Book contents
- Calvin and the Christian Tradition
- Calvin and the Christian Tradition
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Translations
- A Note on Language
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 What Is Tradition?
- 2 Calvin, Tradition, and Exegesis
- 3 Calvin, Tradition, and Polemics
- 4 Calvin, Tradition, and Vernacular Works
- 5 Calvin, Tradition, and Doctrine
- 6 Tradition as a Historiographical and Cultural Problem
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Epilogue
Reading – Texts or Traditions?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 May 2022
- Calvin and the Christian Tradition
- Calvin and the Christian Tradition
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Translations
- A Note on Language
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 What Is Tradition?
- 2 Calvin, Tradition, and Exegesis
- 3 Calvin, Tradition, and Polemics
- 4 Calvin, Tradition, and Vernacular Works
- 5 Calvin, Tradition, and Doctrine
- 6 Tradition as a Historiographical and Cultural Problem
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Epilogue offers two different venues where the influence of claims to be able to avoid all tradition to arrive at truer readings are seen in modern society in the United States of America. These two are biblical literalism and constitutional originalism. The study examines a number of cases, both exegetical and legal. In each case, the rules for reading “correctly” and only according to the text are shown to be instead part of a complex reading tradition that foregrounds certain facets of the text while ignoring others. The argument is not that biblical literalists or constitutional originalists are wrong in their conclusions. Instead, the evidence demonstrates that the hermeneutical high ground that claims only to read the text with no further rules, traditions, or caveats – does not exist.
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- Calvin and the Christian TraditionScripture, Memory, and the Western Mind, pp. 232 - 256Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022