Apart from its literary context, the parable of the Good Samaritan is commonly understood to teach a simple moral: act like the Samaritan. Closer attention to its Lukan context, however, reveals that this parable is serving the larger purpose of teaching one how to interpret the Law, made particularly evident by the questions that closely precede the parable: "What is in the Law, and how do you read it?" Through a close reading of the parable's grammar, structure, and narrative context, one discovers that the parable illustrates how life-giving interpretation of Torah is characterized by compassion, action, and solidarity with the suffering. The priest and Levite function as foils—those whose embodiment of the Law attests to a distorted interpretation of Torah. The Samaritan, in contrast, embodies a surprisingly exemplary reading of Torah. There is also good reason to suspect another twist at the end of the parable, one that invites the reader to adopt the point of view of the parable's victim, thereby teaching that proper interpretation of the Law must take into account the perspective of the suffering and marginalized.
This article opens with an example of what a Christian interpretive paradigm might look like. For help with this, it turns to Augustine's De Doctrina Christiana (DDC), which will be shown to have a hermeneutic with a priori theological convictions. Augustine's ecclesially located exegetical framework results in a hermeneutic that (1) calls for humble, submissive, and virtuous readers; (2) highly values authorial communicative intent; (3) is nonetheless open to polysemy; and (4) delimits interpretations by appealing to the rule of faith, the double love commandment, and clearer canonical texts. Insights from DDC are then brought into conversation with the hermeneutical paradigms of Räisänen and Stendahl. In brief, Augustine's hermeneutic clashes with Räisänen's, because Augustine reads Scripture from the standpoint of Christian faith, whereas Räisänen attempts to read from a so-called neutral standpoint. Regarding Stendahl's exclusive privileging of authorial intent, an ecclesially located theology would seem to challenge Stendahl because of (1) how NT writers often seem to read OT texts beyond the intent of the OT author, and (2) the inability of sola scriptura to determine crucial theological doctrines. The last section of this article notes how Augustine's approach to delimiting polysemic interpretations holds together many of the strengths offered by contemporary theological interpreters, including Max Turner, Richard Hays, Joel Green, Stephen Fowl, A. K. M. Adam, Richard Briggs, and others. The hope is that, by bringing DDC into the conversation, this article can contribute to the elusive task of making room for, while simultaneously bounding, polysemy in biblical interpretation.
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