a word on interpretation

“…Precisely because biblical interpretation is political, and because all of us do it out of a tradition (not only a tradition of content, but also a tradition of method), it is vitally important that the text itself (any particular text, or the canon as a whole) be heard as potential corrective to and judgment upon our own interpretations of it. One of our greatest aids in hearing a text afresh is hearing someone else's competing interpretation (often but not always from an alternative approach). Yet, one cannot overemphasize how difficult it is for Christian persons whose sense of identity is self-consciously rooted in a particular interpretation of the Bible to engage in this process of listening to other interpretations.”
- Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, "Feminist Biblical Interpretation," Theology Today 46, no. 2 (1989). 164.