I thought since we are here at the Emergent Convention, I’d post this paper that I wrote just a few weeks ago. You can download the PDF of my paper here. Below, you can read the conclusion for the paper.
It is difficult to paint the entire spectrum of a postmodern worldview and understanding of biblical hermeneutics. However, I think that an adequate summary of this cultural group of emergent postmoderns consists of a post-institutional, post-rationalistic, post-individualistic and post-Holocaust/post-9/11 worldview. Therefore an emergent postmodern biblical hermeneutic is ecumenical, dynamic, communal and organic. The hermeneutic is ecumenical in that it struggles to fight against institutions and desires to bring all into the conversation; it is dynamic because it reads the Bible through the lens of a Story and attempts to bring about life-action and response from the text; it is communal because it seeks first the community (over against the individual) and arrives at such an interpretation through authentic relationships of people in dialogue; and lastly, it is organic because it is fluid, ever-changing and has a good understanding of human limitations. An emergent postmodern biblical hermeneutic will not claim to be the only and true hermeneutic, but I believe this hermeneutic is one such way that disillusioned postmoderns find T(t)ruth, meaning and hope in the Bible.