Tuesday, May 24, 2016

How do you read scripture?

Following Protestant tradition, Wesley adhered to the primacy of the literal sense, unless tensions in the text demanded something else; at that point he would allow a “spiritual” or allegorical, reading to circumvent the problem. However, in his soteriological reading of Scripture, Wesley is constantly interpreting with an eye to how Scripture converts and sanctifies.— Reading the Way to Heaven, page 93

<idle musing>
In other words, his hermeneutic was one of holiness. I like that, myself. I might phrase it a bit differently, but the substance would be the same. Maybe that's why I identify the most with the Holiness tradition (at its best, without the legalism that too often accompanies it).
</idle musing>

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