User:Vejlefjord/Draft Lead

2.0 ==Christian biblical hermeneutics== “. . . . follows a similar trail.” New 2.1

Diverse interpretations
Biblical scholars have noted the diversity of interpretations by Protestants and to a lesser extent by Catholics.


 * Protestants. In his forward to R. C. Sproul’s Knowing Scripture, J. I. Packer observes that Protestant theologians are in conflict about biblical interpretation. To illustrate the diversity of biblical interpretations, William Yarchin pictures a shelf full of religious books saying different things, but all claiming to be faithful interpretations of the Bible. Bernard Ramm observed that such diverse interpretations underly the “doctrinal variations in Christendom.” A mid-19th century book on biblical interpretation observed that even those who believe the Bible to be “the word of God” hold “the most discordant views” about fundamental doctrines. This discord is as old as the Bible and “it would seem to be destined to be perpetual.”


 * Catholics. The Catholic Church asserts the “capital importance of biblical interpretation” and Catholic scholars recognize some “diversity in the Bible.” This allows for an “openness” of interpretation as long as it stays within the Catholic Church’s theological Tradition. So it is that “theological factors set the parameters” for interpreting the Scripture that Catholics believe to be the “word of God.” Such parameters disallow the “widely differening interpretations” that make it possible for Protestants to prove “almost anything” by the Bible.