A fruitful missional exegesis for a missional hermeneutic and missiology

Abstract

Bosch (1991:497) advocated for a 'third-way' (Bekele 2011:155; Du Plessis 1990:83) in which a deductive and an inductive approach were unified in a creative tension. A fruitful interdependence is achieved by means of the methodological approach of missional exegesis in which text and context are interrelated in a fruitful biblical way reaping the benefits of both the biblical and missional disciplines for a missional hermeneutic. In this approach the formula, t (text) + c (context) = ms (missional strategy), is suggested by the authors as the starting point for two-directional exegesis from text to context, or context to text, in which neither text nor context is emphasised at the exclusion of expense of the other. It is vital that for a practical interpretation in which the missional context informs the biblical interpretation and vice versa, that a missional hermeneutic and missiology be biblically grounded by the instrument of missional exegesis.