Saturday, August 29, 2020

How to Read the Bible - A New Hermeneutic, Part 6




How To Read The Bible - A New Hermeneutic
Part 6

What Works For Me
When Reading the Bible

by R.E. Slater
August 16, 2020

The Many Worlds of Hermeneutics

I originally wrote this piece as a single composition as I did not wish to have any of it read alone in its parts as each part is necessary for the other part. However, it is a long piece and so, with reservations, I have divided it up for the convenience of the reader. But for those who wish to read it as a whole I have left the original intact and titled parts 1-6. Thank you. - res

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Bible Scholar Peter Enns advocates reading the bible around the person and work of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We might also substitute the love of God as a centralizing theme when reading the bible. As such, replacing the bible with God Himself is the nub of the argument. Not binding it to a hermeneutical tradition whether Reformed, Catholic, Jewish, or Islam. But by binding it to the Author of the bible Himself. God is Love and in Love God came to redeem us. His name is Immanuel, Son of God, Christ Jesus, Messiah. By whatever name YHWH is know we know Him as Lover of our souls and our Creator-Redeemer Father-God.

Essentially then, the bible speaks to God Himself, the Author of the bible. Many times the bible is referred to as the Word of God. This means that God has revealed Himself to creation in all that He is. From imbuing God's Self into and through creation (including man) to revealing Himself in manifest ways through oral testimonies which were collected into a set of narratives later to be known first as the Jewish Scriptures and secondly, after God's Incarnation, the Christian Scriptures.

In the Gospel book of John, his opening chapter speaks to Jesus as being the Word of God who revealed God's Self to us even as He was God come in the flesh (incarnation | virgin birth) to testify that God is a God of love come to save the world.

The Deity of Jesus Christ   (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=NASB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 [a]He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not [b]comprehend it.
The Witness John [the Baptist, cf. vv 19ff]
6 There [c]came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 [d]He came [e]as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 [f]He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9 There was the true Light [g]which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His [h]own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were [i]born, not of [j]blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Made Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh, and [k]dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of [l]the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me [m]has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness [n]we have all received, and [o]grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth [p]were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Let's start off then with some quotes by Peter Enns after which we will let Peter explain how to read the bible through the lenses of God's love and Jesus Christ.

R.E. Slater
August 20, 2020


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Quotes by Peter Enns


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Peter Enns_Is the Bible Inerrant?



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How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That's Great News by [Peter Enns]
Amazon Link


How the Bible Actually Works:

In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book
Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers - 
and Why That's Great News

by Peter Enns
February 19, 2019
Hardcover – Illustrated
Controversial evangelical Bible scholar, popular blogger and podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, and author of The Bible Tells Me So and The Sin of Certainty explains that the Bible is not an instruction manual or rule book but a powerful learning tool that nurtures our spiritual growth by refusing to provide us with easy answers but instead forces us to acquire wisdom.
For many Christians, the Bible is a how-to manual filled with literal truths about belief that must be strictly followed. But the Bible is not static, Peter Enns argues. It does not hold easy answers to the perplexing questions and issues that confront us in our daily lives. Rather, the Bible is a dynamic instrument for study that not only offers an abundance of insights but provokes us to find our own answers to spiritual questions, cultivating God’s wisdom within us.
“The Bible becomes a confusing mess when we expect it to function as a rulebook for faith. But when we allow the Bible to determine our expectations, we see that Wisdom, not answers, is the Bible’s true subject matter,” writes Enns. This distinction, he points out, is important because when we come to the Bible expecting it to be a textbook intended by God to give us unwavering certainty about our faith, we are actually creating problems for ourselves. The Bible, in other words, really isn’t the problem; having the wrong expectation is what interferes with our reading.
Rather than considering the Bible as an ancient book weighed down with problems, flaws, and contradictions that must be defended by modern readers, Enns offers a vision of the holy scriptures as an inspired and empowering resource to help us better understand how to live as a person of faith today.
How the Bible Actually Works makes clear that there is no one right way to read the Bible. Moving us beyond the damaging idea that “being right” is the most important measure of faith, Enns’s freeing approach to Bible study helps us to instead focus on pursuing enlightenment and building our relationship with God—which is exactly what the Bible was designed to do.

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How the Bible ACTUALLY Works | God is Grey





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The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by [Peter Enns]
Amazon Link

The Bible Tells Me So:

Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us
Unable to Read It

by Peter Enns
September 9, 2014

The controversial Bible scholar and author of The Evolution of Adam recounts his transformative spiritual journey in which he discovered a new, more honest way to love and appreciate God’s Word.
Trained as an evangelical Bible scholar, Peter Enns loved the Scriptures and shared his devotion, teaching at Westminster Theological Seminary. But the further he studied the Bible, the more he found himself confronted by questions that could neither be answered within the rigid framework of his religious instruction or accepted among the conservative evangelical community.
Rejecting the increasingly complicated intellectual games used by conservative Christians to “protect” the Bible, Enns was conflicted. Is this what God really requires? How could God’s plan for divine inspiration mean ignoring what is really written in the Bible? These questions eventually cost Enns his job—but they also opened a new spiritual path for him to follow.
The Bible Tells Me So chronicles Enns’s spiritual odyssey, how he came to see beyond restrictive doctrine and learned to embrace God’s Word as it is actually written. As he explores questions progressive evangelical readers of Scripture commonly face yet fear voicing, Enns reveals that they are the very questions that God wants us to consider—the essence of our spiritual study.

