Slaves, Women & Homosexuals - a book review
Posted on December 8 2009. Comments: 4
Posted by:
Grace Hwa-Young Adams
William Webb proposes a cultural/transcultural assessment of the Bible that can be used for dealing with various social issues today. Webb's book raises important issues in biblical interpretation and application.
Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis by William Webb
1. Webb’s Argument
The Bible was written to specific cultural situations and some parts are so dependent upon the original setting that they cannot apply directly to today e.g. footwashing. Webb’s quest is to distinguish the parts of the Bible that are ‘culturally confined’ from the ‘transcultural’ ones to decide which are applicable to today’s context.
To achieve this, he proposes eighteen criteria which can be used for the cultural/transcultural assessment of the Bible. In discussing each criterion 1) He establishes each criterion from ‘neutral examples’ that have been widely agreed by the church i.e. slavery. 2) He applies it to more debated issues i.e. re: women and homosexuality. 3) He evaluates the criterion and summarizes the assessment results regarding the two issues. 4) Each criterion is considered ‘persuasive’, ‘moderately persuasive’ or ‘inclusive’ according to the degree of its contribution to a particular issue.
Based on his cultural assessment, Webb argues for a ‘complimentary egalitarian’ position regarding the issue relating to women, and the ‘marital heterosexuality only’ position regarding the issue of homosexuality. Webb devotes a significant proportion of the book to arguing for his position regarding the issue of women.
Webb presents his criteria in a hermeneutical framework referred to as a ‘Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic,’ which according to Webb, ‘engages the redemptive spirit of the text in a way that moves the contemporary appropriation of the text beyond its original-application framing.’ The ‘spirit’ here is referring to the underlying ‘force’ of the biblical text that enables a movement towards the direction of an ‘ultimate ethic’ in a given culture. Such movement can be categorized as ‘absolute’ in which case an ‘ultimate ethic’ is found in the text demanding a direct application to today’s setting. Alternatively, the movement can be ‘preliminary’ where a further movement beyond the ethic presented in the text needs to be sought towards the ‘ultimate ethic’ before direct application. Webb develops his cultural assessment criteria based on this concept of ‘redemptive movement.’
2. Evaluation
a. Seeing the Bible as…
Webb’s vocabulary and argument reflect a particular view of the Bible that the Bible is essentially a ‘social-ethical’ document that records guidelines or commands about how people should relate to each other. Webb discusses the purpose of the Bible as a guide towards an ‘ultimate ethic’ i.e. ethics that reflect ‘a more just, more equitable and more loving form.’ Webb’s interest is in the application of the ‘social-ethics’ (‘what to practice and what not to’). He sees his work as a means to reconciling the ‘troublesome texts’ that seem unethical to the God of justice and equity.
Two issues are raised here. Firstly, the ‘social-ethical’ view of the Bible is read into the purpose and the function of the Bible and this thoroughly influences his proposed hermeneutical method. His view of the Bible is not justified with biblical evidence but presupposed. However, to see the Bible merely as being ‘social-ethical’ is reductionistic. The Bible reveals who God is and His sovereign acts towards humanity (theological and witnessing element), and in light of these, how His covenant people should live in their relationship with God, people and creation (ethical element). An interpretative method that aims to find only the ‘social ethics’ is not capable of dealing with these multiple dimensions of the Bible. For example, how can such method be used for the book of Hosea to discover a ‘better ethic’ where a man is commanded to marry a prostitute? It raises problems because the book is not merely socially and ethically driven.
Secondly, Webb’s personal view of the Bible impacts on not only his method but also his ‘use’ of biblical texts in his demonstrations of the method. Webb often seems to fail in distancing his personal ‘horizon of understanding’ from that of the text thus approaches the text with bias, that is, with an interest of finding ‘social-ethics.’ For example, Webb argues that Gal 3:28 and other ‘in-Christ’ texts intend to convey a sociological implication of gender equality. However, it seems that Paul intends a theological statement in Gal 3:28 and the sociological implications of his theology are found in other parts of the epistle such as Gal 5:13f.
b. Application without Exegesis
Application without exegesis is not complete. A careful exegesis that studies into the historical, linguistic and literary context, genre, biblical theology etc must be undertaken in order to discover the meaning of the text before its significance can be found. However, Webb discusses a method for application without engaging the role of exegesis.
