0129 Scot McKnight offers several principles for reading the Biblical text in context.  Here, “context” means “the social and historical conditions in which the text was written”.

0130 So what is going on when one reads a text?

0131 There are two actualities.

One is the text₂ itself, which emerges from (and situates) the potential of an author₁.  The author is subject to social and historical conditions, as well as other possibilities.

The other is an interpretation of the text₂.  An interpretation₂ emerges from (and situates) the possibilities inherent in a reader₁.  The reader is also subject to social and historical conditions, as well as other possibilities.

0132 To me, an interpretation₂ virtually emerges from (and situates) a text₂, resulting in a two-level interscope.

0133 Look at that empty perspective level.

What does it imply?

0134 Consider the virtual nested form in the realm of possibility.

Something on the perspective level_1c virtually brings the reader_1b into relation with the potential of an author_1a.

In doing so, this perspective-level something_2c transcends the social and historical conditions_1b of the reader_2b and the social and historical conditions_1b of the author_2a.  The reader knows what happens after the author wrote_1c.  So, the author_2a reveals something_2c that transcends his or her social and historical conditions_1a.

0135 Does that sound like “revelation”?

Or, does that sound like “wisdom”?

0136 Consider the virtual nested form in the realm of normal context.

A normal context on the perspective level_3c virtually brings reading_3b into relation with the potentials inherent in writing_3a.

0137 For Dr. McKnight, this normal context_3c is Christian faith, rather than Big Government (il)Liberalism.

If I turn the column for normal context₃ into a virtual nested form, I obtain a statement, saying, “The Christian faith_3cvirtually brings the reading believer_3b into relation with the possibilities inherent in Biblical story-telling_3a.”

0138 The stories of Genesis come into being deep in history, maybe prior to the Sumerian Dynastic Period.  The Sumerian civilization is the world’s first.  Scholars know this from archaeology.