In my article “Understanding as a Word Event” I deal on the hermeneutic responsibility in the horizon of “sacred texts”, which at least partially claim to be God’s revealed word to the people.

It appeared  in German under the title Verstehen als Wortgeschehen,
in: Denken und Sprache. Jahrbuch des Denkens.
Zeitschrift der deutschen Kultur, 3. Jg., Nr. 03 (2019), S. 103-112

You can see the German summary here:
https://textmaterial.blogspot.com/2019/05/reinhard-kirste-im-horizont-der.html

This article first points out that words are always related in terms of word and answer among people or when we are reading or hearing texts texts. It is therefore a word event under historical conditions. In consequence we have to ask to what extent holy scriptures (in different religious traditions) can be understood as the Word of God.

It is impossible to overlook the gap between the former text of and today’s  words, a disturbance that should be overcome with hermeneutics as a “trans-lation”. Hermeneutics thus shows itself to be an indispensable methodical and didactic work, because it leads from  explanation (for example in the exegesis)  to an actual understanding. This is the only way the word of those days becomes an appeal, correspondence and encouragement.

Content’s focus
The prologue in the Gospel of St. John “In the beginning was the Word – and God was the Word” obviously offers various possibilities of understanding, including misunderstanding. Misunderstanding arises when the “absoluteness” of this word is no longer recognized and accepted. But also-essential words are involved in the historicity of their time. Therefore it has to be worked out all the more that the divine word is more than mere information, but is heard as a challenge. However, to react to this claim can only be in a human and credible manner through compassion. What a god would this be who has inhumane traits? But because the old “holy” texts can not be transferred directly into the present, a critical exegesis and a methodology is needed, which reveals a present-day’s understanding of the former word in its unconditional claim.

As a hermeneutic key decision can be seen  the statement of the first letter of John: “God is love”.

From the final considerations (p. 111f):
“There arises the question – considerung the Bible as a >sacred< text  to what extent these biblical texts can be determining reality for the individual. That must also be examined historically. Obviously, this is not so, that I transfer certain words of the Bible directly to my situation without taking into account the time-shared circumstances and their historical embedding. This has to happen in fact obviously in such a way that in careful historical-critical interpretation in the horizon of the challenge heard from the text, my answer must be concrete. This often involves a largely non-comprehension. But where understanding occurs, even if only with cautious approaches, consequences arise in my behavior, namely how I correspond to this claim with humanity. But access to the divine remains denied. The movement runs in the other direction:

>He [= the Incarnate Word] entered his own realm, and his own would not receive him. But to all who did receicve him, to those who have yielded him their allegiance, he gave the right to become children of God< (John 1: 11-12). And from a humanly affected perspective, the encouragement arises: >Here is the message we heard from him and pass on to you: that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all< (1 John 1: 5).

How this enlightenment of the sons and daughters looks concretely is described in the first letter of John as an appropriate response to the word of God. However, it does not hinder total misconduct: >A man may say, ‘I am in the light; but if he hates his brother, he is still in the dark<.  Enlightenment as a correspondence to God’s claim; that means: >Only the man who loves his brothers dwell in light: there is nothing to make him stumble< (1 John 2: 9-10).

Outlook: Beyond the Bible
What has been said here in the context of biblical texts, must basically be transferred to all texts that have a specific claim. In this respect, all words – even in a written form – can have an illuminating existence, and indeed be brought into the proximity of divine revelatory words, or can even regarded as such. This won’t work without methodical hermeneutic care. But the truth of the word as a divine word does not unfold in its written form, but in its effect. It is a verbal event in which words do not remain empty, but release powerful, philanthropic effects. This can be understood in the spirit of the prophet Isaiah: the divine word does not come back empty, but is filled with realized and verified humanity:
>For in joy you will go forth and be led peacefully< (Isaiah 55:14).