A Pentecostal Hermeneutic

(from Steve Mathonnet-Vander Well)

I had the joy of hearing New Testament scholar James Alison last summer.  Going to see and hear a theologian of whom you are a “fan” of is often a weird experience.  You consider them a “big name.” Certainly hundreds will come to hear him/her.  Usually there are ten or twenty people.

Alison is one of the most fresh and energetic Bible readers, I know.  This isn’t the place to explore some of his brief allusions such as

• The Cain and Abel story as a reverse image of the Romulus and Remus myth.
• The stories of Joseph as a reverse image of the Oedipus story. 
• Alison’s whimsical suggestion that “being wrong” should be one of the most identifying traits of Christians who are saved by God’s grace.

The night I saw him, Alison began with the provocative suggestion that early Israelite culture, influenced by their pagan neighbors, probably practiced infant sacrifice. 

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