Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

rs > 4.1 ways of interpreting scripture > Flashcards

4.1 ways of interpreting scripture Flashcards

1
Q

According to Origen what are the 3 ways of interpreting scripture?

A
  • literal
  • moral
  • allegorical
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is meant by a literal interpretation of the Bible?

A
  • the words are literally true, the text is historical
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is a strength of using a literal interpretation?

A
  • this approach gives us an easy route to understanding its meaning and how we should think about its relevance to our lives today
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is a weakness of using a literal interpretation?

A
  • how do we tell what language is intended to be interpreted literally?
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is meant by using a moral interpretation?

A
  • lessons should be learned from the Bible about how to live your life
  • treats the Bible as a kind of practical document which is primarily examined in order to understand how we should live our lives
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What is a strength of using a moral interpretation?

A
  • focuses on how the Bible can help is live in the here and now
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is a weakness of using a moral interpretation?

A
  • this focus can be too narrow
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is meant by an allegorical interpretation?

A
  • the stories should be read on a deeper symbolic level, they have a hidden meaning
  • the words are just a symbol for the reality
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is a strength of using an allegorical interpretation?

A
  • instances where it does appear as if the authors of the gospels write with the intention of creating symbolic meaning
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

How did Augustine interpret the parable of the Good Samaritan?

A
  • man going from Jerusalem to Jericho = man is Adam and Jerusalem is Heaven
  • attacked by robbers = the robbers are the devil persuading him to sin
  • leaving him half dead = away from God
  • Priest and Levite = OT ministry isn’t salvation
  • Samaritan looked after him = incarnation
  • took him to an inn = the church
  • innkeeper = apostle Paul
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is a weakness of using allegorical interpretation?

A
  • it isn’t always clear what hidden meanings a particular text might have
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Where does the idea that the Bible is inspired by God come from?

A

1 Timothy 3:16 = “All scripture is inspired by God”
- the Bible is guided by God, it’s his words and therefore inerrant

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What was the enlightenment?

A
  • also known as the Age of Reason
  • was a philosophical, intellectual and cultural movement of the 18th century, characterised by:
  • the idea that the progress of humanity could be advanced through rational thinking
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Who is a key thinker associated with rationalism?

A

Descartes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What did Descartes argue about rationalism?

A
  • the power of reason should test all ideas
  • inspired philosophers to question religion and propose new answers to religious questions
  • things that Christians had accepted as part of the mystery of holy things were now dissected as the traditional explanations were found to be lacking
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What key thinker is associated with deism?

A

Baruch Spinoza

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What is deism?

A
  • introduced the idea of a non-interventionist God
  • Spinoza expressly denies personality and consciousness to God
  • rejection of revelation and miracles
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Which key thinkers are associated with empiricism?

A

Isaac Newton and John Locke

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

What is empiricism?

A
  • all knowledge comes through observation of the natural world, experiment and science
  • these accounted for the working of the world without supernatural interference
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What key thinker is associated with scepticism?

A

David Hume

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What is scepticism?

A
  • questioning whether knowledge can be obtained at all, either rationally or empirically
  • people often lie and have good reasons to lie about miracles
22
Q

What options do Christians have post-enlightenment?

A
  1. liberal
  2. conservative
23
Q

What is the liberal approach?

A
  • the Bible needs to be interpreted using evidence and reason
  • non-propositional revelation = the Bible is inspired by God and requires us to interpret the text in an appropriate way
  • the Bible carries a moral message
24
Q

What is the conservative approach?

A
  • a fundamentalist/literal interpretation
  • propositional revelation = Bible is from God, he overshadowed the author/dictated the material word for word
  • rejects rationalism and science
25
Q

What is a problem with the liberal approach?

A
  • it abandons the search for theological meaning
  • we put our own focus/projections on it
26
Q

How does Barth respond to the liberal and conservative approaches?

A
  • he offers a middle-way: neo-orthodoxy
  • the Bible should be read as a story through which one can encounter God
27
Q

What does Barth say about revelation?

