Biblical Interpretation: Theory, Process, and Criteria

Some features of WorldCat will not be available. Create lists, bibliographies and reviews: Search WorldCat Find items in libraries near you. Advanced Search Find a Library.

Your list has reached the maximum number of items. Please create a new list with a new name; move some items to a new or existing list; or delete some items. Your request to send this item has been completed. Citations are based on reference standards. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study.

The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied. The E-mail Address es field is required. Please enter recipient e-mail address es. The E-mail Address es you entered is are not in a valid format.

Please re-enter recipient e-mail address es. You may send this item to up to five recipients. The name field is required. Please enter your name. The E-mail message field is required.

• Biblical interpretation : theory, process, and criteria (Book, ) [www.newyorkethnicfood.com].
• Biblical interpretation : theory, process, and criteria | JKM Library!
• Navigation menu.

Please enter the message. Every translation is inherently limited. It is impossible to translate from one language to another and get the sense of the original exactly correct, as any translator of any language will attest. Words in the original can contain figurative meanings or cultural meanings that simply cannot be brought into English, or cannot be brought into English without a lengthy explanation which is the purpose of a Bible Commentary. Furthermore, the exact understanding of English words may vary from person to person and region to region which is why different English dictionaries have varying meanings for the same word.

If possible, therefore, a wide variety of translations must be consulted, and it is most helpful to develop a familiarity with the original languages. At this time, to build a text resembling the original, alternative readings from a variety of text families must be consulted in search of the reading that is most likely to be the original, integrating that reading with both the context and the whole scope of Scripture. The subject of the Bible from Genesis 3: A covenant, on the other hand, is an agreement between two parties.

The Greeks had no covenants and thus had no word for covenant. Each must be carefully noted as to whether it was conditional or unconditional, and whether it has been fulfilled in part or in whole. The New Covenant had been technically instituted, but because the covenant promises had not been fulfilled, the people lived as if they were under the Old Covenant. It is often the case with covenants that there is a period of time between when they are actually instituted and when the promises made come to pass. God made a covenant with Abraham for the land, and it still has not been fully realized.

Jonathan made a covenant with David, but died before any of the covenant promises came to pass. The words in the Word must be carefully studied to determine if they have a unique biblical meaning. As the Author of Holy Scripture, God can use words in a unique manner. One must first assume that God uses the words in the Word in their standard usage of the day. After thorough study, it may be determined that God has assigned a special meaning to a word. Almost every word has a semantic range of usage that must be considered in order to determine what meaning or meanings is appropriate. When there are several possible meanings of a word, the context must determine the appropriate one.

Some words or phrases have more than one meaning that fits in the context, bringing a poetic richness to biblical language.

Post navigation

These meanings do not contradict, but layer one truth upon another. This is apparent in modern language in the commonly employed figure of speech called double entendre. Where the Bible has already defined a term, it need not define it again, and its meaning should be kept consistent in the interpretation of various passages in which it occurs unless the context will not permit it. The Bible should be understood to communicate literal and historical fact whenever and wherever possible. If understanding something literally creates a contradiction with a known fact or another scripture, a figure of speech is likely being employed.

As used by God in the Bible, figures of speech are usages of words or sentences that emphasize a particular truth. They are used for the purpose of giving additional force to the truth conveyed, emphasis to the statement of it or depth to its meaning. If a word or words are used in a figure of speech, then that figure can be named and described, and the purpose of its use determined.

As workmen of the Word, we are bound to diligently examine the figure of speech for the purpose of discovering and learning the truth that is thus emphasized. The study of figures of speech in the Bible is highly technical and quite exact.

Some theological systems employ an allegorical interpretation of the Bible. Figures of speech are identified in three categories: Idioms are words or phrases peculiar to a particular language, often closely related to customs and history of a people. Figures of syntax include illustrative figures, types of rhetoric and changes in meaning. The names are derived from the Greek and Latin systems.

Identification of the figures of speech used in a particular verse can be crucial to its correct interpretation, and the presence and force of figures ought always to be considered by the Bible student. The Bible is written within the culture and thought forms of the Middle East. Its language sparkles with references to the everyday life and customs of the times in which it was written. While these references were well known to those who lived in Bible times, we must become familiar with their manner of life, idioms, customs and culture in order to arrive at the proper understanding of Scripture as it would have been understood in Bible times.

A knowledge of the structure of a passage can be valuable for interpretation. The structure of a passage of Scripture can clarify the main ideas, correspondence, parallelisms and contrasting ideas. Structure occurs in two basic forms:. The Bible often repeats the information contained in it. For example, the Four Gospels record many of the same events.

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.

Dr Michael G Strauss

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: 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 s, 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.

Biblical scholars have noted the diversity of interpretations by Protestants and to a lesser extent by Catholics. In his forward to R. Packer observes that Protestant theologians are in conflict about biblical interpretation.

The Catholic Church asserts the capital importance of biblical interpretation and Catholic scholars recognize some diversity in the Bible. 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. In the interpretation of a text, hermeneutics considers the original medium [12] 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.

1. Find a copy in the library.
2. SELFISH ALTRUISM: Managing & Executing Successful Change Initiatives.
3. Oops! Wrong Family!
4. Aubries First Day of School (I am a STAR Personalized Book Series 1).
5. What Is “Process Hermeneutics”??

One such process is taught by Henry A Virkler, in Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation 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 , 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".