Be an Originalist

60 Minutes did an extended piece on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last night. It was really good and informative. But beyond why he and his view is important to America, I, of course, had to see something theological in it. There are two parts to the interview (here and here), but the section pertinent to my point can be watched below:




Antonin Scalia is a first rate interpreter, not creator. His sole job, as he sees it, is to determine what the founding fathers originally intended when they penned the Constitution. "There is no right to abortion" he would say. :It's just not there." His task is very much like that of a biblical interpreter. Pastors, theologians, scholars, and every Christian, must study the scriptures the same way Scalia studies the Constitution. Before you can apply the scriptures to your life, you must first try and determine, to the best of your ability, what the authors originally intended in their time and in their context. The wrong way to look at any text would be to immediately ask of it "What does it mean for me?" If you don't know what it meant back then, you won't be able to understand what it means for you today. By asking the W's (i.e. who, what, etc.), you'll be on your way to figuring out what exactly Paul, Moses, Luke, et al were actually talking about. And then, in truth, you will be an originalist.