There’s no bigger problem in ones study of the biblical writings than ones hermeneutics. Simply defined, hermeneutics is the science of scripture interpretation. What affects our hermeneutics, however, is our paradigm. In fact, if we all had the same paradigm, same IQ, and spent the same amount of time.
in our study of the writings, we would all draw the same conclusions. But, alas, God never made clones, people do that.
It was the Jewish paradigm that kept the majority of them from entering the Anointed’s kingdom. Jesus addressed it when he said, “No man puts new wine in old wine skins.” He knew that a new paradigm was necessary if they were going to be able to accept him.
Since we all obtained our paradigms from authority figures in our life such as parents, teachers, coaches and preachers, they rule our basic precepts and value systems. Let me quote Kuhn and Philip E Johnson.
“A paradigm is not merely a hypothesis, which can be discarded if it fails a single experimental test. It is a way of looking at the world, or some part of it, and scientists understand even the anomalies in its terms. According to Kuhn, anomalies by themselves never falsify a paradigm, because its defenders can resort to ad hoc hypotheses to accommodate any potentially disconfirming evidence. A paradigm rules until it is replaced by another paradigm… Kuhn described experimental evidence showing that ordinary people tend to see what they have been trained to see, and fail to see what they know ought not to be present. The finest scientists are no exception. On the contrary, because they are dependent upon inferences and upon observations that are difficult to make, they are particularly prone to paradigm-influenced misperception.”
Let me emphasize two major points of the above quote. 1) “…anomalies (things that don’t fit) by themselves never falsify a paradigm..”
When we hear things that do not fit what we’ve been taught as gospel, our tendency is to reject it out of hand. Our brain shuts down and refuses to consider the subject. The reason is simple. If we considered the subject we might be forced into changing our paradigm and that would be painful. No one likes change, especially to his way of thinking.
Jesus actually explained the problem the Jews had with new wine skins. Their attitude was simple, “. …the old is BETTER.” (Luke 5:36-39, emphasis mine)
That really explains the problem, doesn’t it? It’s not a question of whether the old is right, it’s just better. it’s comfortable. It’s traditional. It’s simple, It is the way things ought to be and remain. This explains why the Jews rejected Jesus outright. He simply didn’t conform to their paradigm — their idea of what the Messiah was supposed to be.
2) “…ordinary people tend to see what they have been trained to see, and fail to see what they know ought not to be present…”
I’m afraid Kuhn was being a little arrogant as he talks about “ordinary people” as if these exist in some unknown Eden, extraordinary people unaffected by paradigms. Such people do not exist in this reality. However, what he said is certainly true. People do tend to see what they’ve always been taught to believe and are generally blind to things that shouldn’t be included.
Simply put, paradigms can be real killers when it comes to truth seeking and our paradigm concerning biblical things is especially deadly. If this isn’t true, then why all the diverse religions in Christianity and the splintering even among the sects themselves? You can imagine how ridiculous all this division must appear in the eyes of unbelievers
And consider the extremes measures that paradigms have led to today and historically. The militant Islamic view that states that the United States is the great Satan and the world would be a better place if Americans were dead. So we see the destruction of the Twin Towers and attacks against Americans
everywhere. This paradigm is taught to their children and accepted. We consider them crazy and yet we are influenced just as deeply by our own paradigms.
One must remember, a person’s paradigm speaks nothing to whether the view is true or false, only that it is pervasive in our thinking. This pervasiveness is what makes it difficult in the extreme to examine closely another’s point of view. That’s why you here the old saw, “I will discuss anything but politics and religion.”
It was the influence of paradigm that inspired the Great Spanish Inquisition, resulting in the torturing and burning at the stake “heretics” across the European continent. In the examples already mentioned, militant Islam and “inquisitive” Christianity, the penalty was death to those that dared not share the pervasive paradigm.
Even in this land of religious tolerance you have the sordid example of a paradigm run amok in the Salem witch hunt in Massachusetts. We could multiply examples but you get the point.
In today’s evangelical religious atmosphere, heretics are “burned at the stake” by snubbing, excommunication, separation and any other means deemed appropriate by the majority view. After all, isn’t that what heresy is, going against the grain of the majority.
If we are going to be different and a truth seeker, we are going to have to examine our belief system carefully. We must ask ourselves where the fountain of our paradigm sprang. Did we arrive by independent and careful thought and study? Have we ever believed something to be true and later found out it wasn’t? We must be willing to step out of our paradigms without hanging our brains on the wall..
I will make a personal confession here. After having put in hundreds and hundreds of hours of bible study and years of authoritatively pontificating on many themes, I discovered I had been wrong about a great many things. I had accepted as true things that had guided and influenced my personal study and interpretation. I believed many untruths because they had “preached good” and were spoken by men I admired and wanted to emulate. I had laid a foundation upon the sand and I was truly appalled at the resultant collapse. Sigh.. Oh the strength and power of paradigms.
You may be a beginner in your search for biblical truth or you may have been around the sun a few more times like some, but it is never too late to consider your own paradigm. You can do better.
John
http://biblemaverick.com