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Genesis for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible (Second Edition w/ Study Guide) (The Bible for Normal People 1) by [Peter Enns, Jared Byas]
Amazon Link

 Genesis for Normal People:

A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood,
and Abused Book of the Bible (Second Edition w/ Study Guide)

by Authors Peter Enns and Jared Byas
September 18, 2019 
BOOK BLURB
Given the fever-pitched controversies about evolution, Adam and Eve, and scientific evidence for the Flood, the average person might feel intimidated by the book of Genesis. But behind the heady debates is a terrific story-one that anyone can understand, and one that has gripped people for ages.
If you are not a Bible scholar but want to be able to read Genesis and understand its big picture, this brief, witty book is the guide you've been waiting for. Clear summaries and thought-provoking questions provide direction for personal reflection and group discussion.
Peter Enns, a Biblical Studies professor, and Jared Byas, an Old Testament professor, summarize the book's key themes and help us see Genesis as an ancient story, one with continued relevance for human experience today. Genesis for Normal People illuminates the characters that fill the book of Genesis, causing us to resonate with their choices and struggles even as we marvel at their distant world.
And that's what you'll find here-not scientific proof texts or simple moral tales, but a distant world made available, and a story that is often strange, sometimes dangerous, and always filled with rich possibilities. 
WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT GENESIS FOR NORMAL PEOPLE
“This book is a welcome antidote to the mystification about the book of Genesis that goes around. It is accessible for readers who want to take the plunge into this old text. It is gentle in leading readers to a critical sense of the text in response to a “late” trauma in Israel [The Exile]. It is imaginative in its articulation of a book that might otherwise be off-putting. The convergence of accessibility, gentleness, and imagination make this a very fine read.”– Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary
Genesis for Normal People is the perfect starting point for Christians who want to read the book of Genesis more faithfully and honestly. Enns and Byas break down the history, genre, culture, and context of this fascinating book of the Bible, so that “normal people”—you know, those who can’t read ancient Hebrew—can get a better sense of its purpose, meaning and relevance. The authors manage to simplify without dumbing down, challenge without confusing, and dig for deep truth without compromising their intellectual integrity. A must–read for anyone who care enough about the Bible to want to read and understand it on its own terms.”– Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood
“The stories in the book of Genesis are among the most well known in the Bible—so much so that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Genesis is an ancient document from a cultural setting very different from our own. Enns and Byas have provided a highly readable volume that reminds readers of its reality while explaining the meaning and significance of Genesis in light of its ancient context. An ideal book for individual and study groups interested in understanding Genesis on its own terms.”– John R. Franke, General Coordinator for The Gospel and Our Culture Network
“Evangelical Old Testament scholarship has come of age and is now coming out from behind the shadows of suppression and secrecy. No one represents this fresh coming of age more than Peter Enns, who, with co-author Jared Byas, makes available to any Bible reader a fresh engagement with Genesis—readable, responsible, and recognizably fresh.”– Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary




or





How to Read the Bible - A New Hermeneutic, Part 5




How To Read The Bible - A New Hermeneutic
Part 5

What Works For Me
When Reading the Bible

by R.E. Slater
August 16, 2020

The Many Worlds of Hermeneutics

I originally wrote this piece as a single composition as I did not wish to have any of it read alone in its parts as each part is necessary for the other part. However, it is a long piece and so, with reservations, I have divided it up for the convenience of the reader. But for those who wish to read it as a whole I have left the original intact and titled parts 1-6. Thank you. - res

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How to Read Critically

Co-authored by Jake Adams
Last Updated: June 16, 2020 References


Whether you're reading a textbook or understand literature like your professor does, critical reading is fundamental for getting a full understanding the text. A basic reading tells the reader only what the text says (that is, the claims and facts contained in the text). A critical reading, however, also tells the reader what the text does and what it means. In other words, while basic reading is concerned with what is in a text, critical reading is also concerned with how the text is written and why it is written this way. Critical reading orients the reader to the writer's inferred social, political and economic values.

METHOD 1 - Understanding a Piece of Writing

STEP 1

First, skim read. The first time you work through a piece of writing, it can be helpful to simply skim it. Skim reading involves reading very quickly, only briefly pausing to examine details. Skimming can help you get a general idea of what a piece of writing is about before you read it again, saving you time and energy in the long run.

There's no "right" way to skim read, but one good policy is this:
  • Read the entire intro paragraph
  • Read the first sentence of each body paragraph
  • Read the entire conclusion paragraph

STEP 2

Re-read with greater focus. Now that you've done a skim reading and you know the rough "point" of the essay, it's time to read it "for real." Proceed through the whole essay again, this time reading each sentence slowly and carefully. Don't hesitate to read sentences or paragraphs again if you're having a hard time understanding the content.

Don't rush — slowing down helps you connect with the text.

STEP 3

Make notes while you read. Taking notes in a class can help you retain more information — doing so while reading is no different. Writing down key thoughts and phrases will make you actively pay attention to what’s going on in the text. You can also jot down questions you have so that you can try to answer them later.

Mark words and concepts that you don't understand for later reference.

