Perspectives and Pratt (II)

OK. Let me try and be a little clearer.

John Frame says (if I understand him correctly) that, in the act of God making himself known to me, there are 3 perspectives through which this can be viewed.

• The normative perspective: God is out there to be known.
• The situational perspective: The event of God making himself known and me discovering his revelation
• The existential perspective: The “me” who is learning about God through his revelation.

These are primarily perspectives on God’s lordship: He has authority (N), is in control (S), and is present (E).

Pratt says that, as we consider the means the Spirit uses to teach us the meaning of the OT, there are 3 main influences upon us to recognise. They correlate (I think) to these perspectives:

• There’s where we are as disciples of Christ (E);
• the community, past and present, with whom we are in conversation (S);
• the actual text that we are studying (N).

Now let’s look at those in turn.

Where we are:

• We are seeking to conform our thoughts, behaviour and emotions to God’s standards (N);
• We each have our own distinctive personality that affects what we see when we read a text (E);
• We each have a vocation; we are each reading the text for a particular reason (S).

The community we discuss with may be an influence we yield to reluctantly. The church and theology should be led by Scripture, not the other way around. But, properly understood, these influences are mutually inforcing. They are, after all, perspectives on the one God. So we need all three of these in conversation:

• Biblical Theology – the story of God’s redemptive action (S);
• Systematic Theology – the concerns that the rest of the Bible has taught us to regard as important matters (E);
• Exegetical Theology – the actual study of the text in front of us (N).

Our exegesis can be done with 3 main approaches:

• Thematic Analysis – picking up on themes in the text, which may or may not be major themes, but they matter to us so we notice them (E);
• Historical Analysis – what events actually occured, and how do they fit in the flow of the Bible. See through the narrative to the events behind (S);
• Literary Analysis – how is the finished account crafted to make an impact upon the readers (N).

All of which has one immensely reassuring corollary. If these manifold influences that shape our reading of the Old Testament are themselves all different perspectives on God’s lordship, then ultimately (as Pratt said right at the start), these influences are the Spirit’s means to teach us. The daily newspapers present different accounts of the same events, all asking us to accept their perspective. But God’s Spirit is the one, first cause behind all these secondary influences. Reassuring.