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5 De doctrina christiana and the Theological Interpretation of Scripture
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159 5 De doctrina christiana and the theological interpretation of Scripture the preceding discussion regarding the presupposed communal context of De doctrina means that augustine can now be placed in dialogue with a contemporary theologian who presupposes a similar communal context, who, in other words, has an a posteriori hermeneutics . in a recent work, daniel treier argues that the “essential theme” in contemporary appeals to a more theological engagement with scripture—a “new movement” he labels “theological interpretation of Scripture”—could be seen as a concern for the church.1 if treier is correct, then augustine could be placed into dialogue with any number of current practitioners. treier suggests there are four basic strands of theological interpretation stemming from Karl Barth:2 the canonical approach, which is broadly associated with Brevard childs;3 the narrative approach, of which david Kelsey, hans Frei, and george Lindbeck stand as prime examples;4 the communal approach, which is associated with Stanley hauerwas in particular, and which may also be linked with Stephen Fowl;5 and an eclectic approach, which treier suggests is personified by Francis Watson.6 this is not to mention the other strands of theological 160 ■ He rme n e utics an d tHe cHurcH interpretation stemming from the Roman catholic church and evangelical circles.7 if the goal is to let augustine set the parameters for dialogue, then it makes sense—in light of the previous chapter’s discussion—to place augustine into dialogue with the position that treier describes as “Reading with Others.”8 Still, if treier’s diagnosis is correct—that the core proposal of the “movement” “theological interpretation of scripture” concerns the church—then there will inevitably be overlap with the other positions. Because of his nuanced position, Stephen Fowl represents a good theologian with whom to place augustine into dialogue. By doing so, the distinctiveness of augustine’s approach will become visible, and in the course of discussion, it will become apparent that his program helps balance some potential weaknesses in Fowl’s. But as the introduction stated, this is not an exercise in using augustine to criticize a bad example of theological interpretation. the goal is for augustine’s example to make a strong program stronger. throughout the preceding chapters, it has become increasingly clear that augustine’s treatise is not intended to guard his practice from the start in a theoretical sense; that is, De doctrina represents an a posteriori hermeneutics because its goal is the training of ministers who will read scripture to find out what god’s will is so that they can turn to deliver this message to a congregation. this congregation comprises people who need to hear a message from outside, who need to be persuaded to act in accordance with god’s will. Yet augustine’s hermeneutics cannot simply be labeled “local” because he makes use of several rather general discussions in order to elucidate the ongoing practice of interpreting scripture for delivering its message to a congregation. i have described De doctrina as an expanded hermeneutics, that is, a hermeneutics that—in contrast to hermeneutics since Schleiermacher—includes a turn to rhetoric. to reiterate, De doctrina does not represent a hermeneutics and a rhetoric. Further, it is not just a hermeneutics influenced by rhetoric . instead, it is a hermeneutics that encompasses rhetoric. Within any act of theological interpretation, a turn to delivery is involved. Without this turn to delivery, the interpretation is necessarily incomplete . For augustine, the delivery envisioned is paradigmatically [44.197.114.92] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:18 GMT) De doctrina christiana and the theological interpretation of Scripture ■ 161 that of the sermon to a congregation. Other forms are assumed, but these are only extensions of the primary act of preaching. the dual focus on understanding and delivery will become important as the current chapter progresses. Fowl perhaps comes closest to augustine in the dual focus on the relationship between scripture and the ecclesial community.9 Fowl’s program is by all appearances augustinian, though he ends up making moves that augustine would not.10 For Fowl, scripture has an extrinsic use. in other words, scripture is important insofar as it is a tool put to a particular use by a specific community. to interpret scripture is to use it to move closer to god. this construal stands in contrast to augustine, whose language is comparable but who thinks scripture has an intrinsic telos. it is itself, on the basis of its internal structure...