The Nature of being a Witness

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For the fall Graduate School of Theology Covenant Service, I will give the charge to the graduates. The text will be Romans 10, and I will examine the role of confession. The theology of testimony undergirds my theology of preaching. Below are some notes that will influence my charge to the graduates.

So, what is the role of a witness? Paul Ricoeur identifies four elements of being a witness.

  • The Dialectic of Attestation: Ricoeur sees testimony as a dialectic between “attestation” (the witness’s subjective claim to have experienced or seen an event) and “credibility” (the judgment of the hearer about the reliability of the testimony). One who has seen or heard; one who has experienced an event.
  • The Ethical Dimension: Ricoeur sees testimony as an ethical act, as the witness takes responsibility for their claims. Testimony “commits your life as a confessor to the life and values of the community” – your witness binds you to the declaration.
  • Testimony is not the event itself for it is the hearers of your testimony, the jury (the congregation, community, your fellow travelers), who are called to decide how credible is the testimony. And that element is the Hermeneutical Dimension: For Ricoeur, testimony involves an interpretive element, as the witness must make meaning of their experience and translate it into communicable testimony.
  • And finally, there is the Ontological Dimension: Ricoeur argues that testimony has an ontological dimension as it makes claims about the nature of reality; the very nature of the story we live.[1]

In “The Hermeneutics of Testimony” (from Essays on Biblical Interpretation), Ricoeur makes several key moves:

  • Ricoeur distinguishes between two levels of testimony:
    • Empirical testimony (what one has seen/experienced)
    • Absolute testimony (commitment to meaning/truth)
  • Ricoeur emphasizes that religious testimony involves both:
    • The historical-empirical (what happened)
    • The confessional-interpretive (what it means)

In this same work, Ricoeur develops a crucial insight about religious testimony specifically:

  • Unlike legal testimony, which points backward to past events
  • Religious testimony points both:
    • Backward (to founding events)
    • Forward (to future hope)
    • Present (to current meaning/significance)

In Time and Narrative, Ricoeur further develops how testimony works in religious contexts:

  • Testimony isn’t just reporting facts.
  • Testimony participates in an ongoing narrative.
  • The witness becomes part of the story they’re telling.

Key Theological Implications:

  • For Understanding Christian Witness:
    • Witness is both historical and confessional.
    • Witness involves both memory and hope.
    • Witness requires both fidelity and interpretation.
  • For Pastoral Practice:
    • Preaching isn’t just reporting past events.
    • Preaching connects past, present, and future (anamnesis and proleptic acts).
    • Preaching involves both telling and living the story.

Stay tuned. The charge to the graduates is forthcoming.

[1] The Dialectic of Attestation: Essays on Biblical Interpretation, specifically the essay “The Hermeneutics of Testimony” (1980). In this work, Ricoeur discusses testimony as a dialectic between the witness’s experience and the reception of that testimony. He explores this further in “Oneself as Another” (1992) where he develops his concept of attestation as a form of truth-claim. The Ethical Dimension: “Memory, History, Forgetting” (2004). Ricoeur ties testimony to moral responsibility and ethical commitment, particularly in his discussions of historical testimony and memory. The Hermeneutical Dimension: “Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning” (1976). Also developed in “From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics II” (1991). Here Ricoeur explores how testimony requires interpretation both by the witness and the hearer. The Ontological Dimension: Time and Narrative (Vol. 1-3, 1984-1988). Also discussed in The Rule of Metaphor (1977). Ricoeur connects testimony to reality-claims and narrative identity.