ABSTRACT
Many definitions and descriptions of “theological interpretation” often leave the “theology” in “theological” unspecified. A kind of generalized understanding of “theology” often eclipses more robustly confessional, doctrinal, or magisterial commitments, leading to theological interpretations of the Bible that occlude any particular ecclesial or traditional allegiance. This article proposes that attending to “doctrinal exegesis”—with “doctrine” being understood as a reference to specific ecclesial and theological traditions and loci—can help refocus the enterprise of reading Scripture with theological ends in view. With that goal in mind, the article examines the doctrine of the Trinity in “social Trinitarian” and “classical” perspectives, via Jürgen Moltmann and Richard Bauckham’s engagement with the Fourth Gospel and Thomas Aquinas’s commentary on the same text respectively, and concludes that thinking about doctrinal or dogmatic loci and their prominent interpreters may help one become a more focused theological exegete.
