In what follows the reader will find twelve "rules" that I have set forth to define the nature and goals of the practice of Scriptural Reasoning (SR). The rules are authored by one person who cannot be seen to represent the diverse views of the many people who participate in SR activities. However, given these limitations, this Handbook is written for heuristic and pedagogic purposes to introduce Scriptural Reasoning to those who have little experience in and knowledge of the practice of SR. These rules were presented to the SR Theory Group at Cambridge University in May of 2004 where I received extensive comments. I use the notion of a "rule" rather than a "principle" or "statement" because SR is first a practice and then a set of ideas and a theory. The rules emerged from my observations of SR practice and taken together the rules are meant to be a guide or "handbook" for future SR practice.After presenting the twelve rules in list form, I return to each rule to explicate it in more detail. I then conclude with a brief description of how SR is done. The description focuses more on necessary conditions and attitudes than rigid steps and instructions.
A. Twelve Rules of Scriptural Reasoning (SR)
In speaking about his objective in translating the tales of Nahman of Bratslav in July of 1906 Martin Buber said, “In general it is not my goal to gather new facts, but rather solely to give a new interpretation of their coherence, a new synthetic presentation of Jewish mystics and their creations.” Before his death, in responding to harsh criticism of his translations of the Hasidic tales, Buber referred to his work as an attempt “to convey to our own time the force of a former life of faith.” His task, as Gershom Scholem once pointed out in derision, was not primarily historical; it was not a process of fact gathering, but it was hermeneutical. He aimed to present a new interpretation of the Hasidic tales of the past which would render them relevant to the crisis of the contemporary reader.
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