Two short italicised extracts from Sean's Whitley Lecture give a good indication of what he is proposing as a Baptist Covenantal approach to interpreting the Bible:
Biblical interpretation in covenantal perspective should be understood as the church's active, diverse and ongoing engagement with the biblical texts.
A Baptist, covenantal hermeneutic will permit interpretive diversity and disagreement as a hallmark of the church's life and not insist on particular interpretive decisions as the necessary hallmark of being 'biblical'.
Embedded in a magisterial, though still developing lecture, these proposals offer important and liberating principles that could enable Baptists both to take the Bible seriously, and accept that differences of biblical interpretation can be seen as both enriching corrective and shared responsiveness in our task of living under the rule of Christ. The underlying assumption is that if we are met together in covenanted fellowship in Christ, then that foundational covenant agreement should be strong enough to support significant difference, enable us to agree to differ and respect our differences, and continue talking towards, and walking towards, a shared understanding in seeking to discern the mind of Christ.
Listening to Sean eloquently and persuasively arguing for such interpretive diversity within a covenanted unity raised the thought:
the maturity of a Baptist community could well be measured by its capacity to allow, encourage and practice the interpretation of Scripture, believing that differences in interpretations of Scripture are to be subsumed under the greater responsibility to live out our covenanted relationship with each other in Christ, within the diversity of the community Christ Himself has called together.
In other words, as we explore, discuss, disagree, try to agree on the meaning of the biblical texts, we presuppose as a prior principle, our shared relationship with the living Christ, and our sincere goal of hearing and obeying His call. That call to obedient living is often mediated through the faithful questioning of a community engaged in listening...to Christ through Scripture, and to Scripture interpreted by a community held together by covenant and trustful of the Spirit, who bears witness to Christ amongst us and within us.
Those of us who heard Sean's lecture, now look forward to the intended expansion of his reflections into a full monograph. As Baptist Christians too often tempted to claim 'biblical' for our point of view, and to represent any other view as 'unbiblical', we sorely need such wise, generous and capable guidance. Thank you Sean for a good evening of thinking and rethinking about an area of our life together that is both crucially important and culpably neglected.
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