Intertextuality and Hermeneutic Phenomenology: Finding Hermeneutical Clarity in the Diversity of New Testament Scholarship

Abstract

The field of intertextuality in biblical and theological scholarship is theoretically complex and diverse. The prevailing differences among intertextual interpreters produce this question: is there a hermeneutical theory that can clarify the diverse field of intertextuality? In order to answer this question, this essay interacts with hermeneutic phenomenology to demonstrate a common hermeneutical thread that clarifies the diversity of intertextual analysis. First, I delineate the foundations of intertextual theory in order to demonstrate how those foundations lead interpreters in a specific hermeneutical direction. Second, I explain how an intertextual analysis is complemented by Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur’s contributions to hermeneutics. Third, I demonstrate that Ricoeur’s comments on intertextuality challenge intertextual interpreters to move from intertextual theory into hermeneutical practice. Fourth, I propose that Ricoeur’s three-layered mimesis clarifies the diversity of intertextual analysis. Finally, I conclude by suggesting hermeneutical guidelines for intertextual interpreters in biblical and theological studies.