ABSTRACT
This introduction begins by describing the distinctive hermeneutical problem of Scripture, illustrated by the use of Nehemiah in modern American political discourse to support Donald Trump's border wall. To be authoritative, Scripture must be stable; to be relevant, Scripture must be heard and applied in new ways. Everyone assumes that applying the Bible to the present situation is part of what Scripture is for, and these applications are treated as authoritative. Yet different interpreters use vastly different hermeneutical methods, often arriving at competing and contradictory understandings of what the Bible means. How can Scripture be authoritative given how often, when it comes to applying it, we seem to disagree fundamentally about what it means? Simple answers cannot do justice to the complexity of the Bible's reception history, nor explain the predictable and principled shape our disagreements often take. Hans-Georg Gadamer's analysis of understanding using the dynamics of Spiel shows how our disagreements over Scripture can be principled, perhaps even predictable. His description of the hermeneutical experience suggests how we might tarry within the space opened up by the irresolvable tension between authority and relevance.
