Wot Pelikan sez (it b tru):
On the history of dogma and its relationship to the history of the interpretation of the Scriptures...It's tru, dat.It is also -- as the orthodox theologians of past and present have often neglected to realize -- the history of how theology has sometimes avoided or even abused the interpretation of the Scriptures in the defense of a personal theological whim or of an ecclesiastical party line. A study of the history of theology reveals that the exegesis of the Scriptures has profoundly influenced Christian thought, but it also shows that many theologians have been unable to hear the testimony of the Scriptures because of their personal or denominational prejudices have foreclosed the possibility of any exegesis that would change their minds about anything.
Helping to foreclose such a possibility is the polemical stance of many theologians. The press of polemics has often helped a theologian to a more profound understanding of a Biblical text which he had been taking for granted or interpreting in a superficial and conventional manner. ... In short, polemics has helped theologians to see deeper menaings in a text; but it has sometimes helped them to see meanings that were not in the text or to overlook meanings that were.
(Pelikan, Luther the Expositor, pp. 18-19)