Barefoot in the wilderness
in search of understanding

He makes a good point. It seems to me that proof-texting seems to be main way that people debate the meaning of scripture, not least at the average church bible study group. Since such a method leads to a great variety of interpretations it leads to loss of confidence in the text. People then begin to doubt the existence of truth outside of subjective experience.

FWIW.

Stephen () (URL)
12:34pm on 09 June 2005

Interesting. The church cultures that are most prone to proof-texting are, ISTM, those that lean most towards a “straightforward” method of reading the Bible. That is, they accept what they see at face value with no attempt to go deeper. That is the danger of proof-texting – that we fail to engage with the wider context. And that does reduce the number of interpretations that are possible for a text – seeing one verse in context both for itself and the wider context of the Bible in general. However, it also prevents us reducing the richness of the text down to a simplistic “straightforward” reading, because the “plain face” meaning may be neither simple nor correct.

pax et bonum

[John] () (URL)
1:25pm on 09 June 2005

I think looking for the “plain meaning” is the only sensible place to start. However, with maturity, the “plain meaning” becomes conditioned by wider biblical knowledge.

I think “proof-texting” may have an interesting history worth looking into. I wonder whether “proof texts” were originally intended to be illustrative rather than definitive in, for example, the confessions and creeds. How else can you justify a doctrinal position simply without producing a lengthy argument?

However, we may have got to the point in recent times where lazy Christians mistake the apparent simplicity of proof-texts for a method of argumentation.

But otherwise I couldn’t agree more! So why do we differ, then?

Stephen () (URL)
4:42pm on 11 June 2005

I think you’re probably right about the origins of proof-texting. It is, of course, quite correct that we quote the Bible to provide evidence for our beliefs; the error comes in thinking that a quotation provides proof of them!

pax et bonum

[John] () (URL)
10:16am on 14 June 2005