The Hermeneutics of Participation: Missional Interpretation of Scripture and Readerly Formation (Studies in Missional Hermeneutics, Theology, and Praxis)

Many theological interpreters of Scripture have claimed that church practices produce well-formed readers. But which practices? Greg McKinzie argues that missional hermeneutics challenges the church to include participation in God's mission among the indispensable components of readerly formation. After a quarter century of contemporary reflection on missional theology, however, the meaning of participation in God's mission remains vague. In order to explain why it is a critical hermeneutical experience, therefore, McKinzie sets out to develop a theological account of missional participation that incorporates the concepts of theosis, embodied narrativity, and solidarity. Then, in conversation with the hermeneutical phenomenology of Paul Ricoeur, the study suggests how theologically recontextualizing a model of the movement from embodied commitments to textual interpretation in terms of participation in God's mission illuminates the epistemic reconstitution of the church's theological interpretation of Scripture. Understanding participation in God's mission as theological interpretation's proper locus theologicus should reorient the notion of readerly formation because the formation of missional readers is the process in which God opens the reading community's embodied eyes of faith through the works of faith seeking understanding.

Greg McKinzie (PhD in Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary) is an assistant professor at Abilene Christian University's Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry (Abilene, TX). He is also an affiliate assistant professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and formerly served as a cross-cultural missionary (Arequipa, Peru) and a missions minister (Murfreesboro, TN). Greg writes and podcasts regularly on theology, discipleship, mission, and culture at www.theologyontheway.com.

JOEL B. GREEN is Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean for the Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. His publications include Jesus of Nazareth: Lord and Christ and The Gospel according to Mark: Introduction and Commentary for the Asbury Bible Commentary. He has also authored numerous other books and articles both scholarly and popular.