ETS 2003, Atlanta, Georgia
Excavating Jesus or Inventing a Jesus?
10
Thus, the interpretation of the text itself is not the surpassing goal of this methodolo-
gy; it is rather the interpretation of the culture, in which the text is but one small part of a
larger picture. This new methodology has certainly not been without its critics. One of the
key problems with this type of sociological reconstruction, Social-Science Criticism, or what
Mulholland calls, Sociological Criticism is:
The sociological approach starts with a presupposition that the text manifests and plays a
role in the power games of the sociological context of the text. Such an approach im-
poses an interpretive grid upon the text which predetermines what sociological context
will be seen. The sociopragmatic approach then uses reader-response theories of inter-
pretation which decenter the text from its original context in order to read it as a vehicle
for the expression of the reader`s own sociological agenda.
38
Key here is the driving concept that, beyond the rejection of inspiration and inerran-
cy, the text is not even a reliable or even objective reporting of truth (propositional or fac-
tual), it is nothing more than a vehicle of the community by who it was created to further
their own ends for power, influence, etc.
The text of Scripture is, as Mulholland noted, decenter[ed]
39
in this process and the
interpretation of the text is largely radicalized. Despite the criticism, Elliott notes elsewhere
that, the social-scientific study of the Bible, even at this infantile stage, has an impressive
track record.
40
However, he does admit that the process of social science criticism is almost
entirely subjective in nature as, models vary, furthermore, not only according to the nature
and scope of the data to be studied but also according to the theories preferred by certain re-
searchers and schools of thought.
41
Additionally, the methodology selective in terms of
38
M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Sociological Criticism, in Interpreting the New Testament: Essays on Methods
and Issues. David Alan Black and David S. Dockery, ed`s. (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Pub-
lishers, 2001): 179.
39
Ibid.
40
John H. Elliott. Social-Scientific Criticism of the New Testament: More on Methods and Models. Semeia
35 (1989): 2.
41
Ibid., p. 7.