STEP 4

Look up words and ideas that you don’t know. If you understand every word and concept you came across in the essay, you're in luck — you can move on. However, if there was anything in the essay that you didn't understand, now is your chance to enlighten yourself. Filling in the gaps in your knowledge will help you gain a fuller understanding of the text.

Dictionaries and thesauruses can help with words you don't know. However, technical terms and unknown concepts may require you look up help articles online. For instance, if you're reading an article about "4K" television, you probably won't be able to find a definition for 4K in the dictionary.

STEP 5

Discuss the writing's "main points" in your own words. Now, do another quick skim reading. After each paragraph, ask yourself, "What was the point of what I just read?" Express your answer in your own words — try not to copy the essay's. Working your way through the essay piece by piece and reinterpreting the information each step of the way is a great way to make the most important themes in the writing "stick."

METHOD 2 - Understanding the Bigger Picture

STEP 1

Do some background research on the writing. Critical reading acknowledges that every piece of writing is a product of a certain person, time, and place. This personal, historical context affects both the content of the writing and the voice of the author. Research the context of the piece of writing you're analyzing. Answering the "when," "where," and "who" of the writing is a good place to start.

After this, familiarize yourself with the mindset, beliefs, opinions, and current events that were happening as the writing was created. Ask, "how are these reflected in the writing itself?"

STEP 2

Carefully examine the words the author has chosen to use. A single word can carry many different meanings. Many authors use subtle turns of phrase to convey double meanings or raise questions in the reader's mind. Ask yourself, "does the author of this piece of writing really mean what she/he says? Is there anything ambiguous about the way the work is written?"

If you're not sure whether the work has a hidden meaning, consider why it was written in the first place (your background research can help you here). Is the author just trying to entertain you, or is s/he trying to convince you to accept a certain theory or philosophy?

STEP 3

Note how the work makes you feel. Neither the author nor the reader is a completely cold, logical machine. Recognizing a work's emotional content is also important to gaining a full understanding of it. You don't need to write your emotions down, but instead just think about how the tone, diction, and syntax effects your emotions and interpretations of the text.

While it's important to acknowledge the text's emotional content, a crucial part of critical reading is to take a logical approach to analysis, rather than an emotional one. Recognize your emotions (as well as the author's), but don't let them keep you from thinking about the work with a detached, objective perspective.

STEP 4

Practice metacognition. This just means to think about what you have thought about. Consider your thoughts about the passage you have read. What do they say about your relationship to the author? What do they say about you? Do you find yourself mostly agreeing with the author or mostly disagreeing? Below are just a few tips to help with metacognition:

Challenge or question at least one thing you read in the passage. Then take the author's side and argue for it. Remember: just because you read it doesn't mean it's true!

Consider how the reading may apply to your life. This could mean anything from thinking of when you might need to know what acids and bases are to personally applying a line of poetry which especially moved you.

STEP 5

Try to enjoy what you're reading. Critical reading isn't just a joyless, logical exercise. The feeling of accomplishment you get from working towards an understanding of a complex piece of writing can be an excellent motivator. It's also fun to gain ideas and perspectives that you haven't had before.

There's no escaping it: some passages are just dry or uninteresting. See if you can find at least one thing you like about what you're reading. You can even pretend you're a detective or a reporter and the passage you are reading is involved in an exciting assignment. This makes things a little more fun. If you can't find anything fun in the reading, it's probably advanced academic material. In this case, enjoy feeling smart for reading it!


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Biblical studies

Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible (the Tanakh and the New Testament).[1][2] For its theory and methods, the field draws on disciplines ranging from archaeologyancient historycultural anthropologytextual criticismliterary criticism, historical backgrounds, mythology, and comparative religion.[1]
Many secular as well as religious universities and colleges offer courses in biblical studies, usually in departments of religious studiestheologyJudaic studies, history, or comparative literature. Biblical scholars do not necessarily have a faith commitment to the texts they study, but many do.

Definition

The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies defines the field as a set of various, and in some cases independent disciplines for the study of the collection of ancient texts generally known as the Bible.[1] These disciplines include but are not limited to archaeologyhermeneuticstextual criticismcultural anthropologyhistorysociology and theology[1]patristics and related thomistic philosophy.

Academic societies

Several academic associations and societies promote research in the field. The largest is the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) with around 8,500 members in more than 80 countries. It publishes many books and journals in the biblical studies, including its flagship, the Journal of Biblical Literature. SBL hosts one academic conference in North America and another international conference each year, as well as smaller regional meetings. Others include the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Catholic Biblical Association.

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings".[3] Viewing biblical texts as being ordinary pieces of literature, rather than set apart from other literature, as in the traditional view, it asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources were used in its composition; and what message it was intended to convey. It will vary slightly depending on whether the focus is on the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, the letters of New Testament or the canonical gospels. It also plays an important role in the quest for a historical Jesus.
It also addresses the physical text, including the meaning of the words and the way in which they are used, its preservation, history and integrity. Biblical criticism draws upon a wide range of scholarly disciplines including archaeologyanthropologyfolklorecomparative religionOral Tradition studies, and historical and religious studies.

Textual criticism

Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in texts, both manuscripts and printed books. Ancient scribes made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given a manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic seeks to reconstruct the original text (the urtextarchetype or autograph) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used to attempt to reconstruct intermediate editions, or recensions, of a document's transcription history. The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of a "critical edition" containing a text most closely approximating the original.
There are three fundamental approaches to textual criticism: eclecticism, stemmatics, and copy-text editing. Techniques from the biological discipline of cladistics are currently also being used to determine the relationships between manuscripts.
The phrase "lower criticism" is used to describe the contrast between textual criticism and "higher criticism", which is the endeavor to establish the authorship, date, and place of composition of the original text.

