Quote

“It can seem as if biblical scholars are the privileged interpreters of scripture. They alone can determine what the Bible means. But the Bible was written for believing communities, not critics, and real biblical interpretation when scripture does something to such a community. When the church places special emphasis on an academic and critical approach to scripture, it easily sets up a new of priestly control of the community by a guild of experts whose work is authoritarian, not in the sense that it cannot be questioned, but in the sense that it is the privileged responsibility of an elite.”—John Goldingay in Models of Interpretation of Scripture

<idle musing>
I like his emphasis on transformation: "real biblical interpretation when scripture does something to such a community." Without transformation, scripture is a dead stack of paper with letters on it—and transformation can only happen through the power of the Holy Spirit.
</idle musing>