Orthodox Hermeneutic Principles and Modern Western Hermeneutics

Abstract

In the Orthodox Christian Church, the practice of hermeneutics is according to basic principles which are manifest in the life of the Church. The Orthodox Wiki,
created by the Orthodox Church in America, presents ten principles of Orthodox hermeneutics in relation to the Bible:
1. God is real and is incarnated in our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything pertaining to the Scriptures must be understood Christologically. Jesus Christ is the only gate
through which we may enter into understanding of the Bible.
2. Only the pure in heart shall see God. Our spiritual state has a direct bearing on our interpretation of the Scriptures. One’s own holiness is directly relevant to the
ability to interpret the book correctly.
3. Understanding of the Scripture comes with living its contents. One must both have a pure mind and be trying to imitate the saints’ lives.
4. The primary end of Scriptural hermeneutics is that of the whole Christian life: deification. Our purpose in attempting to understand the Bible must not be merely for academic inquiry but rather must be in order to become fully divinized human beings.

5. Only within the community of the Church can the Bible be understood. It was written by the Church, in the Church and for the Church. Thus, it is a “family
document” which is the highest point of Holy Tradition.
6. The Scripture is a witness to the truth, not an exhaustive tome on Christian living. Nowhere in the words of Scripture itself can we find the teaching that it is all- sufficient for Christian life, but what we as Orthodox Christians do must always be consonant with the Scriptures.
7. We must respect the integrity of the canon of the Bible as given to us in the Church’s Tradition. Searches for other texts written by apostles or prophets are not
part of the hermeneutical project within the Church. Attempts to debunk the authorship or authenticity of the books in the canon are also outside the Church’s life.
8. We must use every resource at our disposal in interpreting the Scripture to bring ourselves and others to the knowledge of the truth, but there must be spiritual discernment in knowing how to use those resources.
9. We must have humility when approaching Scripture. We must be prepared to admit that our interpretations may be wrong, submitting them to the judgment of the
Church.
10. We may make use in a secondary fashion of the resources of academic scholarship, whether logic, archaeology, linguistics, et cetera, but only in conjunction with all these other hermeneutic principles.
The encounter of Orthodoxy with the philosophical hermeneutics developed in the West during the 19th-20th centuries is possible only on the basis of the last of the Orthodox hermeneutic principles listed here, which can be explained by the fact that modern Western hermeneutics:
1) arose to some extent under the influence of the Protestant Reformation and is therefore distant from the Orthodox Church tradition;
2) is essentially secular and philosophical in nature, and therefore oriented towards earthly wisdom;
3) considers the Biblical text (the Word of God) and other texts (the words of men) from the same perspective;
4) is characterized by subjectivism, relativism and pluralism, and therefore does not strive for objective truth, which is one and absolute;
5) depends on the demands of the time and is therefore always changing and biased.

None of the hermeneutical concepts of German philosophers (F. Schleiermacher, W. Dilthey, M. Heidegger, H.-G. Gadamer) meet the Orthodox criteria for the correct interpretation of the Bible.
Thus, next to Orthodox hermeneutic principles, modern Western hermeneutics appears very weak and essentially useless for the correct understanding of the
Scripture.

The error of modern Western hermeneutics in relation to the Scripture is also manifested in the fact that it almost completely ignores the Biblical teachings and
interpretations of the Holy Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The Bible demands from us both correct interpretation and righteous existence.
Such existence and interpretation contribute to each other’s perfection, and to man’s spiritual growth and eternal salvation. Ultimately, it can be said that, in relation to the Scripture, Orthodox hermeneutic
principles differ from modern Western hermeneutics not only methodologically, but also in purpose: the former seeks to adapt interpretation to the Bible, while the latter seeks to adapt the Bible to interpretation.

References:
OrthodoxWiki contributors. (2023). Hermeneutics. OrthodoxWiki. https://orthodoxwiki.org/Hermeneutics.

Ryan, M., Castle, G., Eaglestone, R., & Booker, M. K. (2011). The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory. Wiley-Blackwell.

St. Athanasius Orthodox Academy. (2008). The Orthodox Study Bible. Thomas Nelson.