Meaning

For one of my classes, I am reading Kevin J. Vanhoozer's book "Is There a Meaning in This Text?". Essentially, this is a work examining the way in which Scripture is read and interpreted. In his introduction, Vanhoozer discusses two groups. The "hermeneutic realist" and conversely, the "hermeneutic nonrealist." The realist assumes the existence of some intended meaning prior to interpretation, and the nonrealist "denies that meaning precedes interpretive activity." This idea of the realist vs. the nonrealist is at the very heart of the postmodern attack on Scripture.
Stanley Fish is one of the leading nonrealist critics amongst today's scholars. His main argument focuses on reader response criticism. In other words, a text contains no meaning apart from that which the reader projects onto it. Vanhoozer comments on his hermeneutic saying "Interpretation ultimately takes its cue not from the text, but from the reader's identity" (Vanhoozer, 24). For Fish, there is no one absolute interpretation to any text no matter how straight forward it may appear. It is easy to see how this approach begins to pose major problems to Biblical interpretation.
Another contemporary critic just recently deceased is Jacques Derrida. His theory of deconstruction has served to break down a text in order to rebuild it searching for some projected meaning. (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=deconstruction) Dr. Carl Raschke, a professor in the department of religious studies at Denver University, identifies deconstruction as "the death of God put into writing" (Vanhoozer, 30). Yet again, it is apparent how this poses a severe threat to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture.
Thus, it is important for believers to be prepared to counter the attacks of these great intellectual minds. Unfortunately, believers often fall back on the out of fideism. In other words, we know it to be true because we have faith, and faith is all you need. Vanhoozer calls for faith, but he also recognizes the times call for much more: "Fideism, is inappropriate in an age bedeviled by suspicion" (Vanhoozer, 31). If we are not careful, complacency will take over leaving evangelical Christians reeling in the wake of a postmodern assault bearing overwhelming intellectual support.