Buck, Erwin

Poellet, Michael N.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 16Issue 1 Hermeneutics: Theory and Practice Article 15-1-1990"He Interpreted to Them"Erwin BuckMichael N. PoelletFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Foreword is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationBuck, Erwin and Poellet, Michael N. (1990) ""He Interpreted to Them"," Consensus: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1 , Article 1.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol16/iss1/1FOREWORD“He Interpreted To Them”This phrase, he interpreted to them... ” [diermeneusenautois) encapsulates Jesus’ activity as he joins the two disci-ples on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus. So muchhad happened and is happening. An eloquent and charismaticprophet had been discredited by the religious authorities andcrucified by the political authorities leaving the hopes of hisfriends and followers as dead as he himself was. Yet, the storydoes not end. The body cannot be found, some of the womendisciples see a vision of angels and report that Jesus is risen,the perplexity of amazement and disbelief overwhelms them.There is much to talk about, but who understands any of thisenigmatic perplexity?Today, we as the disciples of Jesus are still talking. Ourjourneys from Jerusalem to Toronto, to Waterloo, to Thun-der Bay, to Snow Lake, to Winnipeg, to Saskatoon, to El-bow, to Calgary, to Wainwright, to Yellowknife, to Kam-loops, to Whitehorse, to Vancouver, to Port Alberni and backagain to Montreal, to Lunenburg, and to Fredericton are over-whelmed with perplexity. What is the distinctiveness of Cana-dian Lutheranism? How do we address the context in whichwe as the followers of Jesus find ourselves? Are our creeds, ourconfessions, our worship practices and our sermons as emptyas the tomb? Where is the living Christ that addresses usas living Word? This issue of Consensus does not purport toanswer all these questions definitively, but it does move thesequestions into the area of hermeneutics, interpretation.The Church as “Mundhaus” (mouth-house), as Luthercalled it, does not talk just for the sake of talking, but itwitnesses, bears testimony, that is, it has something to say6 Consensusabout something.It is that “about something” which makes thehermeneutical consideration such a crucial enterprise. Not sim-ply ‘'that we say”, but “what we say”, “how we say it”, “what itmeans”, and “the ways in which it is understood and appropri-ated in action” are important, and the basis for hermeneuticalreflection. Hermeneutics is an opening up in order that wemight understand; for us as Christians, it is part of the taskof “faith seeking understanding”. It is this “about something”which engages us in faithful discourse about what it means tobe forgiven, justified by faith, proclaimers of the crucified andrisen Christ, living a life of worship in relationship with thetriune God. It is this “about something” which engages theauthors of the articles in this issue to “interpret to us” and toreflect on interpretation regarding the meaning of the NiceneCreed and its Christology, of worship as a hermeneutical event,of the discernment of text and context in preaching, and of theLutheran Confessions’ understanding of faith with regard tothe practice of communing baptized infants.Harry O. Maier, having recently received his Doctor of Phi-losophy degree in Patristics from Oxford, provides a hermeneu-tical perspective with which we can join the conversation re-garding the confession and controversy that revolved aroundthe Nicene Creed and evolved subsequent to it. We are askedto participate with Nestorius and Cyril of Alexandria in “aconversation with tradition”, not, warns Dr. Maier, in an eval-uation of “the deployment of scientific methods”. In this wayas faithful transmitters of the tradition we are caught up ina “productive” conversation where we can “appropriate” theinsights of Nicea and its interpretation for us in our distinc-tively contemporary situation. Hermeneutics does not fossilizechurch history but “makes tradition one’s own” .Within this contemporary re-affirmation of our heritage,tradition, and identity stands the event of worship. PamelaAnn Moeller, Assistant Professor of Worship and Homilet-ics at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon, examinesthis “microcosmic event”, that is, those “concentrated expe-riences of relationship meant to empower the worship life ofthe whole and the whole worshipping life of individuals as wellas the congregation.” Architecture, spatial arrangement, meet-ing times, hospitality, language, bulletins, the reading of scrip-ture, hymnody, procession, and ritual all provide an integralForeword 7hermeneutic for “the assembly of all believers among whomthe Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacramentsare administered according to the Gospel” (AC VII. 1). Indeed,“We are quite capable of making enough negative decisions onour own. . . Dr. Moeller reminds us; her plea for hermeneuticalreflection is to keep the intentionality of our worship centeredin the Gospel.What a colossal task! It surely is, echoes Pastor Jon M.Temme of Ascension Lutheran Church, Edmonton. In fact, inconsidering the colossal task of preaching Pastor Temme usesthe analogy of the Colossus at Rhodes, not to promote preach-ers as “ancient wonders”, but to indicate that the pastor aspreacher must have both feet firmly planted, hermeneutically,upon both text and context. The “colossal preacher” awareof the hermeneutical challenges employs a hermeneutical ap-proach that “involves interpretation of both the text’s and con-text’s languages, traditions, Sitzen im Lehen^ and trajectories.”Articulating a hermeneutic for the homiletical context receivesparticular attention, for often this is neglected and does notenable the word as preached to become living Word for us.By now, if it was not so beforehand, it should be evidentthat the hermeneutical task involves diversity and sometimesdifference as it accompanies us in our perplexity of sayingsomething about something. One particular issue that bringsthis to our attention is the sacramental practice of communingbaptized infants. Is this practice “un-Lutheran” and “anti-Confessional” asks Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology,Robert A. Kelly, of Waterloo Lutheran Seminary? ProfessorKelly’s hermeneutical approach to this question is not simply toexamine the “saying something”— the community of baptizedinfants, but to reflect upon what that practice says “aboutsomething”—namely, the understanding which the LutheranConfessions, and the Confessors, Luther and Melanchthon,have about faith. Here we see Dr. Kelly joining in the confes-sional conversation. For if we understand what “faith” mightmean, then we can see how it is used in our understanding ofthe sacraments and, indeed, if the particular practice underquestion is an appropriate expression of what we mean whenwe, as Lutherans, say/practice something about faith.Although a “buzz-word” for many scholars during the pastthree decades, “Hermeneutics” is not a fad or trend. As these8 Consensusfour essays indicate, it is integral to the faith and life of theChristian community. It appropriates our historic tradition,it brings intentionality to our worship, it enlivens our preach-ing, and it calls us to a faithful accounting of our communalpractices. No wonder that Luke recalls that one of the re-membrances which the risen Christ bestows upon his perplexeddisciples is hermeneutics. For Christ the incarnate Word to beliving Word, “he interpreted to them.”Erwin BuckMichael Poellet

He Interpreted to Them

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He Interpreted to Them

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