Babel and Derrida: Postmodernism, Language and Biblical Interpretation

Abstract

This article assesses the challenge postmodernism constitutes for biblical interpretation via an analysis of Derrida’s reading of the Tower of Babel narrative. Derrida’s setting of the text in play is found to be an unhelpful model for biblical interpretation, but his foregrounding of language in the narrative and the implications of philosophy of language for interpretation are useful. The contours of Derrida’s Babelian philosophy of language are explored and its insights noted. It is argued that the ultimate issues in philosophy of language are theological and that Christian scholars need to articulate a Christian view of language.