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Meaning, intention, and application: Speech act theory in the hermeneutics of Francis Watson and Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Trinity Journal, Fall 2002 by Blue, Scott A
What about Watson's insistence that the church as a community of faith is the central claimant of the biblical text? "The primary reading community within which the biblical text is located," claims Watson, "is the Christian church."82 How might Vanhoozer respond? Initially, one must recognize that Vanhoozer's work addresses hermeneutics in general rather than Watson's more exclusive treatment of the biblical text. But Vanhoozer might not be so quick to rule out Watson's approach, because he views hermeneutics as a theological endeavor. He speculates that the reason philosophers, literary critics, and biblical exegetes have such difficulty with the question of whether meaning exists in texts is because "behind this hermeneutical question lurks philosophical and theological issues that are all too often overlooked."83 Vanhoozer, though, states that the issue of determinate meaning is "a thoroughly theological question."84 Why? Because "beliefs that have to do with God, the world, and ourselves are implicit in the views interpreters take on the nature of the author, text, and reader."85 Is Watson justified in his exclusive characterization of the church as the primary interpreter of Scripture? While Vanhoozer does not answer the question directly, he might nevertheless find value in Watson's concern for the church, as a theological community, to take seriously its role as interpreter of the biblical text.
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The final component of Watson's biblical theological approach concerns the role of the world in interpretation. Watson does assert that the church is the primary reading community of the biblical text but vigorously states:
The biblical story refuses to permit its own enclosure and confinement within the walls of the church, but requires the community of faith to look outwards into the conflict-ridden sociopolitical sphere in which it is of course already located and implicated. It is crucially important to emphasize not only the hermeneutical significance of the Christian community as the primary location of the biblical texts, but also the world as the primary location of the Christian community.86
Watson thus views the world as a participant in the interpretive process, having the power to shape and reject biblical meaning. Vanhoozer takes a more restrictive approach to the role of the world in hermeneutics in discussing the responsibilities of the reader. Unlike postmodern critics, Vanhoozer states that the reader should respect the author's meaning in a text, not create his or her own. His ethical approach
is one that acknowledges the right of the text to have its own say first. Such an approach begins by inquiring about the illocutionary aspect of texts. We judge a communicative act primarily on the basis of its intrinsic aim and interest, by the work it does or fails to do.87
This does not mean, however, that Vanhoozer disagrees completely with Watson that the world places restrictions on interpretation. Vanhoozer acknowledges that "we must be willing to part company with texts that we conclude are potentially harmful."88 The difference lies in the fact that Watson views the world's role within interpretation, while Vanhoozer discusses it in relation to its obedience to an author's intended meaning.
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