MYSTERY REVEALED

eaders have “a twofold responsibility towards the text: to determine to what kind of
communicative act a text belongs, and to respond to this communicative act in an
appropriate manner.” 86 A text whose primarily perspective is theological can be
expected to provoke a theological genre of reading. A responsible response to the text is
“to walk the middle way between conformity and creativity, neither slavishly repeating
nor freely inventing”. It is in the end all about “a creative obedience.” 87 Finally
Vanhoozer argues that his theological hermeneutics is guided by the main teachings of
the Christian heritage.
For me, interpretation is the positive attempt to recover the author’s enacted intention, in
all its complexity, and to relate it to the present. The doctrines of creation, Incarnation,
revelation, and reconciliation are the main theological ideas that inspire and govern my
approach. 88
An Integrative Approach
We may summarize Ricoeur’s hermeneutical objective by reminding of his ambition
to show that a literary structure and unit is not closed in itself, but reaches out, touches
the heart and mind of the reader and transforms the world of the reader. 89 From Ricoeur
I have learned to appreciate the potential of the text and understand the art of
interpretation as finding the direction of the text. This is the work of application. The
reader exposes himself to the text. It is not enough to explain the text, but to “decide
what it means today, and how it impinges on the individual and on society.” 90 Ricoeur
regard application as something that penetrates every hermeneutic project. He writes
that “application is not a contingent appendix added on to understanding and
explanation, but an organic part of every hermeneutic project.” 91 As we saw, Ricoeur
does not hesitate to use the language of ‘revelation’ when he describes the unfolding
possibilities of the text. On the contrary he draws on famous biblical concepts such as
“a new creation, a new Covenant, the Kingdom of God,” but he does so in a seemingly
86 Ibid. p.395.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid., p.458.
89 Vanhoozer, Biblical Narrative in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, p.233.
90 Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in the Text?,p.375.
91 Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, vol. 3, trans., Kathleen McLaughlin and David Pellauer, (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1988), p.3:158.
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