The Biblical Kierkegaard: Reading by the Rule of Faith

Rating:
Summary: Excellent linking of trad. Bible reading & modern herm'ntcs
Review: Polk accepts the various insights of modern hermeneutics, especially the idea that at the heart of interpretation is the notion of 'imaginative construal' where we construe a text as a particular speech act. He finds this in Stanley Fish, where the reading community makes the meaning, and sees it exemplified in Kierkegaard, who allowed this process to be governed everywhere by the rule of faith. Polk notes that even Fish saw Augustine's rule of faith as a model for how interpretation works. Following K, Polk then provides readings of James and Job to show how it works. Very helpful for providing examples of what happens when hermeneutical insights are pursued to the actual text of scripture.