Reflection for the Week - October 8

The force of various biblical genres such as narrative, prophecy, letter, hymn, law, and wisdom is that each offers a unique way of perceiving God and reality, which in turn form a hermeneutic of ‘contact’ that names God, though not in a comprehensive manner. This intertextual ‘contact’ framing requires a dialogical orientation between one genre and another, while at the same time it presents significant, though worthwhile challenges to the formulation of an integrated perspective. ‘Contact’ opens up possibilities for a wide and imaginative trajectory of interpretation, as it turns out that God and reality are always more than any single textual representation can offer.