History of the Bible

Historical research has often dominated modern biblical studies. Biblical scholars usually try to interpret a particular text within its original historical context and use whatever information is available to reconstruct that setting. Historical criticism aims to determine the provenance, authorship, and process by which ancient texts were composed. Famous theories of historical criticism include the documentary hypothesis, which suggests that the Pentateuch was compiled from four different written sources, and different reconstructions of "the historical Jesus", which are based primarily on the differences between the canonical Gospels.

Original languages

Most of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, which is the basis of the Christian Old Testament, was written in Biblical Hebrew, though a few chapters were written in Biblical Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, with possible Aramaic undertones, as was the first translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the Septuagint or Greek Old Testament. Therefore, Hebrew, Greek and sometimes Aramaic continue to be taught in most universities, colleges and seminaries with strong programs in biblical studies.

See also



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Biblical hermeneutics
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Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation concerning the books of the Bible. It is part of the broader field of hermeneutics, which involves the study of principles of interpretation for all forms of communication, nonverbal and verbal.[1]
While Jewish and Christian biblical hermeneutics have some overlap and dialogue, they have distinctly separate interpretative traditions.

Jewish

Traditional

Talmudical hermeneutics (Hebrew: approximately, מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן) refers to Jewish methods for the investigation and determination of the meaning of the Hebrew Bible, as well as rules by which Jewish law could be established. One well-known summary of these principles appears in the Baraita of Rabbi Ishmael.[citation needed]
Methods by which the Talmud explores the meaning of scripture:
  • grammar and exegesis
  • the interpretation of certain words and letters and apparently superfluous and/or missing words or letters, and prefixes and suffixes
  • the interpretation of those letters which, in certain words, are provided with points
  • the interpretation of the letters in a word according to their numerical value (see Gematria)
  • the interpretation of a word by dividing it into two or more words (see Notarikon)
  • the interpretation of a word according to its consonantal form or according to its vocalization
  • the interpretation of a word by transposing its letters or by changing its vowels
  • the logical deduction of a halakah from a Scriptural text or from another law
The rabbis of the Talmud considered themselves to be the receivers and transmitters of an Oral Torah as to the meaning of the scriptures. They considered this oral tradition to set forth the precise, original meanings of the words, revealed at the same time and by the same means as the original scriptures themselves. Interpretive methods listed above such as word play and letter counting were never used as logical proof of the meaning or teaching of a scripture. Instead they were considered to be an asmakhta, a validation of a meaning that was already set by tradition or a homiletic backing for rabbinic rulings.

Biblical source criticism

Among non-Orthodox Jews, there is growing interest in employing biblical source criticism, such as the Documentary hypothesis and the Supplementary hypothesis, for constructing modern Jewish theology[2] [3] [4] [5], including the following objectives:
  • Reconciling modern morals with biblical passages that condone morally problematic acts, such as genocide and other collective punishment
  • Rejecting or accepting folkways, social norms, and linguistic trends, picking and choosing as more fully informed Jews
  • Learning lessons in spite of biblical underrepresentation, or outright exclusion, of particular modern phenomena[6]
To at least some extent, this is an application of Talmudical hermeneutics to traditional source criticism of the competing Torah schools: PriestlyDeuteronomic, and onetwo, or more that are non-Priestly and non-Deuteronomic.

Christian

Until the Enlightenment, biblical hermeneutics was usually seen as a form of special hermeneutics (like legal hermeneutics); the status of scripture was thought to necessitate a particular form of understanding and interpretation.
In the nineteenth century it became increasingly common to read scripture just like any other writing, although the different interpretations were often disputed. Friedrich Schleiermacher argued against a distinction between "general" and "special" hermeneutics, and for a general theory of hermeneutics applicable to all texts, including the Bible. Various methods of higher criticism sought to understand the Bible purely as a human, historical document.
The concept of hermeneutics has acquired at least two different but related meanings which are in use today. Firstly, in the older sense, biblical hermeneutics may be understood as the theological principles of exegesis which is often virtually synonymous with 'principles of biblical interpretation' or methodology of biblical exegesis. Secondly, the more recent development is to understand the term 'biblical hermeneutics' as the broader philosophy and linguistic underpinnings of interpretation. The question is posed: "How is understanding possible?" The rationale of this approach is that, while Scripture is "more than just an ordinary text," it is certainly "no less than an ordinary text." Scripture is in the first analysis "text" which human beings try to understand; in this sense, the principles of understanding any text apply to the Bible as well (regardless of whatever other additional, specifically theological principles are considered). The rise of narrative criticism in biblical studies attempts to understand biblical texts on its own terms—as fundamentally works of literature.[7]
In this second sense, all aspects of philosophical and linguistic hermeneutics are considered to be applicable to the biblical texts, as well. There are obvious examples of this in the links between 20th-century philosophy and Christian theology. For example, Rudolf Bultmann's hermeneutical approach was strongly influenced by existentialism, and in particular by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger; and since the 1970s, the philosophical hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer have had a wide-ranging influence on biblical hermeneutics as developed by a wide range of Christian theologians. The French-American philosopher René Girard follows a similar trail.[8]

