Ways of Interpretation: Hermeneutics

Our modus of interpretation is not to read the New Testament in the 'light' of the Old Testament as is dogmatically enforced in christendom. To do so is to put the cart before the horse and go 'ass-backwards'. What light can be found in the Old Testament? You tell me! After Genesis 3 things get pretty dark pretty quick!
Even a brief survey of the caprices of Israel demonstrate the maximum of disobedience at every turn. Attempts to graft Judaism back onto JEsus' Teaching

Be that as it may, the goal is to let the New Testament shed light on the Old Testament and every other form of testament---and this is possible because Jesus empowers his disciples and brothers and sisters in the kingdom of his Father---revealing to them (us) that "you are the light of the world." Acknowledging this ministry to be light in the darkness of this age, I am pressing on to the higher calling of the Lord.

Bibliolatry is the leaven of Christendom---let's return to the original scenario in which the canon of scripture was decided, or legislated. The Old Testament canon is an invention of the men who formed the New Testament---one might say that the 'Old' reflexively mirrors the 'New' testament. What is the meaning of testament? New "testament' not a Book or set of Books!

What can I compare this to? Here you have a new testament, a new wine, if you will being put into old bottles. It is like strapping a heat seeking missile to the back of a turtle, where the turtle is the OT. And you are trying to get this missile to the XX1st century! The level of incomprehension amongst the Jews of Jesus' sparkling new ideas is as dense and thick as the tar pits of LaBrea. But add to this the ineptitude of the early church fathers the 'so-called best and brigntest' who in all of their wisdom forged the canon of the New Testament, reflexively forming the Old Testament as well in a redaction committee or council or whatever pseudo-legitimate authority that they had granted themselves of course in accord with their pea-like grasp of Jesus' mind. And here you have it: the entire fate of authentic teachings of Jesus bound and shackled by some of the densest minds since Cain.

In short the light was securely covered up by a bushel basket and securely hidden beneath the bed to be kept safe by these canonic jailors.

Well thanks be to the living God who is no respecter of persons and furthermore is not ignorant of all of man's ways, that He sent the advocate Holy Spirit to train the disciples and apostles. Note that the advocate is a living spirit who guides and teaches living men and women in the present tense! It is not the shackling of the spirit to the letter which kills----what more apt expression than St. Paul's to covey the inanity of hoisting Mosaic law slavery onto the freedom of the follower of Christ.

Call this point of view heretical if you will, "names can never hurt me!" This tendency to "close" the canon is a binding and shackling of the newly freed adopted sons and daughters of the most high living God, to the Old Testament. And this ushers in a hermeneutic of tradition whose yoke christendom yet labors. Before an understanding of Jesus' word can be established it must be run through a kind of ancient word processor to make sure all of the prophecies line up---how convenient for the priests! How specious!  What a genius for establishing hierarchy, dominion and authority!

Ironically the 'founding fathers' of the canon followed by the usurpation of all earthly kingdoms in an unholy alliance called the Holy Roman Empire was able to perfect Rome's surveillance and torture "worldwide" ensuring that no other apostles could ever perform Christ's ministry of truth and light since it effectively became Mother Church's 'intellectual property.' The end user licensing agreement to bind all of humanity up until the apocalypse. What is truly ironic is that agnostics and atheists of all stripes also receive the same hermeneutic lens and hence have never been given a fair chance to think through the authentic good news. It is a fait accompli. To be Christian means to be condemned to a life of sin owing to the misfortune of having been born into the human race, whose hope of life can only be grasped "after death" in a kind of Mickey Mouse kingdom, after being strapped with all of the laws of Moses as well as the popes---which is actually a near perfect stranglehold! Meanwhile the lifestyle of the so-called Christian is not in the least abundant but operates on a kind of kindergarten fascist loyalty to the central dogmas of Mother Church: Jesus is God, Bible is Inviolable Truth, Virgin Birth, Heaven is only entered after death---each one of these dogmas clearly contradicted by these very scriptures! Which only goes to show the power of wielding authoritative interpretations. Have a look at Dostoevsky's take on this tendentious mode of bible interpretation! Grand Inquisitor

Is it any surprise that the world has gone to hell in a handbasket and most recently in a kind of rocket propelled drone-basket at the speed of light!! The only thing that's for sure is that America morphed into Babylon---precursor to the Beast---the globalized 'digital nervous system' being perfected 24/7 by unwitting men women and children everywhere. Just what might count as blasphemy in this cockamamy world is hard to say. Digital nervous system? Please.

