Context matters

 "A text without a context is a pre-text". I have sometimes heard preachers say this in the context :) of interpreting a verse or passage in the Bible. Verses need to be interpreted in terms of passages. Passages need to be interpreted in terms of whole books. Books of the Bible need to be interpreted in terms of the context in which they were written.

Context also matters in many other areas of life. Everything that happens, whether a thought, a political revolution, a work of art, or a new technology happens in a context. There are many dimensions to a context: social, political, cultural, historical, geographic, linguistic, and economic. When trying to understand a specific event important questions about the context of the event include:

How do you define the context of the event? Specifically, what dimensions to the context may be relevant to understanding the event?

To what extent does the specific context influence the specific event?

On the latter, there are two extreme views. I will call them universalist and determinist. A universalist will say the context does not really matter. A determinist will say that the context determines the event. 

These questions are relevant to issues in the philosophy of science. Consider Einstein's theory of special relativity. It occurred in the context of Einstein working in the Swiss patent office, a time of rapid social change with Europe heading towards world war I, the beginnings of the decline of modernism, new "relativist" perspectives in art (Picasso),... Universalists say the context is irrelevant. The theory is true, was developed on purely scientific grounds, and the only thing contextual about it is that its development required the brilliance of Einstein. The social constructivist view of science tends towards a determinist view. Although, that tends to mostly focus on the influence that the scientific community as a social entity has on the acceptance of theories.

Broadly, these questions are at the heart of one of the biggest and most contested questions in sociology: what is the relationship between human agency and social structures?

There are several reasons why I am interested in the question of context. One concerns the issue of contextual theology. Another motivation is to understand how contexts influence discussions of the relationship between science and theology. But, more on these topics later...