Diverse interpretations

Biblical scholars have noted the diversity of interpretations by Protestants and to a lesser extent by Catholics. In his forward to R. C. Sproul’s Knowing ScriptureJ. I. Packer observes that Protestant theologians are in conflict about biblical interpretation.[9] To illustrate the diversity of biblical interpretations, William Yarchin[10] pictures a shelf full of religious books saying different things, but all claiming to be faithful interpretations of the Bible.[11] Bernard Ramm observed that such diverse interpretations underlie the doctrinal variations in Christendom.[12] A mid-19th century book on biblical interpretation observed that even those who believe the Bible to be the word of God hold the most discordant views about fundamental doctrines.[13]
The Catholic Church asserts the capital importance of biblical interpretation and Catholic scholars recognize some diversity in the Bible. This allows for an openness of interpretation as long as it stays within the Catholic Church’s theological Tradition.[14] So it is that theological factors set the parameters for interpreting the Scripture that Catholics believe to be the word of God.[15] Such parameters disallow the widely differing interpretations that make it possible for Protestants to prove almost anything by the Bible.[16]

Theological hermeneutics as traditional Christian biblical exegesis

This form of theological hermeneutics in the mainstream Protestant tradition considers Christian biblical hermeneutics in the tradition of explication of the text, or exegesis, to deal with various principles that can be applied to the study of Scripture. If the canon of Scripture is considered as an organic whole, rather than an accumulation of disparate individual texts written and edited in the course of history, then any interpretation that contradicts any other part of scripture is not considered to be sound. Biblical hermeneutics differs from hermeneutics and within traditional Protestant theology, there are a variety of interpretive formulae. Such formulae are generally not mutually exclusive, and interpreters may adhere to several of these approaches at once. These formulae include:[17]
Theological Group of Principles:
  • The Historical-grammatical principle based on historical, socio-political, geographical, cultural and linguistic / grammatical context
  • Alternate, mutually-exclusive, models of history:
    • The Dispensational model or The Chronometrical Principle: "During different periods of time, God has chosen to deal in a particular way with man in respect to sin and man's responsibility."
    • The Covenantal model: "We differentiate between the various contracts that God has made with his people; specifically their provisions, their parties and their purposes."
    • The New-Covenantal model: The Old Testament Laws have been fulfilled and abrogated or cancelled with Christ's death, and replaced with the Law of Christ of the New Covenant, although many of the Old Covenant laws are reinstituted under the New Covenant.
  • The Ethnic Division Principle: "The word of truth is rightly divided in relation to the three classes which it treats, i.e. Jews, Gentiles and the Church."
  • The Breach Principle: Interpretation of a certain verse or passage in Scripture is aided by a consideration of certain breaches, either breaches of promise or breaches of time.
  • The Christo-Centric Principle: "The mind of deity is eternally centered in Christ. All angelic thought and ministry are centered in Christ. All Satanic hatred and subtlety are centered at Christ. All human hopes are, and human occupations should be, centered in Christ. The whole material universe in creation is centered in Christ. The entire written word is centered in Christ."
  • The Moral Principle
  • The Discriminational Principle: "We should divide the word of truth so as to make a distinction where God makes a difference."
  • The Predictive Principle
  • The Application Principle: "An application of truth may be made only after the correct interpretation has been made"
  • The Principle of Human Willingness in Illumination
  • The Context Principle: "God gives light upon a subject through either near or remote passages bearing upon the same subject."
Sub-divided Context/Mention Principles:
  • The First Mention Principle: "God indicates in the first mention of a subject the truth with which that subject stands connected in the mind of God."
  • The Progressive Mention Principle: "God makes the revelation of any given truth increasingly clear as the word proceeds to its consummation."
  • The Comparative Mention Principle
  • The Full Mention Principle or The Complete Mention Principle: "God declares his full mind upon any subject vital to our spiritual life."
  • The Agreement Principle: "The truthfulness and faithfulness of God become the guarantee that he will not set forth any passage in his word that contradicts any other passage."
  • The Direct Statement Principle: "God says what he means and means what he says."
  • The Gap Principle: "God, in the Jewish Scriptures, ignores certain periods of time, leaping over them without comment."
  • The Threefold Principle: "The word of God sets forth the truths of salvation in a three-fold way: past - justification; present - sanctification/transformation; future - glorification/consummation."
  • The Repetition Principle: "God repeats some truth or subject already given, generally with the addition of details not before given."
  • The Synthetic Principle
  • The Principle of Illustrative Mention
  • The Double Reference Principle
Figures of Speech Group of Principles:
  • The Numerical Principle
  • The Symbolic Principle
  • The Typical Principle: "Certain people, events, objects and rituals found in the Old Testament may serve as object lessons and pictures by which God teaches us of his grace and saving power."
  • The Parabolic Principle
  • The Allegorical Principle

