The Interpretative Task of the Art Critic Involves Asking Which of These Questions
"The test of good interpretations is that information technology makes good sense of what is written." (22)
For 33 years that guiding principle has sat at the middle of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, an evangelical standard-bearer for biblical estimation. Since 1981 Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart have helped interested Christians exercise what St. Augustine said he heard: "Take upward and read!" This new fourth edition seeks the same goal of helping us read God'southward Give-and-take better with worship and obedience.
And notwithstanding, Fee and Stuart encourage not simply any reading.
They encourage adept reading through skillful interpretation, the aim of which is not uniqueness only plainness—a so-called "plain reading of Scripture."
"[U]niqueness is not the aim of our task," they write. "The aim of skilful estimation is simple: to become at the 'obviously significant of the text,' the author's intended meaning." (22)
Easier said than done!
Fee and Stuart say such an endeavor is possible, only requires much from the reader at 2 carve up levels: We must first understand what was said to original audience dorsum then and at that place; we must learn to hear the aforementioned give-and-take in the hear and now.
In other words, the two most important tasks for biblical interpreters is exegesis and hermeneutics. Without them the reader is lost.
And then is the interpretation.
TASK 1: Exegesis
Discovering the original, intended meaning of a given text through conscientious, systematic written report is our principal task, ane Fee and Stuart describe as "primarily a historical task." (27) Exegesis is an effort at reaching back into history to the original author and audience.
While exegesis is thought of every bit a task left to the "experts," the authors insist at that place are ways for interested Christians to execute this task, too. The trick is learning what you lot can practise with your own skills and how to use the work of others.
Even if you don't know Greek or Hebrew, y'all can still do two crucial things fifty-fifty the experts sometimes neglect:
- "read the text carefully;"
- "ask the correct questions of the text." (thirty)
Fee and Stuart confess that in their feel "many people simply do not know how to read well." (xxx) Interestingly, they recommend reading Mortimer Adler'southward popular book How to Read a Book in guild to read the text well.
When you carefully read Scripture yous will inevitable inquire the right questions of the text, too. The two basic questions you should enquire of every biblical hit on context and content.
Context questions mine the layers of history, literature, occasion, and purpose. But the most of import context question is this: what is the signal? "Nosotros must try to trace the author'due south train of idea," Fee and Stuart insist, because the goal of exegesis "is to find out what the original author intended." (32)
Content questions deal with the meaning of words, their grammatical relationships in sentences, and issues of textual analysis. Here is where it's of import to work with other scholars and their tools.
Remember: "the quality of one's answers to such questions will usually depend on the quality of the sources being used." Therefore brand sure you have a skillful translation, a skilful Bible dictionary, and good commentaries.
TASK ii: Hermeneutics
Used in its narrow sense, this task seeks to discover the contemporary relevance of aboriginal texts. Information technology's about request questions nigh the Bible'south meaning in the "hither and now."
Only watch out, because our interpretive job doesn't begin here: "the simply proper control for hermeneutics is to be institute in the original intent of the biblical text." (34)
Fee and Stuart list several groups who err on this crucial indicate. Considering their hermeneutics is not controlled by skillful exegesis:
- Mormons baptize the expressionless;
- Jehovah's Witnesses pass up the deity of Jesus;
- snake handlers misapply Mark xvi:18, and with disastrous consequences;
- prosperity preachers abet the American dream as a Christian correct.
While nosotros certainly want to know what the Bible means for u.s.a. today, we cannot make it mean whatever we want information technology to mean, and and then claim the Holy Spirit's imprimatur.
And then what are nosotros to do? Fee and Stuart force u.s.a. back to their core message:
A text cannot mean what it could never have meant for its original readers/hearers…the true pregnant of the biblical text for u.s.a. is what God originally intended it to hateful when information technology was first spoken or written. (emph. original, 34-35)
Call up: start with exegesis and follow up with hermeneutics. Reverse the order and you lot risk not reading the Bible for all its worth.
What makes Fee and Stuart'due south resource unique and useful is that it is a manual of the major genres of Scripture and their respective interpretive schemes. Next calendar week nosotros will continue exploring this standard-bearer of biblical interpretation by engaging one of these genre-specific chapters.
_____________________
Jeremy Bouma (Th.K.) is a pastor with the Evangelical Covenant Church in West Michigan. He is the founder of THEOKLESIA, a content curator dedicated to helping the 21st century church rediscover the celebrated Christian faith; holds a Chief of Theology in historical theology; and makes the vintage religion relevant at www.jeremybouma.com.
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How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Instructors: Dr. Douglas Stuart, Dr. Mark L. Strauss Dr. Gordon D. Fee
The How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth course helps you get the most out of your Bible-reading feel. Featuring newly updated material and lessons by professors and authors Douglas Stuart and Mark Strauss, the course focuses on historical contexts of the Bible and explains differences between Old Attestation narratives, the Epistles, Gospels, Parables, Psalms, and more than.
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Source: https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/biblical-interpretation-exegesis-and-hermeneutics
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