person therefore reads a text with close attention to its inner structure and
implied world while taking account of the author’s own background and
historical epoch. However, if biblical passages describing miraculous heal-
ing are brought into view and if readers believe such healing is possible,
they tended to see the text as speaking directly to themselves.
This investigation using empirical methods enabled philosophically
informed hermeneutical debate to quantify the power of factors identifi ed
purely by prior abstract analysis. Moreover, Village was able to show the
personality of the reader—especially orientation to thought or emotion—
and the interpretative community of the reader (which church tradition he
or she belonged to) were also signifi cant. This is an important confi rma-
tion in light of the role of the community identifi ed by Pentecostal schol-
ars. The community may be Word-based, holding a conservative view of
Scripture, or more charismatic, holding more to the Spirit than the Word.
These two kinds of congregation each have their strengths, the former
being more inclined to stand against social pressures and the latter being
more inclined to adapt to them. 22
Having shown the importance of community, education and personal-
ity, there is room for further investigation using the psychology of indi-
vidual differences. Here one may imagine children growing up in Anglo
Catholic, evangelical and broad church contexts and see an opportunity to
test them at various stages of development so as to chart the infl uence of
their intellectual capacity on their hermeneutical processes.
And, fi nally, one might reverse the direction of causation. The Piagetian
account of mental development explains the logic of classes and relations
and then the interrelations between a set of propositions. As we have said,
we can imagine taking the four hermeneutical approaches outlined by
Oliverio and breaking them down so that they could be used to chart
the understandings of children and young people, but we ought also to
be able to see how these understandings might contribute to the wider
logical processes acquired by children as they mature. In other words, the
theological insights gained by the child might infl uence its overall intel-
lectual development by, for instance, suggesting classifi catory systems and
causal processes that are not solely to be seen as materialistic.
276 W.K. KAY