Techniques

In the interpretation of a text, hermeneutics considers the original medium[18] as well as what language says, supposes, doesn't say, and implies. The process consists of several steps for best attaining the Scriptural author's intended meaning(s). One such process is taught by Henry A Virkler, in Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation (1981):
  • Lexical-syntactical analysis: This step looks at the words used and the way the words are used. Different order of the sentence, the punctuation, the tense of the verse are all aspects that are looked at in the lexical syntactical method. Here, lexicons and grammar aids can help in extracting meaning from the text.
  • Historical/cultural analysis: The history and culture surrounding the authors is important to understand to aid in interpretation. For instance, understanding the Jewish sects of the Palestine and the government that ruled Palestine in New Testament times increases understanding of Scripture. And, understanding the connotations of positions such as the High Priest and that of the tax collector helps us know what others thought of the people holding these positions.
  • Contextual analysis: A verse out of context can often be taken to mean something completely different from the intention. This method focuses on the importance of looking at the context of a verse in its chapter, book and even biblical context.
  • Theological analysis: It is often said that a single verse usually doesn't make a theology. This is because Scripture often touches on issues in several books. For instance, gifts of the Spirit are spoken about in Romans, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians. To take a verse from Corinthians without taking into account other passages that deal with the same topic can cause a poor interpretation.
  • Special literary analysis: There are several special literary aspects to look at, but the overarching theme is that each genre of Scripture has a different set of rules that applies to it. Of the genres found in Scripture, there are: narratives, histories, prophecies, apocalyptic writings, poetry, psalms and letters. In these, there are differing levels of allegory, figurative language, metaphors, similes and literal language. For instance, the apocalyptic writings and poetry have more figurative and allegorical language than does the narrative or historical writing. These must be addressed, and the genre recognized to gain a full understanding of the intended meaning.
Howard Hendricks, longtime professor of hermeneutics at Dallas Theological Seminary, set out the method of observing the text, interpreting the text, applying the text in his book, Living By the Book. Other major Christian teachers, such as Charles R. (Chuck) Swindoll, who wrote the foreword, Kay Arthur and David Jeremiah have based their hermeneutics on the principles Hendricks teaches.
In his book God Centered Biblical Interpretation (1999), Vern Poythress, Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, presented a hermeneutical technique based on the pattern of "speaker, discourse, and hearer".[19] According to Poythress, the study of the Bible must acknowledge all three aspects: God as the speaker, the Bible as His speech, and the people to whom He speaks. Thus, context plays a primary role in Poythress's study of biblical teachings. He lists three general concepts to understand about any passage of Scripture:
  • Original time and context: This includes the personal perspective of the writer, the normative perspective of the text itself, and the situational perspective of the original audience.
  • Transmission and its context: Understanding the transmission of Scripture includes contemplating the message being sent through the text, taking into account the concerns of individual writers/translators as well as its broader role in the unraveling narrative of history.
  • Modern context: Poythress calls interpreters to understand Scripture as "what God is saying now" to the individual as well as to the modern church.[20]
David L. Barr states there are three obstacles that stand in the way of correctly interpreting the biblical writings: We speak a different language, we live approximately two millennia later, and we bring different expectations to the text.[21] Additionally, Barr suggests that we approach the reading of the Bible with significantly different literary expectations than those in reading other forms of literature and writing.

Roman Catholic

The Catholic Encyclopedia lists a number of principles guiding Roman Catholic hermeneutics in the article on Exegesis (note: the Catholic Encyclopedia was written in 1917 and does not reflect the changes set forth by the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu published by Pius XII in 1943, which opened modern Catholic biblical scholarship) :
  • Historico-grammatical interpretation - The meaning of the literary expression of the Bible is best learned by a thorough knowledge of the languages in which the original text of Scripture was written, and by acquaintance with the Scriptural way of speaking, including the various customs, laws, habits and national prejudices which influenced the inspired writers as they composed their respective books. John Paul II said that: "A second conclusion is that the very nature of biblical texts means that interpreting them will require continued use of the historical-critical method, at least in its principal procedures. The Bible, in effect, does not present itself as a direct revelation of timeless truths but as the written testimony to a series of interventions in which God reveals himself in human history. In a way that differs from tenets of other religions [such as Islam, for instance], the message of the Bible is solidly grounded in history.[22]
  • Catholic interpretation - Because the Catholic Church is, according to Catholics, the official custodian and interpreter of the Bible, Catholicism's teaching concerning the Sacred Scriptures and their genuine sense must be the supreme guide of the commentator. The Catholic commentator is bound to adhere to the interpretation of texts which the Church has defined either expressly or implicitly.
  • Reverence - Since the Bible is God's own book, its study must be begun and prosecuted with a spirit of reverence and prayer.
  • Inerrancy - Since God is the principal Author of Sacred Scripture, it can be claimed to contain no error, no self-contradiction, nothing contrary to scientific or historical truth (when the original authors intended historical or scientific truth to be portrayed). Minor contradictions are due to copyist errors in the codex or the translation. Catholics believe the Scripture is God's message put in words by men, with the imperfections this very fact necessarily implies. Catholic hermeneutics strongly supports inerrancy when it comes to principles but not, for example, when dealing with Evangelists' orthographic mistakes. According to Pope John Paul II, "Addressing men and women, from the beginnings of the Old Testament onward, God made use of all the possibilities of human language, while at the same time accepting that his word be subject to the constraints caused by the limitations of this language. Proper respect for inspired Scripture requires undertaking all the labors necessary to gain a thorough grasp of its meaning.[22]
  • Patristics - The Holy Fathers are of supreme authority whenever they all interpret in one and the same manner any text of the Bible, as pertaining to the doctrine of faith or morals; for their unanimity clearly evinces that such interpretation has come down from the Apostles as a matter of Catholic faith.
Pope Benedict XVI has indicated in Verbum Domini, the post-synodal apostolic exhortation on the Word of God, that "Christianity...perceives in the words the Word himself, the Logos who displays his mystery through this complexity and the reality of human history". He encourages a “faith-filled interpretation of Sacred Scripture”. He emphasizes that this manner of interpretation, “practiced from antiquity within the Church’s Tradition...recognizes the historical value of the biblical tradition". It "seeks to discover the living meaning of the Sacred Scriptures for the lives of believers today while not ignoring the human mediation of the inspired text and its literary genres". Verbum Domini #44.