This essay has taken the ironic tone to the hilt, and now I must say that behind the scenes prophets weep just as Jesus wept and lamented over Jerusalem---one snippet from Gaza Strip or Ferguson, Missouri or the latest media acquisition of Rupert Murdoch demonstrates that the world has lost its marbles. Nature is reviled in fracking, the United States government is in the hands of diabolic internal enemies, globalization races ahead as if there were no tomorrow with not one single check or balance, the Spirit searches Sodom and Gomorrah for one honest man and leaves empty handed. Perhaps one positive thing emerges here---in the clear reversal of all truth and value evident in the contemporary milieu, the pearl of Great Price remains a possibility, the groom is still waiting at the altar---the followers and disciples of the true Lord, though they be as few as the yeast that leavens the loaf,
are being set apart from this abomination of desolation and are pressing onto the higher ground, being directly led of the holy spirit, present tense, with the writing on the wall as clear as ink.
Are you one of them? Bob Dylan Live Toronto -1980 Pressing On

The Vernacular Use of 'Faith'

Faith, St. Paul tells us, is the substance of things hoped for the receipt of things as yet unseen. It is found in Hebrews 11:1. This is an amazing locution, chocked full with radical philosophical interpretations! The apostle refers to the word substance 'upostasis' in a manner that denotes his plausible familiarity with Aristotle's metaphysics, most likely at the hand of his teacher, Gamaliel. What a beautiful name. At any rate, Paul's use of 'substance' in reference to a future reference is most idiosyncratic. It reveals a highly profound and unique manner of looking at substances and reveals a deeper penetration of 'faith' in understanding than is common amongst 21st century christian bible interpreters.

The word 'faith' in its vernacular use amongst priests and ministers and evangelists alike, has more or less the same type of subjectivistic meaning which is attached to a particular denominational creed or ideology. Yet all share a subjectivist (modernist) bias, that faith is a)separate from reason and b)is a purely individualistic assent to church or bible dogma. The term has no such reference in Paul's use. It is his use that I would like to explore.

I call this deeply penetrating view of faith---practical---it is faith in its efficacious employment, it emphasizes the work that faith enacts. As such it is of interest to philosophers who do not ascribe to any religious or christian beliefs. Indeed, belief is synonymous with the current use of 'faith' in the vernacular. On the catholic side, the parishioner declares her allegiance to the 'faith' thereby pointing to Catholic dogma and ideology. This is not Paul's use. Neither is the evangelical use consonant with Paul's---here it means something like "are you saved via your faith in Christ?"

Here is a link which demonstrates this inadequate interpretation: Link

Paul's remark is far more universal and is not linked in any manner to any religious conviction. Rather it is a kind of statement one discovers in philosophical anthropology---the act of faith is a human potential of bringing that which is hoped for into the life of the one who holds faith---it is a kind of intellectual faculty for grasping and pulling future matters into one's own existential locus. The second part which uses an economical metaphor ('receipt') is also curious and idiosyncratic and rarely understood in contemporary scripture study. The receipt of things unseen reveals a deeply penetrating philosophical grasp. It is a phrase which contains a genius turn of phrase on its head. Receipt is given for the purchase of an item and legitimates and records its transaction. But in this case the receipt if for things unseen.

At this point in the essay we introduce some of the greek terms being used in Paul's letter in order to draw forth some clarification. The term that is translated as 'receipt 'in the King James translation is 'elenchos'---a term used in dialectics which means 'proof' or 'demonstration'. Ironically this is one of the key terms employed in the Socratic Method. Strange isn't it that the apostle is using two very powerful philosophical concepts in this verse: a) Aristotle's 'hypostasis' and b)Socrates' 'elenchus'!

Faith "founds" or gives foundation for what is hoped for ('elpizomenon') and proves what is unseen ('ou blepomenon').

Now to my interpretation. Paul's saying reveals that faith is a kind of active intellectual power for bringing hope to its fulfillment, and acting as a proof of that which is not perceptibly visible! Rather than subjectivize or dogmatize its meaning as described above, I suggest that we interpret the verse in a manner that delivers a grasp of the nature of human intelligence. The application is as follows: You cannot do what you do not hold in faith that you can do! But in its positive formulation, this means that you can do what you hold in faith. There is a practical sense of  the engineer who has so mastered the art of elevators that it is a type of knowledge which allows the engineer to then go on to employ elevators in more and more complex maneuvers thanks to a practical faith that he can do so. Now take the null hypothesis---the use of the elevator for a dog, or a person imagined to have come back to life from the middle ages---to this person the use of the elevator is unthinkable according to all of their cognitive convictions. But if such a person were to speak to the engineer and then receive in faith that the elevator will be OK---then this person is prepared to step on in and be lifted up within the structure of the building.  Their faith is an intellectual assent which allows the use of the elevator in their lifeworld. Another example, this time from the corporate world: Whatever a man or woman believes with full conviction establishes their reality. If Tiger Woods could visualize a 206 yard 6 iron blind shot over water from the sand then he could pull off the shot (which he did in Canada). Tiger's Signature Shot 2000 Bell Canadian Open

Thus we see that Paul's teaching is broader than dogmatic conviction, or subjectivist sine qua non of salvation. It applies in engineering realms, business, sports and in all sorts of human domains well apart from religious activity. This interpretation enriches our understanding of the scripture and helps us to clarify other conundrums and obstacles which follow from the narrow "religious" interpretation and also indicates a manner of interpreting scripture philosophically/anthropologically rather than according to church dogma. Such an interpretation liberates the understanding rather than shackling it!