A Communion of Churches
Te Lutheran World Federation
Geneva, Switzerland
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“You have the Words of Eternal Life.”
– Transformative Readings of the Gospel of John
from a Lutheran Perspective
Documentation No. 57, October 2012
Kenneth Mtata, editor
on behalf of Te Lutheran World Federation – A Communion of Churches
Copyright 2012, Te Lutheran World Federation
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in articles or reviews, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any manner without prior permission.
Editorial assistance: Department for Teology and Public Witness
Layout: Department for Teology and Public Witness
Design: LWF-OCS
Cover photo: © Peter Williams/WCC
Published by:
Te Lutheran World Federation
150, rte de Ferney, PO Box 2100
CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
ISBN 978-2-940459-25-4
Second print; printed in Germany.
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Contents
5 Preface
Martin Junge
7 Introduction
Kenneth Mtata
23 Lutheran Hermeneutics: An Outline
Hans-Peter Grosshans
47 Luther’s Relevance for Contemporary Hermeneutics
Anni Hentschel
69 An Introduction to the Gospel of John and Questions of Lutheran
Hermeneutics
Craig R. Koester
85 Law and Gospel (With a Little Help from St John)
Sarah Hinlicky Wilson
93 Political Love: Why John’s Gospel is not as Barren for Contemporary
Ethics as it Might Appear
Bernd Wannenwetsch
107 Exploring Effective Context – Luther’s Contextual Hermeneutics
Vítor Westhelle
121 Lutheran Hermeneutics and New Testament Studies: Some Political
and Cultural Implications
Eve-Marie Becker
135 Bible, Tradition and the Asian Context
Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon
151 The Role of Tradition in Relation to Scripture: Questions and
Refections
Dennis T. Olson
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5
Preface
Martin Junge
Reading and the proclamation of the Holy Scriptures awaken and strengthen
faith communities in their belief and practices in the world. Reading sacred
texts is closely related to the ability to “read” the world, and vice versa. As faith
communities sharpen the way in which they interpret both the Scriptures and
world around them, their actions become increasingly refreshing and life giv-
ing. In other words, biblical interpretation contributes to solidifying Christian
commitment to social transformation.
In 2011, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) embarked on a herme-
neutics program in order to nurture this desire to “read” shared sacred texts
and contexts. Te Bible not only connects today’s Christians but also provides
a bridge to preceding generations of faith. As such, it is vital to take seriously
the witness of past interpretations and to relate them to contemporary ones.
Since our contexts are interconnected, we need to fnd ways not only of com-
municating our diferences but also to use our interaction as an opportunity
for mutual enrichment and challenge.
Te LWF decided to embark on this process in order to connect contem-
porary faith communities with the rich cloud of witnesses from the past and
to hear afresh God’s Word. Moreover, in view of the 500th Anniversary of the
Reformation in 2017, it is appropriate to remember the prominence of the Bible
during the sixteenth-century Reformation. Te Bible remains central to the ever
growing number of Christians. Worldwide easy access and ready availability
of the Bible entail the need to develop comprehensive tools for interpretation,
so that the Bible becomes a source of renewal for both the church and society.
It is in this light that I commend to you this publication, which is the result
of the LWF’s frst, international hermeneutics consultation.
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7
Introduction
Kenneth Mtata
Transformative hermeneutics
While “literacy” tends to be associated with the ability to read written texts, it
is also helpful to look at it as a general ability to “read” texts and contexts that
is, “reading” in a broader sense. On the one hand, “reading” is one’s ability to
make sense and make the best of (maximize) one’s environment. “Misread-
ing,” on the other, is the tendency to perceive inadequately. Reading plays a
signifcant function in faith communities since they are endowed with sacred
texts that must be read or made sense of in order to shape beliefs and model
the community’s life. As such, churches have a pressing responsibility not only
to read the Bible properly, but also to apply it to the shaping of the life of the
believing community within itself and its relationship with those outside it.
Te challenge is how to read such fxed biblical texts in the rapidly changing
contemporary contexts of the faith community. Te difculty not only lies in
the fact the Holy Scriptures are the basis of life and faith, and hence are to be
taken seriously, but how the churches, separated in space and time, can ap-
propriate these texts for themselves without misreading them. Closely related
to misreading biblical texts is also the misreading of the context in which these
texts are being appropriated. Tere tend to be two extremes emanating from
such a dilemma. Te frst is to assume that what is written in the biblical texts
should be taken literally and applied directly to contemporary life. Te second is
to assume that, due to their antiquity, the sacred texts are too alien to be relied
on for shaping contemporary faith and life. Maneuvering between these two
extremes is one task of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) hermeneutics
process of which this volume is the frst product.
Te Lutheran churches subscribing to the LWF have committed themselves
to “confess the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the only
source and norm of its doctrine, life and service.”1 Tese churches of the Refor-
mation locate themselves within the ecumenical tradition going back to the early
church. Tey therefore take the three ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene and
Athanasian creeds) and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, particularly
1 “Constitution of the Lutheran World Federation,” Article II, in From Winnipeg to Stuttgart 2003–2010, Te
Report of the General Secretary on Behalf of the Council (Geneva: Te Lutheran World Federation, 2009), 146.
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8 Documentation 57 – o“Y u have the Words of Eternal Life.”
the unaltered Augsburg Confession and Martin Luther’s “Small Catechism,” as
2
the lens through which appropriately to interpret the Holy Scriptures. If the
Holy Scriptures constitute the basis for “doctrine, life and service,” it becomes
necessary that this function be clarifed for each generation and in the specifc
local existence of the church. While such clarifcation will always at best be
tentative, attempts should be made to establish some level of functional clarity of
the relationship between the Bible, diversity of reading contexts and the unifying
hermeneutical lens of a particular theological tradition in order to forge common
action in the world today. Tis clarity will not only help to strengthen the unity
of the churches belonging to the Reformation tradition, but also in their ongo-
ing dialogue with other faith traditions and their shared witness to the world.
In a bid to move toward this clarity, the LWF has embarked on the hermeneutics
program, conceived against the backdrop of tensions of biblical interpretation regard-
ing various ethical issues, the obvious one being that of human sexuality. While
this background is instructive, the deliberately chosen overarching background of
this hermeneutics program is the envisaged commemoration and celebration of the
th
500 Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. Te sixteenth-century Reformation
was characterized by a new commitment to the Holy Scriptures. Te relationship
between God’s Word and religious, social, political and economic renewal is not
unique, but also evident in God’s speaking to Moses and the giving of the law
and the discovery of the book (scroll) during Josiah’s reforms (2 Kings 22–23).
Another good example is the reestablishment of temple worship after the exile;
So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. Tey
gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who
was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught
the people said to all the people, ‘Tis day is holy to the Lord your God; do
not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the
law (Neh 8:8–9).
At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus saw the establishment of God’s reign
as founded on the promises in God’s Word,
and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll
and found the place where it was written: “Te Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let
2
Ibid.
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