Eastern Orthodox

  • God is real and is incarnated in our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything pertaining to the Scriptures must be understood ChristologicallyJesus Christ, the incarnate Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is the center of all that we as Christians do, and being Himself the very Truth, He is the only gate through which we may enter into understanding of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments (though not all that is contained in the Old Testament is directly relevant for Christians). The Bible ultimately is about Christ and assists us in our union with Him.
  • Only the pure in heart "shall see God." That is, our spiritual state has a direct bearing on our interpretation of the Scriptures. As St. Athanasius said, "One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life." Because the Scripture is a book inspired by the Holy Spirit and given through holy men, one's own holiness is directly relevant to the ability to interpret the book correctly. Unlike any other book, the Bible's words are "spirit and life," and so we must live spiritually in order to drink from this spiritual well. Clearly, prayer and spiritual discipline are necessary in order to understand Scripture properly.
  • Understanding of the Scripture comes with living its contents. As the quote from St. Athanasius illustrates, one must both have a pure mind and be trying to imitate the saints' lives in order to understand their teaching, a dual principle which applies most of all to the teaching of the saints in the Bible. This life is particularly expressed in terms of living out the commandments and attempting to imitate Christ's life of the Gospel.
  • The primary end of Scriptural hermeneutics is that of the whole Christian life, theosis (deification/divinization). That is, our purpose in attempting to understand the Bible must not be merely for academic inquiry but rather must be in order to become fully divinized human beings, soaked with the life of God, participating in His divine energies, growing to the fullness of the stature of Christ. We interpret Scripture in order to become by grace what Christ is by nature, to "become god."
  • Only within the community of the Church can the Bible be understood. It was written by the Church, in the Church and for the Church. Thus, it is a "family document" which is the highest point of Holy Tradition, taken with faith alongside the writings of the Fathers, the Liturgy, the Icons, the Lives of the Saints, and so on.
  • The Scripture is a witness to the truth, not an exhaustive tome on Christian living. Nowhere in the words of Scripture itself can we find the teaching that it is all-sufficient for Christian life. What we as Orthodox Christians do must always be consonant with the Scriptures, but explicit mention of a practice or teaching in the Scripture is not a requirement for its inclusion in the life of the Church. The Apostle Paul himself mentions the reality of unwritten sources of Church Tradition being equally in force for the believer in II Thessalonians 2:15, that these traditions to which we must "stand fast and hold" may be "by word or by our epistle." Examples of practices not explicit in Scripture are making the Sign of the Cross, triple immersion for baptism, and having monasticism. St. Basil the Great even says that without maintaining the unwritten traditions of the Church, we "mutilate the Gospel" (On the Spirit 66).
  • We must respect the integrity of the canon of the Bible as given to us in the Church's Tradition. Searches for other texts written by apostles or prophets may be interesting and of scholarly merit, but they are not part of the hermeneutical project within the Church. Or conversely, attempts to debunk the authorship or authenticity of the books in the canon are also outside the Church's life. If we were to find a verifiable "new" work by St. Paul or to discover that Moses did not in fact write Genesis, neither finding would have any bearing on the canon. It is what it is.
  • We must use every resource at our disposal in interpreting the Scripture to bring ourselves and others to the knowledge of the truth. Certainly, there must be spiritual discernment in knowing how to use those resources, but at least theoretically, anything can be used to come to know the truth better as it is revealed in Holy Writ.
  • We must have humility when approaching Scripture. Even some of the Church's greatest and most philosophically sophisticated saints stated that some passages were difficult for them. We must therefore be prepared to admit that our interpretations may be wrong, submitting them to the judgment of the Church.
  • We may make use in a secondary fashion of the resources of academic scholarship, whether logic, archaeology, linguistics, et cetera. These resources can be helpful in terms of illuminating our understanding of Scripture, but they must always be given only secondary prominence in the project and always only in conjunction with all these other hermeneutic principles. Primary must always be our life in the Church, living, studying and knowing the Bible within that vivified and salvific Holy Tradition.[23]

