Abstract
The title of this succinct but significant work points to the problem it addresses; the subtitle introduces the method it proposes for approaching the problem. This problem, detailed in the second chapter of the book, involves the exploration of various questions about the interpretation and ethical application of challenging biblical injunctions, such as the endorsement of slavery (Exod 21:2−11), the requirement for unmarried victims of rape to marry their attackers (Deut 22:28−29), and the legitimation of the inhuman treatment of non-Israelites in the community (Lev 25:44−46). Anderson does not offer her own interpretations of every problematic biblical text of this sort. Instead, motivated by a desire to affirm and respect biblical authority and by the quite accurate observation that biblical interpretation—in the pew and in the academy alike—tends to “pick and choose” which among these texts to take “literally,” she advocates a hermeneutic that “is both critical and inclusive” (p. 7).
By “critical,” Anderson means an approach that evaluates scripture against its culture/context, the worldview it expresses, and the ideology that undergirds it, rather than an approach that simply takes at face value and makes application without reflection. By “inclusive,” she means an approach to biblical texts that is aware of the human dimensions of the biblical text—that is, aware that the biblical text also documents the bias and self-interest of the human beings who recorded it. In particular, the inclusiveness principle calls for the recognition that the Bible reflects the norms of a culture that under-valued or devalued entire classes of human beings: women, foreigners, and slaves—in sum, the marginalized and powerless. Inclusive interpretation seeks to avoid the pitfall of perpetuating these cultural norms by affirming, instead, that the God of the Exodus and of Easter opposes these restrictive norms.
In order to undergird and develop this hermeneutic, Anderson examines the books of Ruth and Esther as examples of biblical texts rich in possibility when viewed from a critical and inclusive perspective. Both books tell the stories of women disadvantaged by the structures of societies designed to marginalize women and foreigners. Both books raise myriad questions concerning their unorthodox methods of survival in such disadvantaged circumstances. Anderson also uncovers the inclusive impulse at the core of Jesus’ preaching and Paul’s teaching. She uncovers this core because, in some cases, the interpreter must turn a critical eye to the text in order to expose its central thrust. To round out the body of the study, Anderson demonstrates the hermeneutical approaches evident in the work of three key leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s concept of the “Word of God,” not as the letter of scripture but as the encounter with the living Word of God through scripture, especially when preached, manifests his dynamic view of scripture. Similarly, Calvin looked “beyond the letter of the law to investigate God’s intention behind the law” (p. 121), and Wesley emphasized the importance of the spirit of the law.
In a somewhat unexpected concluding chapter, Anderson suggests an analogy to the method of biblical interpretation she propounds in the history of the interpretation of “the fundamental documents of the United States” (p. 155). Specifically, she traces the increasingly inclusive application of the central phrase “all men are created equal” from a limitation to “white, male property owners” to an at least official racial, gender, and class equality under the law. American society, she contends, can travel even further down the path to true inclusivity and must do so if it is to actualize its stated ideals.
In sum, Ancient Laws does not prescribe interpretations of specific biblical texts. Instead, it contemplates the contours of an approach to scripture that free both the scripture and its reader from the strictures of culture bondage, challenging its readers to read scripture, in turn, as a whole in the light of the liberating Gospel message.