Hermeneutics
Comes from a Greek word hermeneuein, which means express, explain, interpret or bring to
understanding. Hermeneutics is understood as science and art of interpretation.
·
Interpretation is not new thing but
perception is important.
·
Hermeneutics is all about understanding,
which comes from interpretation. To know the meaning we need to know the
realities and phenomena.
Daiel J Adams “Hermeneutics is investigation and
determination of rules and principles which guides in interpretation of
scripture.” Hermeneutics is theory or methodology of scriptural interpretation.
- Exegesis
is the process by which one determines the meaning of the text. Exegesis - careful investigation of the
original meaning of texts in their historical and literary contexts; the
English word comes from a Greek verb meaning "to lead out of"
(Greek "ex" = "out"; "agein" =
"to lead/go/draw"); the process basically involves asking
analytical questions about various aspects of the texts and their contexts
It is not reporting facts
The duty of the interpreter is to present the people of
God the message of revelation, connect it with present life context, to make
access to the real revelatory message of God by removing the cultural and
social milieu that covered the text.
Bible and Authority
·
Bible has ultimate authority.
·
Bible is God’s word in the words of human beings
·
It nor formed in God’s mechanical detection
but humans got divine revelation and ideas in their available socio cultural
milieu. Thus, authors used their style and vocabulary.
·
The word of god is God-breathened (1 Tim
3.16; 2 Pet.1.20,21). To form the bible, God used many men and women under the
control of holy-Spirit.
·
No
errors.
·
NT writers understood OT as the Word of God/
scripture and NT as fulfillment of the OT. NT interprets OT in the light of
Christ event. It means there is unity and diversity in the Bible and salvation
history is the one that make unity within the Bible.
Purpose
of the Interpretation
1.
To discover 'what the original author really
meant’ in his original historical setting. In on other words, it intends to understand
'what the writer meant by the text'.
2.
To arrive at the objective truth of the text.
The task of interpretation is concerned with the 'plain sense' or 'natural
sense' of the text.
Challenges
for interpretation
·
Two contexts: gap –cultural, linguistic, social, political,
ideological
·
Bias, Pre-suppositions and assumption. However, we need
pre-Understanding.
·
Addition and reductionism
Suggested Steps for
Understanding and Interpreting a New Testament Text
1. Fixing the text: confirm the limits of the passage
It determines the
linguistic unit, a rounded and meaningful whole that can more or less stand on
its own feet.
2. Establishing the working text:
It is a process of
fixing the original text through studying textual variant (Textual Criticism)
and footnotes.
3. Background Information/Historical Context
3.1 Primary information
a) Author: Background and possible influence upon him,
purpose of the author, what is the major concern.
b) Recipient: Who they are, place, present circumstance,
historical situation accessioned in writing, what is the relationship between
the author and recipient?
c) Book: The major theme, it is essential to read the entire book
before interpreting a particular text.
d) The date: The
time writing will help us to know the background, socio-cultural milieu and
ideologies.
3.2 Wider Historical-social-cultural Background
Ø Determine
whether your passage has Jewish, early-Christian, Greco-Roman or combination of
these components.
Ø Determine
the meaning and significance of persons (prosopographic study), place, events,
institutions, concepts or customs (socio-cultural-political-economic).
Ø If
there is need, you can gather parallel or counter-parallel texts from Jewish or
Greco-Roman sources that may aid in understanding the cultural milieu of the
author of the selected texts.
Ø Determine
the value of the background information for the understanding of the texts
3.3 The literary context: Understand the immediate and wider context
of the text.
4. Analysis of the Language:
a) The genre or the
kind of literature: prose, poetry, prophecy, apocalypse, formula, parables,
narratives, dialogues etc.
b) Grammar: To analyze the relationship between the
words and word group.
c) Morphology: Systematic analysis of classes and structure
of the words, conjugation of verbs, the systematic relationship between the
words.
d) Syntax: The arrangements and interrelationship of
words in larger constructions
Helping aids for
above described analytical process:
Ø Identify
the subject, predicate and object
Ø Identify
modifiers: adverbial modifiers, adverbs, prepositional phrases, participle
phrases, adjective clauses, noun clauses
Ø Identify
coordinators: coordinate clauses, phrases and words
Ø Identify
the structural signals: conjunctions, relative pronouns, particles and
sometimes demonstrative pronouns
e)
Stylistic feature
f) Etymology/the analysis of Word/s: Word/s function in
the context, it is narrowing the meaning of the word for the context from the
range of meaning, kind of word-techanical, theological, cultural etc.
5. Structural Analysis
It
consists of two steps: firstly, the text is divided into small units and
secondly one will investigate what relations there are between the
sub-divisions of the text and their function within the whole.
6. Meaning of the each verses
7. Intertextuality
Ø The
total context of biblical revelation
7. The Theology of
the Texts
It is finding the thematic location of the text and
theology of the text.
8. Application/s of
the Texts