ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to deal with the question of how to discern the objects of interpretation—revelation that is mediated experientially, scripturally and ecclesially—that are relevant to the theological task. It seeks to sketch explicitly a hermeneutics of religious experience, a hermeneutics of the Word of God, and a hermeneutics of the ecclesial and theological tradition. The chapter examines only three of the many categories of experiential objects given to theological reflection: enthusiasm, ritual, and the mystical encounter. It explores the significance of the creative Word of God through J. L. Austin's speech-act theory which understands words simply uttered, words doing something, and words bringing something about. Matthias Wenk argues, for instance, that the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts is more than just the divine person who inspires the speech of the people of God. Interpretation thus begins with the self—more specifically, with the discernment of the self, and that always understood as the self-in-community.
