Page 23 - Through New Eyes

Inte@reting the World Design 15
figurative and symbolic language of Holy Writ is the Book of
Psalms,”10 Also, the traditional liturgies of the Church, being
thoroughly grounded in Scripture, communicated Biblical sym-
bolism. God’s people were also familiar with such imagery from
the architecture and decor of their churches. All this has disap-
peared from the modern American church, and the result is that
it is much harder for us to read the Bible accurately.
Happily, this situation is rapidly changing. We are seeing a
rebirth of careful exegesis, a new appreciation for the Biblical
philosophy of metaphor and typology, a new recognition of Bib-
lical symbolism, a new desire to take the literary structures of the
Bible seriously.
It is, of course, possible to jump enthusiastically into the
Bible and find all kinds of symbols and allusions that sober study
would discount. We moderns lack the kinds of instincts needed
to be able to pick up on such things without effort. We have to
read and study the Bible, immersing ourselves in its worldview,
and then we will be able to discern valid symbols and allusions.
Even so, it is doubtful if any twentieth-century expositor can do
a perfect job of this; there will always be room for debate and
discussion over particular passages. We can, though, set out
some canons, or rules, for proper Biblical interpretation.

Rules for Interpretation
First of all, Biblical ~mbolism and imagey is not a code. The
Bible does not use a symbol when a literal statement will do.

Biblical symbolism, like poetry, is evocative language, used
when discursive, specific language is insufficient. The Bible
uses evocative imagery to call up to our minds various asso-
ciations which have been established by the Bible’s own liter-
ary art. 11

In other words, if John in Revelation 13 had wanted to say
Nero, he would have said Nero. Instead, he said “beast .“ By
using the symbol “beast, ” he was not just giving a code for
Nero, he was bringing to mind a whole series of Biblical associ-
ations: the beast in the Garden, Adam clothed in skins of
beasts, Nebuchadnezzar turned into a beast (Daniel 4), the
beasts in Daniel’s visions, the human beasts who rioted against