The determined "heart of the matter" in a text is best held lightly. The "heart" or "good news" of the text from the perspective of the margins is often quite different than what is visible from a mainstream perspective.

Often in the midst of a dialogical Bible study I witness a shift in my own perception. Most of this paradigm shift is initiated by an untrained reader's reaction to the story.

Gerald West goes into great detail regarding the "hidden transcript" of marginalized readers -- interpretations that are only disclosed in an environment of total trust. See Gerald O. West, The Academy of the Poor: Towards a Dialogical Reading of the Bible, Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield, 1999.