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"Biblical Hermeneutics: More Important than God?" Klyne Snodgrass, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary Gonzaga Socratic Club Monday, March 15, 4:30-6:00 pm One biblical scholar has suggested that hermeneutics is more important than God, because the hermeneutics by which we interpret the Bible determines what we believe about God. Hermeneutics--the process by which we understand and appropriate communication--determines life, is the presupposition of all interpretation and theology, is the cause of many of our disagreements, and is as complex as life itself. There is no more important or fascinating topic for Christians. While debates about biblical hermeneutics address a number of themes, Klyne Snodgrass, Emeritus Professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary (Chicago, IL), advocates a four-fold hermeneutic that provides insight for interpretation of Scripture and fruitful results for living: a hermeneutics of critical realism, a hermeneutics of action, a hermeneutics of hearing, and a hermeneutics of identity. A hermeneutics of critical realism concerns the reality of the text itself and the reality of the process of communication. A hermeneutics of action is a development from speech-act theory and recognizes that texts are the result of action and are intended to produce action. A hermeneutics of hearing emphasizes both the demand of Scripture to hear and gives attention to oneself as a hearer. A hermeneutics of identity focuses on the purpose of the text to tell us who we are and should become. Taken together, these four approaches allow us to clear away the cobwebs and read the text honestly and appropriate its message. Klyne Snodgrass is Emeritus Professor of New Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, where he taught for forty-one years. His most important publications are Ephesians in The NIV Application Commentary, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, and Who God Says You Are: A Christian Understanding of Identity. For twenty-five years he was editor of Ex Auditu: An International Journal for the Theological Interpretation of Scripture.