THE PRIORITY OF READERS AMONG MEANINGSAND METHODS IN NEW TESTAMENTINTERPRETATION

Amidst the proliferation of methods in New Testament interpretive practices, the quest for the meaning of texts has only increased even though the elusive nature of textual meaning is more readily admitted and although the once-dominant position of meaning as “textual property” receives increasingly less acceptance. Moving away from the notion of texts as reservoirs of meaning, and alert to the dynamics of the reading process as well as the influence of social location on the readings produced, attention has turned sharply to the role of readers in the reading process. It is argued that, alongside the sharpening of methodological approaches and techniques which shows no signs of abating, the influence of readers and their social locations deserve more attention in biblical hermeneutics