Trajectory hermeneutics

Trajectory hermeneutics or redemptive-movement hermeneutics (RMH)[24][25][26] is a hermeneutical approach that seeks to locate varying 'voices' in the text and to view these voices as a progressive trajectory through history (or at least through the biblical witness); often a trajectory that progresses through to the present day. The contemporary reader of Scripture is in some way envisaged by the biblical text as standing in continuity with a developing theme therein. The reader, then, is left to discern this trajectory and appropriate it accordingly.
William J. Webb employed such a hermeneutic, in his Slaves, Women & Homosexuals. Webb shows how the moral commands of the Old and New Testament were a significant improvement over the surrounding cultural values and practices. Webb identified 18 different ways in which God dealt with his people moving against the current of popular cultural values. While for Webb the use of this hermeneutic moves to highlight the progressive liberation of women and slaves from oppressive male/bourgeois dominance, the prohibition of homosexual acts consistently moves in a more conservative manner than that of the surrounding Ancient Near East or Graeco-Roman societies. While Paul does not explicitly state that slavery should be abolished, the trajectory seen in Scripture is a progressive liberation of slaves. When this is extended to modern times, it implies that the biblical witness supports the abolition of slavery. The progressive liberation of women from oppressive patriarchalism, traced from Genesis and Exodus through to Paul's own acknowledgement of women as 'co-workers' (Rom. 16:3), sets a precedent that when applied to modern times suggests that women ought to have the same rights and roles afforded to men. Historically, the biblical witness has become progressively more stringent in its views of homosexual practice and the implications of this are not commented upon by Webb.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ferguson, Sinclair B; David F Wright; J. I. Packer (1988). New Dictionary of Theology. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press. ISBN 0-8308-1400-0.
  2. ^ https://images.shulcloud.com/3205/uploads/Documents/Why-should-a-Jew-or-anyone-read-the-Bible.pdf
  3. ^ https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discussions/3194699/cfp-biblical-scholarship-modern-jewish-hermeneutic-special-issue
  4. ^ https://zeramim.org/past-issues/volume-iii-issue-1-fall-2018-5779-2/a-biblical-challenge-can-an-academic-approach-aimed-at-best-explanation-of-the-biblical-text-be-imported-into-the-synagogue-sermon-world-of-interpretation/
  5. ^ https://zeramim.org/past-issues/volume-iii-issue-3-spring-summer-2019-5779/contemporary-jewish-theology-in-light-of-divergent-biblical-views-on-revelations-content-david-frankel/
  6. ^ https://www.thetorah.com/article/male-homosexual-intercourse-is-prohibited-in-one-part-of-the-torah
  7. ^ James L. ResseguieNarrative Criticism of the New Testament: An Introduction (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 17-21.
  8. ^ Perry, Simon (2005). Resurrecting Interpretation. Bristol Baptist College: University of Bristol.
  9. ^ R. C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture (Rev. ed., InterVarsity Press, 2009), 10.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-08-19. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  11. ^ William Yarchin, History of Biblical Interpretation: a Reader (Hendrickson, 2004), xi.
  12. ^ Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation:A Textbook of Hermeneutics, 3rd rev ed (Baker Academic, 1980), 3.
  13. ^ The Interpretation of the Bible (Boston; Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, 1844), 15-16.
  14. ^ Peter Williamson, Catholic Principles for Interpreting Scripture: A Study of the Pontifical Biblical Commission’s “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church” (Gregorian Biblical BookShop, 2001), 23, 121, 254.
  15. ^ David M. Williams, Receiving the Bible in Faith: Historical and Theological Exegesis (CUA Press, 2004), 6-7.
  16. ^ Roy B. Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation (David C. Cook, 1991), 7.
  17. ^ This list of "principles" in conservative evangelical hermeneutics appears to derive from: Hartill, J E 1960. Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
  18. ^ Perry, Peter. "Biblical Performance Criticism"www.biblicalperformancecriticism.org.
  19. ^ Poythress, Vern S. (1999). God Centered Biblical Interpretation, p. 109. P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
  20. ^ Ibid., p. 121 -122
  21. ^ New Testament Story, Wadsworth Publishing, 1995, pg. 15
  22. Jump up to:a b Presented by the Pontifical Biblical Commission (1993-04-23). "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church". Retrieved 2007-05-21.
  23. ^ Archpriest Michael Dahulich. "OrthodoxWiki article on Hermeneutics".
  24. ^ Douglas Brown (July–September 2010). "Redemptive-Movement Hermeneutic"Faith Baptist Theological Seminary. Archived from the original on 2010-12-31.
  25. ^ W. W. Klein; C. L. Blomberg; R. L. Hubbard, Jr. (2004). Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, Rev. ed. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. pp. 497–498. ISBN 0785252258ISBN 978-0-7852-5225-2.
  26. ^ H. A. Virkler; K. Gerber Ayayo (2007). Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group. pp. 202–204. ISBN 978-0-8010-3138-0.

Further reading

  • Brown, Raymond E.Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. (1990). The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-614934-0. See especially: “Modern Criticism” and “Hermeneutics” (pp. 1113-1165).
  • De La Torre, Miguel A., "Reading the Bible from the Margins," Orbis Books, 2002.* Duvall, J. Scott, and J. Daniel Hays. Grasping God's Word: A Hands on Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2001.
  • Kaiser, Walter C., and Moises Silva. An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning.Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007.
  • Kim, Yung Suk. Biblical Interpretation: Theory, Process, and Criteria 2013 ISBN 978-1-61097-646-6* Osborne, Grant R. The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation. Second edition. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2006.
  • Klein, William W; Blomberg, Craig L; Hubbard, Robert L (1993), Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, Dallas, TX: Word Publishing.
  • Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A Textbook of Hermeneutics. 3rd edition. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1970.
  • Tate, W. Randolph. Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach. Rev. ed. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1997.
  • Thistleton, Anthony. New Horizons in Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992.
  • Webb, William J. (2002). Slaves, Women and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis. Authentic Media. ISBN 1-84227-186-5.

External links