Don

Yes, I really appreciate Matthew.  Each gospel has its perspective and they are all useful.

I totally disagree with the idea of going around the room and seeing what a verse means to each person.  And then taking a vote ala the Jesus seminar.

But it IS possible for people of faith to make different choices for the meaning of some words and phrases and each has a different understanding in good faith.  Many of the meaning choices made by non-egals are possible, it is just that they are not required.   And it IS possible to come up with different understandings of the book of Rev. in good faith, for example.

On context of verses, I agree with pericope context and Biblical subject context, but another is the cultural context of the time the book was written.  This is one that is missing for many discussions on meaning but can be absolutely critical.  The Bible gets to define and refine the words it uses and when it does we are to use that, but it does not contain a complete dictionary of all the words it uses.  The only way to know what those words meant is the way they were used in the culture of the time.