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When we neglect the goals of the ancient literature and instead use the literature to accomplish our own goals, we engage in a cultural imposition that subordinates what the ancients considered as the reality and values of their literature (i.e., their illocutions [intended communications]) to what we moderns consider to be a higher pursuit. We will never achieve a sound understanding of the literature, let a lone a legitimate understanding of biblical authority, if we are always judging its suitability for reaching our modern objectives. We need to start approaching the literature as their literature rather than simply transforming it into our literature from which we then draw theological inferences.—The Lost World of Scripture, page 201