Toward a Christological Pragmatic Reading of the Scripture: The Relationship between Biblical Narrative, Christian Identity and the Constitution of Theology in the Thought of Hans Frei

Toward a Christological Pragmatic Reading of the Scripture: The Relationship between Biblical Narrative, Christian Identity and the Constitution of Theology in the Thought of Hans Frei

Jason TS LAM

It is commonly held that Hans Frei's view on biblical hermeneutics changed over the course of his career, which can be divided into two stages: the early Frei put more emphasis on the nature of biblical narrative, the later Frei focused on the consensus of the faith community. Although this “change” is quite obvious, I want to show in this essay that what is more crucial in understanding Frei's thought is his underlying theological concern in Christology. We could only understand the rationale for his so-called “change” if we take Frei's concern seriously.

In addition, this Christological concern is a key for Frei to relate his biblical hermeneutics to the constitution of Christian identity. In Frei's view, to narrate the Gospel story is to narrate the identity and hence the presence of Jesus Christ. But not only that, the church, the faith community which narrates the story, also gains her identity by retelling the same story, although this understanding of the “subjective self” of the church is analogous to rather than identical with that of Jesus. Frei's concern was always reading the identity of Jesus Christ in the church, which was also the theological reason proposed by Frei for the faith community to make an ongoing Christological pragmatic reading of the scripture.

This view pertains to the concept that Christian theology is a self-description of the Christian community in Frei's late thought. In a sense, nevertheless, the faith community is potentially the whole world. If the Christian community is not to be taken as an isolated secret sect, then by hook or by crook there should be a certain mechanism transforming insiders' reflection into proclamation for outsiders. I suggest that Frei was not unaware of this issue, and his unfinished project of modern Christian theology may hint at a remedy. point is that a kind of figural reading is suggested. This kind of reading is based on the redescription of the sensus literalis with ad hoc correlation, such that the self-identity of the Christian community and hence theology may still be grounded in Jesus Christ with a pragmatic concern with the ever-changing context. This is an important lesson we could learn from Hans Frei's legacy.