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Liberating Scripture: An Invitation to Missional Hermeneutics
Rooted in and advocating for a postmodern and postcolonial understanding of mission, Liberating Scripture is the first book-length study designed specifically to introduce readers to the emerging subfield of biblical interpretation known as missional hermeneutics. The authors provide a thoroughgoing overview of the background and development, rationale, terminology, and methodology of missional hermeneutics, doing for biblical interpretation what Missional Church (edited by Darrell Guder et al., 1998) did for reimagining the church in light of the missio Dei. As the initial volume in the new Studies in Missional Hermeneutics, Theology, and Praxis series, Liberating Scripture is a critical resource for study and practical application, and its accessibility will make it a go-to text for classrooms and congregations.
210 pages, Paperback
Published March 11, 2024
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August 15, 2025
At times I really wanted to like this book—I particularly appreciate its Augustinian emphasis on a hermeneutic of love and its framing missional readings as readings looking into the purposes of God.
But other times I was super frustrated. If you define missional hermeneutics merely as a reading posture that seeks to understand God’s purposes in the world, have you perhaps settled for a definition that is uselessly vague? Even more problematically, if you advocate for a hermeneutic of love that at times reads “against the grain of [difficult] texts, trusting in the wisdom of the Spirit,” have you perhaps pitted Scripture against Spirit? If a liberative missional hermeneutic finds a canon within the canon on the basis of the principle of love, then on what basis has it selected the principle of love as its interpretive key?
Still, I think the book frames our understanding of God’s mission in a better way than we have traditionally understood it. If mission is more about the character and purposes of God than about “evangelism” or “outreach”, then we can indeed read every passage of Scripture within this framework.
“There is mission because God loves.” (76) ❤️
“Missional hermeneutics reorients biblical interpretation by focusing on biblical testimony about who God is, what God cares about, and what God is doing in the world—and how human beings are invited to participate in those divine purposes.” (53) 🌎
“We ask not Is there mission in this text? but rather How and what does this particular text reveal about the missio Dei and faithful human participation within it?” (139) 👍🏻
But other times I was super frustrated. If you define missional hermeneutics merely as a reading posture that seeks to understand God’s purposes in the world, have you perhaps settled for a definition that is uselessly vague? Even more problematically, if you advocate for a hermeneutic of love that at times reads “against the grain of [difficult] texts, trusting in the wisdom of the Spirit,” have you perhaps pitted Scripture against Spirit? If a liberative missional hermeneutic finds a canon within the canon on the basis of the principle of love, then on what basis has it selected the principle of love as its interpretive key?
Still, I think the book frames our understanding of God’s mission in a better way than we have traditionally understood it. If mission is more about the character and purposes of God than about “evangelism” or “outreach”, then we can indeed read every passage of Scripture within this framework.
“There is mission because God loves.” (76) ❤️
“Missional hermeneutics reorients biblical interpretation by focusing on biblical testimony about who God is, what God cares about, and what God is doing in the world—and how human beings are invited to participate in those divine purposes.” (53) 🌎
“We ask not Is there mission in this text? but rather How and what does this particular text reveal about the missio Dei and faithful human participation within it?” (139) 👍🏻
Displaying 1 of 1 review