Webb’s neglect of the exegetical process is displayed not only in his discussion of the hermeneutical method but also in his use of biblical texts throughout the book. For example, Webb often uses biblical texts at the verse level out of their contexts, and treats the NT and OT texts as homogenous without considering the particular covenantal period that they belong in. The diverse literary genres used and their implications on hermeneutics are not considered.
c. Other Comments
- The concept of the ‘spirit’ of the text is arbitrary. It overlooks the author’s intent and his communicative action.
- The method of beginning with a specific issue and looking for answers in the Bible is encouraged (c.f. starting with the Bible to apply its teaching to the present context). This method is subject to taking the Biblical texts out of their context to support a particular view.
- All biblical statements (even theological assertions like “God is holy”) were written in cultural guise i.e. in human language. In light of this, attempts to distinguish culture-bound content from transcultural content are misguided.
- Demonstration of applying a model or a set of criteria does not equal evaluation. The method for determining whether a criterion is persuasive/moderately persuasive/inclusive is overly subjective.
- The role of the Holy Spirit in the process of hermeneutics and application is not mentioned.
d. Strengths
Despite the above, Webb’s work has the strength of bringing attention to an important aspect in biblical interpretation i.e. the historical-cultural aspect. Some of his criteria can provide some insights into the cultural elements of the Bible.
Conclusion
Webb’s work raises important issues regarding biblical interpretation. Among many, it reveals how one’s pre-understanding regarding the purpose and the function of the Bible can thoroughly impact on his development of a method for interpreting the Bible and his ‘use’ of the Bible. It reveals limitations of a method that reduces the Bible to one dimension, such as, a ‘social-ethical’ dimension. It reveals the fallacies arising from neglecting exegesis at the cost of focusing on application. On a positive note, Webb’s method, in particular, criteria 4-16, can be a supplementing aid in one’s attempt to consider cultural elements in the Bible.
Bibliography
Bray, Gerald. Biblical Interpretation: Past & Present (Apollos: Downer Grove, 1996).
Carson, Don. Biblical Interpretation and the Church (Nelson: Nashville, 1984).
Carson, Don. Exegetical Fallacies (Baker Books: Grand Rapids, 1996).
Klein, W.W, Blomberg, C.L. and Hubbard Jr, R.L. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Word: Dallas, 1993).
Osborne, Grant. The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (IVP: Downers Grove, 1991).
Webb, William. Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis (IVP: Downers Grove, 2001).
Vanhoozer, Kevin. God, Scripture & Hermeneutics: First Theology (IVP: Downers Grove, 2002).
Comments
Tuesday, 08 December 2009
Luke Isham says:
Good review Grace,
It’s interesting that Webb’s method seems application driven as opposed to exegesis driven.
Webb goes head to head with Kasier and Vanhoozer in a brand new book from the Counterpoint series called: Four Views on Moving beyond the Bible to Theology.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Grace Adams says:
Hi Tim, sorry for replying so late! I’ve been waiting for a new lap top to arrive and it is here, thanks to God’s generosity!
The basis for the importance of the historical-cultural aspect of hermeneutics is undeniable, as you know. The biblical documents were written to quite specific historical situations so a great gulf exists between the original writer/reader and the today’s reader. We are removed from them by different time, culture and language so meaning of the text is not always clear to us. The basic message of salvation is clear but there are a lot that are complicated. So engaging in a study of the historical-cultural context is a crucial part of biblical interpretation.
The historical-cultural aspect is, as with most things, in danger of being underplayed or overplayed, I think. With the advance in anthropological studies, some put too much weight on the historical-cultural aspects even when the cultural aspects are not significant for the meaning of the text. On the other hand, with the recent rise of literary criticism, some put too little weight on historical-cultural aspects and their emphasis is entirely on the literary aspects. Your area of interest can often drive your exegesis.
So, a more balanced approach is, I think, to stick with the hermeneutical principles we learn in our Hermeneutics class and biblical exegesis subjects! A study into historical-cultural context should always be done in conjunction with other steps of exegesis like doing a careful translation, looking at textual matters, literary aspects, word studies, grammatical structure and biblical and systematic theology.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Grace Adams says:
Hi Luke,
It sounds like a book worth checking out! I’d be particularly interested in Vanhoozer’s interaction with Webb’s approach. Thanks, Luke.
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Tuesday, 08 December 2009
Tim Foster says:
Hi Grace, thanks for your review. It sounds like a disappointing book really.
You mention that Webb brings to our attention the historical-cultural aspect of hermeneutics. Is there a better basis for this than Webb provides? Is the historical-cultural aspect in danger of being underplayed? How can we give it the right weight in hermeneutics?
Tim