Scot McKnight has recently designed a "Hermeneutics Quiz" for the January issue of Leadership Magazine. I found an online copy of this quiz, along with some statistical data. I urge any pastors, seminarians, and others with a hermeneutical bent to take the quiz (it's an old school paper and pencil deal).
I have not found too many people talking about their score online, but here are some scores I found of prominent Evangelicals, compared with my score (who is Evangelical, but not prominent):
Josh Gelatt 52
Bryan Wilkerson 59
Dan Kimball 62
David Fitch 67
John Ortberg 68
The lower the score, the more conservative one supposedly is. At 52, I am on the moderate end of the conservative spectrum. A score of 53 pushes one into the moderate category, and a score of 68 puts one into the progressive category (is that another word for liberal?).
You can read Ortberg's response here, as well as the responses of the other three men here.
All in all, the quiz provides a helpful starting point for discussion.
2/26/2008 Update: You can now take the quiz online.
I scored a 40, which I guess qualifies me as a knuckle dragging, mouth frothing fundie!
ReplyDeleteThere were several questions that I scored "5" on that McKnight sees as progressive, but I would see as conservative. For example:
ReplyDeleteQuestion N: I agreed that discerning the historical context of a passage was "Necessary and Dangerous to Avoid". McKnight ranks this as a Progressive position (5 points), whereas I see this as conservative scholarship. The statement "Unimportant since God speaks directly to Me" seems far more progressive.
Question J: I said the HS role in interpretation was "To guide the community that can instruct the individual", which got me 5 points. I am simply recognizing that the HS works with the covenant community of God, and not simply only in an atomistic individualism context.
Question G: By indicating that I think the gift of prophecy is not for today I received 5 points (another progressive score).
Josh
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assesment of the test. Some of the progressive answers were conservative. By the way, I scored 45.
Jeremy Lee
Twining Baptist
Twining, MI
It seems that not only are you grading your Biblical interpretation but also how one interprets the questions...
ReplyDelete