Deutero Q

In one of his poems, the English poet William Blake described two readers of the Bible:

To move this into the sphere of biblical interpretation, how is it that two people can arrive at different understandings of the same scriptural passage? One answer is that we all bring presuppositions to bear on biblical interpretation. Consider baptism, for example. Why is it that Presbyterians baptize babies while Baptists do not?

What about the many different theories regarding the end times and return of Christ? Godly Christians from one tradition are convinced that Jesus Christ will return to the earth at the end of history, while equally godly Christians from another tradition believe that prior to His return Christ will first remove Christians from the earth (in an event called the rapture), whereupon there will follow seven literal years of worldwide tribulation. Could it be that we interpret Scripture through the lenses of our religious traditions and/or personal prejudices? Sure we do; we all do. Even those folks who don't admit to doing so!

In my own case, I think of the position I once held on the end times and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Early on in my Christian experience, I read books and listened to teachings from a particular theological orientation (dispensationalism). This colored my reading of Scripture (though I would not have said so at the time). I did not so much study the issue myself, but spent more time listening to the views of Christians from a particular point of view, studying their detailed timelines and charts.

These views on the endtimes (which I readily and uncritically accepted) affected the way I read and interpreted the Bible. I have since adopted a different eschatological hermeneutic (say that phrase three times fast!) and have come to see that presuppositions profoundly affect our interpretation of the Bible.

--Deutero Q