Description:
<jats:p> With the work of Theodore Ziolkowski as a model, this article probes the work of biblical interpretation with reference to both agency and restraint. The exercise of interpretive agency means the interpreter has immense freedom. We are able to see how that interpretive freedom has played out in creedal readings, in scholastic interpretation, and in the work of historical criticism. </jats:p><jats:p> At the same time, however, it is clear that restraints of method and perspective cannot contain all of the richness of scripture. Thus after creedal reading, there is still evidence of the quixotic in the narrative of God. In the midst of scholastic reductionism there is still an inexplicable dynamism, and in the work of historical criticism, there is still testimony to the Holy One that will not be contained in the modes of Enlightenment rationality. Responsible interpretation must at the same time recognize certain restraints and allow for surges in the textual testimony that move against such restraints. </jats:p>