I am working through a wonderful book with a dynamic hermeneutical position. The book is called
Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis:
http://www.christianbook.com/Christi...N&item_code=WW by William J. Webb. It argues that a static interpretation leaves a lot to be desired.
A static interpretation, for example, would argue that biblical pronouncements allow for no movement, but are meant as binding in all times and all places. Of course, most major seminaries don't argue for such a rigid interpretation of Scripture anyway, but Webb goes on to demonstrate his position that the Bible takes on what he calls a "Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic," or that we should view the Bible's pronouncements as typically demonstrating a movement toward a more redemptive purpose of those facets of Scripture that are clearly cultural in nature.
So taking the three major areas of the book, Webb demonstrates that relative to the cultures in which the Scriptures were written, the Bible views the equality of women and slaves as redemptive movements toward a more actualized equality that we should strive for. The opposite is true, however, with respect to homosexuality, in which the Bible is always more restrictive than the culture.
It would look like this:
Women: cultures largely restrictive toward women; Bible redemptive and liberating
Slaves: cultures largely restrictive toward slaves; Bible redemptive and liberating
Homosexuals: cultures largely liberating toward homosexuals; Bible more restrictive.
His conclusions are obvious. I highly recommend this book for those looking for another way to view the issues of cultural transcendence and biblical thought; especially so for those, like me, who have already dealt with the ancient text and are moving on to new horizons in this field.
Scott