Memory and Hermeneutics – Current Conversations

This article investigates the current state of the memory debate in biblical studies from a Roman-Catholic point of view. It differentiates four areas: hermeneutical questions about the memory approach and its relationship to history, methodological questions of how memory theory can be applied to reading biblical texts, special questions about the interpretation of particular biblical texts, and meta-reflexive questions about the impact of cultural studies. It argues for a step towards a kulturwissenschaftliche Exegese, in order to embrace social memory theory as a hermeneutics and methodology for reading biblical text on the microscopic (pericope), mesoscopic (book), and macroscopic (canon) level.