Functional Interpretation and Biblical Theology: Reflections on Judaism as a Civilization in Relation to Scriptural Hermeneutics

In the twenty-sixth chapter of Judaism as a Civilization, Mordecai M. Kaplan lays out a program for what he calls the "functional interpretation" of the Bible and other classic Jewish texts. The issues with which Kaplan wrestles in this chapter, and in other passages in this work that contain discussions of the Bible and rabbinic literature, are common to virtually all modern scholars who attempt to read the Bible as scripture rather than as a mere artifact. (By this I mean those who view it not just as a fascinating anthology of Northwest Semitic texts from the Iron Age but as literature that carries weight and perhaps even authority for contemporary religious communities.) In this article I examine Kaplan's program of functional interpretation in light of some work by biblical scholars who hold this concern in common with Kaplan. In so doing I hope to see the ways in which Kaplan's model of functional interpretation does and does not aid a contemporary Jewish reader who wants to reclaim the Bible as sacred without renouncing the critical faculties that separate us from our medieval and ancient coreligionists—that is, those medieval Jews who believed (and, in many communities, continue to believe) that the Torah contains the stenographically recorded words of God to Israel at Sinai.

An important caveat must precede my analysis. My topic is functional interpretation as presented in Judaism as a Civilization, not Kaplan's biblical interpretation in general. A full examination of Kaplan's biblical hermeneutics would not limit itself to this one work but would take into account later texts. Moreover, it would attend especially to the wealth of unpublished sermons Kaplan delivered from his pulpit. Indeed, a particularly fascinating question for students of Kaplan would be to explore whether his post-1934 sermons did or did not hew to the program he laid out in the twenty-sixth chapter of his most seminal work. Such questions go beyond the scope of this article, which is not concerned with the historical rabbi, teacher, and scholar Mordecai Kaplan but with one especially seminal work he wrote.

Kaplan gives a clear summary of what he means by "functional interpretation":

Functional reinterpretation is concerned with man's yearning to find himself in a universe that is friendly to his highest purpose, to fulfill the most valued potentialities of his nature and to achieve a social order that is founded on justice and peace. These yearnings are as constant as human nature. If it is our purpose to continue any particular heritage, we can do so by reconstructing mentally the aspirations implied in its teachings and institutions. Every tradition is rich in these aspirations, for it could not have become one without them. By rendering these implications explicit, we supply momentum to all social and spiritual endeavors which have as their aim the unhampered and complete self-fulfillment of the individual and the increasing measure of cooperation among individuals and groups. This type of interpretation consists chiefly in disengaging from the mass of traditional lore and custom the psychological aspect which testifies to the presence of ethical and spiritual strivings. The effect of discovering the psychological element in a tradition is that the tradition ceases to be regarded as something to be accepted or rejected. A third alternative presents itself, that of employing it as a symbol for a spiritual desideratum in the present. Which desideratum it shall be can best be determined by choosing from among the implications and consequences of the tradition the one relevant for our day.¹

The core of the functional method of interpretation, then, is that it renders implications explicit, that is allows us to disengage the psychological elements of the texts at hand from a mass of lore and custom. At first blush, there seems to be little new or distinctive in this particular type of interpretation. After all, it is the goal of all interpretation to render implications explicit. Midrash halakhah and midrash aggadah read closely to find whole worlds of law and lore...