Abstract

Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest any men spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”(Nelson, 2012: NIV). This thesis sets forth and examines “the Spirited Hermeneutic: Triune God,” in the context of relational theology and under an ontologic perspective (Wood, 2016(a)-(g)). A “Spirited Hermeneutic does not (sic) just look at what the Spirit said to the author, nor just to the text, but looks to the Spirit to provide understanding” (Wood, 2016(d), 5:29min). The “Spirited Hermeneutic” is one that is espoused by the Pastor Jack Hayford and the Church on the Way as well as by The King’s University (Seminary) located in Southlake, Texas. This thesis is founded on a graduate course BIB5034 “Modern Interpretation of Scripture” and the unpublished/untranscripted lectures of Anna Wood (Wood, 2016(a)-(g)). This thesis examines the history of hermeneutics, establishes the “Spirited Hermeneutic” (Wood, 2016; Huntzinger, 2014), provides insight into modern interpretation of scripture, examines Jesus’ view of scripture and interpretation as the first practitioner of the Spirited Hermeneutic; undertakes the examination of both the Holy Spirit as the “bearer of meaning” (Wood, 2016(f)), and the community as an “arbiter of meaning” (Wood, 2016(g)). This thesis directly contributes to the interpretation of scripture through a clearly established hypothesis, research objectives and sub-objectives and a thorough road map.