Are there guidelines for accommodational interpretation?

Is such interpretation arbitrary? It seems highly subjective, and that it
could justify just about any viewpoint.

For example. I do not mean to pick on George exclusively, but I just read
his article in Perspectives on Original Sin. In this article he makes
reference to Paul Seely's argument that, "citing Calvin, there is
accommodation to cultural context in such matters (the ANE cosmology) which
are inessential to the text's (Genesis 1:6) theological message.

I can accept this as accommodation, the ancients likely had no conception of
cosmology as we do today.

But George also claims that even though Paul thought of Adam as a historical
figure, there is no reason for us to do so. George makes the claim that
Paul's understanding, even though it was incorrect, was an accommodation
based on the understanding of Judaism at the time. Also, in the 666
thread, he claimed that even though John expected that the end of the age,
was going to occurr in the first century, he was mistaken.

I have trouble being convinced of this accommodationalist position. Perhaps
because, as inspired writers, Paul and John should have known better. The
ideas of Adam being historical, and the end times being a first century
event, certainly seems to be something that Paul and John could understand,
which seems, to me anyway, not the case with the author of Genesis 1.

Is there any book or article that explains this method of interpretation?
Received on Sat Jun 10 16:25:33 2006