In this section Gushee and Stassen‘s hermeneutic from their Kingdom Ethics will be described. Then their hermeneutic will be compared to the invitation-response hermeneutic.
1. The hermeneutic of Gushee and Stassen
David Gushee and Glenn Stassen have recently published a book on Christian ethics and the New Testament that has an impact upon the study of New Testament theological themes that enhance the meaning of contemporary bioethics principles. Their book, entitled, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context addresses the same issue raised in this dissertation, the connection between the New Testament and bioethics. Although Gushee and Stassen are aiming at Christian ethics in general and only touch on bioethics as several examples of how to apply their viewpoint to ethics in contemporary society.243 One of their chief concerns is what they call ―evading Jesus‖.
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Evading Jesus means that as Christian churches have struggled with ethics they have avoided the teachings and practices of Jesus and more specifically the Sermon on the Mount.244 Therefore, their approach to Christian ethics begins with that text.245
They describe their hermeneutic as focusing on the kingdom of God. ―Our approach to Christian ethics offers a sharp focus on God‘s reign, a focus we think well justified given Jesus‘ own proclamation.‖246 A significant aspect of the hermeneutic of Gushee and Stassen is their focus on how Jesus used Scripture.247 Their analysis shows that Jesus did not use Scripture in the way that was typically rabbinic and casuistic, but more in the way of the prophets.248 Jesus centered his use of Scripture on the Law and the Prophets especially Isaiah, in a unique way.249 This hermeneutic of Jesus gave his teaching more of moral and less of a cultic understanding of Scripture.250
From this understanding of the practice and teaching of Jesus Gushee and Stassen develop what they call the ―prophetic grid‖ for interpreting Scripture.251 They describe this prophetic interpretative grid that Jesus used as having four aspects. First, Jesus understood the Torah as less law and more of a divine covenant. Second, this prophetic grid leads to an emphasis on the moral aspects of the law and less on the cultic aspects of the law. Third, righteousness for Jesus was not a legalistic definition but more prophetic in its understanding. Fourth, Jesus focused on the heart or the motivations for behavior and not on the behavior itself.252
They further define this focus with three distinct principles.
We propose a Scripture and ethics hermeneutic that generally works in the following way:
1. Look first to Jesus – examining his incarnation / death / resurrection and his life / ministry / teachings.
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2. Read all other Scriptures through the prophetic interpretive grid that Jesus employed and in light of all that we know of Jesus‘ witness on this issue.
3. Then look to other sources of authority for help on the basis of the same interpretative grid, remembering that Jesus is alive and continues to instruct his church through the witness of the Holy Spirit (Jn 15).253 In summary, their hermeneutic uses the Scripture as the central authority for their arguments and uses Jesus as the key to interpreting and understanding those Scriptures.254
2. A comparison of Gushee and Stassen‘s hermeneutic to the invitation-response hermeneutic
Both Gushee and Stassen and the invitation-response hermeneutic begin with the proclamation and ministry of Jesus Christ. They look first at the practice and teaching of Jesus.255 The invitation-response hermeneutic starts in a similar place, looking at the incarnation, life, and ministry of Jesus. In particular, the invitation-response hermeneutic examines how Jesus called his disciples and how that call helps one understand the New Testament. The kingdom of God in the gospels is an invitation from Jesus to participate in his kingdom and his proclamation of that kingdom invites a response. In that way the hermeneutic of Gushee and Stassen is comparable to the invitation-response hermeneutic.
However, this dissertation and Kingdom Ethics adopt two different purposes. Each purpose leads to a different hermeneutic. Gushee and Stassen have made it their purpose ―to reclaim Jesus Christ for Christian ethics and for the moral life of the church.‖256 That leads them to focus more attention on not only the teachings of Jesus but also the hermeneutic of Jesus. This focus draws them to the hermeneutic they call the prophetic grid.257 This dissertation is focused on the basic invitation from God to
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invitation-response hermeneutic will be different from the prophetic gird hermeneutic of Gushee and Stassen.
The purpose of Gushee and Stassen‘s hermeneutic is to find moral guidance or moral norms for Christians from the New Testament258 Their hermeneutic leads them to
those moral norms at four different levels, ―the particular/immediate/judgment level, the rules level, the principles level, and the basic-conviction level.‖259 This dissertation is aimed not at moral norms as they describe them, but at finding theological themes that will enhance the meaning of contemporary bioethics principles. Thus the invitation- response hermeneutic does that differently from the prophetic grid of Gushee and Stassen.
Finally, Gushee and Stassen aimed their work at addressing all issues in Christian ethics, not just bioethics.260 Their prophetic grid encompasses a wide range of ethical issues. This dissertation is more narrowly focused on bioethics issues and in particular contemporary principles of bioethics. That different purpose lends a different thrust to understanding and addressing the issues of Scripture and bioethics than the prophetic grid of Gushee and Stassen.