Exegesis and Hermeneutics

Hey Hendersons, Hursts, Purvis', Tiptons and Weiss',

A few weeks ago, I went to the Christian bookstore by Home Depot to find a study source for us. I looked through several and picked a book How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth based on it's ability to help us study the Bible. Perhaps we all can recall a time when we were at a loss for words in defending scripture or in trying to share our understanding of what we've read in the Bible. I chose this book because I believe its ingestion will equip us to give a more thorough defense of the Bible.

This blog is designed to give a Cliff Notes approach to our book as well as spur discussion for our study. You will still need to read the book. As you read, highlight things that you think are important and jot down thoughts you may want to share with the group.

Today's post will include some basic terminology we discussed in our first session with this book. Tiptons and Hursts will be seeing this information for the first time. This is somewhat heady stuff but will lead to the heart.

In the first chapter of the book we read about our need to correctly interpret scripture. Doing so will involve studying to determine the original intent of the scripture as well as its relevance for us today.

Task 1: Exegesis: the careful, systematic study of scripture to discover the orginal intended meaning. (page 23)

Exegesis will involve gaining a historical context: a time, culture, political climate, geographical and topographical study of the author's setting as well as the occasion and purpose for the writing. (page 26)

Exegisis will also necessitate our study of literary context: 1. words have meaning within sentences and sentences have meaning in conjunction with sentences preceding and succeding them - "keep things in context."

Part of literary study is knowing a bit of Biblical prose and poetry. A good translation will strive to keep prose in paragraph form and poetry in lines and sections.

Tools for good historical study: a good Bible translation, a Bible dictionary, good commentaries.

Task 2: Hermeneutics: contemporary relevance of ancient texts. (page 29)

Reading the Bible for devotions has tremendous spiritual value. However, the benefit of devotional reading comes from the contemporary relevance of the scripture. This relevance needs to be gained from the understanding of the scripture's original intent (exegesis).

A scripture text cannot mean what it never meant. Or put positively: the true meaning of the text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken. (page 30)

Take time to read or reread page 17-31 again.

I will email you each time I post. If you want to post questions or comments, please do so.

Tim