Provocation is the second step of the interpretive process. Classic texts have
the ability to provoke, vex, challenge, unsettle, and transform readers. Clearly the
reader is not in full control of the experience since the reading of the text demands a
response. Therefore, it is vital that the reader remain open to the text. This openness
will likely provoke and reveal the reader’s initial preunderstanding. For example,
some readers are surprised to discover the Puritan usage of spiritual marriage as a
metaphor for union with Christ. Others might be more shocked to recognize the
Puritan perception of Jesus as divine Bridegroom. This could be especially unsettling
for some males. Perhaps others might react even more strongly to the Puritan usage
of ravishment as an expression of delight and enjoyment of God. These examples
vividly illuminate a ”hermeneutic of suspicion” that require readers to wrestle more
deeply with the issues provoked within them by the text. In other words the horizon
of the text unsettles the horizon of the reader. Further, it is likely that some of these
examples could vex the very legitimate feminist concerns and concerns about
feminism. As they arise, it is important to listen carefully but not necessarily take
them so far that the reader is unable to listen to and learn from the Puritans. This
demonstrates that multiple forms of provocation may occur. Closely related is
Elizabeth Dreyer’s warning of the danger of anachronistic and other forms of
misusing and abusing medieval mystical texts. Her guidelines of not imposing the
contemporary context on the original context or discounting the original setting are
equally valuable for reading the seventeenth-century Puritans.^172
(^172) Dreyer, “Whose Story Is It?” 151 (^) - 72.