A
  • God reveals himself in Christ
  • Jesus NOT the Bible is the Word of God
  • the Bible is not revelation itself and to treat it like that is a form of idolatry
28
Q

What is Barth’s theology?

A
  • theocentric not anthropocentric
29
Q

What is meant by dialectic theology?

A
  • God finds us, the Holy Spirit imparts our recognition of God via scripture
  • when God chooses to speak to the reader, the Bible becomes the Word of God
30
Q

How can John 5 be seen as an example of dialectic theology?

A
  • Jesus is the true power BUT the man wouldn’t have encountered him if he hadn’t gone to the pool
  • in the same way, the Bible is the place where Jesus is encountered BUT has no real power of its own
31
Q

Who was Rudolph Bultmann?

A
  • a German Lutherean theologian, who was very radical and controversial
32
Q

What did Bultmann propose instead of the liberal and conservative approaches?

A
  • he disagreed with liberal theology’s attempt to see the Bible as just moral guidance
  • he also opposed the fundamentalist approach of accepting myths as literal
  • we need to strip away the myths of the Bible to uncover the kerygma
33
Q

What is a myth?

A
  • a report of an event of supernatural forces at work but its true intention is to say something fundamental
34
Q

What did Bultmann argue about humanity’s understanding of myths?

A
  • humanity now has a scientific world-view and has lost the ability to understand myth
  • this gets in the way of understanding the kerygma
35
Q

What is meant by kerygma?

A

the fundamental truth

36
Q

What is the kerygma of Adam and Eve?

A
  • Adam’s sin is not living authentically, their sin was seeking false security, leaving the garden of Eden was them entering a life of sorrow and anxiety
  • they represent us
37
Q

What is a problem with demythologising the Bible?

A
  • if you demythologise too much you might loose the fundamental message of Christianity
    e.g. the resurrection
38
Q

How did Bultmann view the resurrection?

A
  • it is an existential reality in us
  • for Bultmann, belief in the resurrection of Christ’s physical body is completely unnecessary to Christian faith
39
Q

What did Alister McGrath identify?

A
  • four approaches to biblical interpretation:
    1. rational
    2. historical
    3. sociological
    4. literary
40
Q

What is the rational approach?

A
  • biblical criticism should be made to fit with our rational, scientific understanding of the world - this means discarding supernatural elements
  • this usually leads to liberal interpretations
  • influenced the deistic view
  • we are left with universal values
41
Q

What are strengths of the rational approach?

A
  • still important things that can be learned
  • religion and rationalism can coexist
  • promotes universal values
42
Q

What are weaknesses of the rational approach?

A
  • undermine theological truth of the Bible
  • ‘pick and mix’ approach
  • Bultmann = fails to understand the importance of Christianity
43
Q

What is meant by the historical approach?

A
  • tries to identify the original historical events behind the Bible through a variety of methods (form, source and redaction criticism)
  • key to this was the ‘Quest for the Historical Jesus’
44
Q

What is a strength of the historical approach?

A
  • helps the modern world to get closer to the Early Church and the original meaning of the text
45
Q

What are some weaknesses of the historical approach?

A
  • doesn’t take into account the divine nature of the text
  • reflects the scholars’ biases
  • epistemic issue = our distance from the life of Jesus and the relative paucity of historical sources about his life means we’ll never be able to truly know what he/his life was like
  • anachronism = natural imposition of modern ideas onto very different historical eras
46
Q

What is meant by the sociological approach?

A
  • looking at the structures, views and patterns of human activity at the time the Bible was written
  • theologians like Brown argued we have to understand the community that produced the revelation
  • Gager = interprets the Early Church as a millenarian cult that arose out of the widespread social and political situation in the Roman world
47
Q

What are some strengths of the sociological approach?

A
  • helps in understanding the meaning and significance of Jesus’ life/teachings
  • generates good explanations for why Christianity grew so quickly in certain communities
48
Q

What are some weaknesses of the sociological approach?

A
  • imposes modern assumptions on earlier believers
  • how do we know we’re not projecting a modern understanding of the human religious impulse onto figures in the past?
49
Q

What is meant by the literary approach?

A
  • looks at the literary methods used in each composition
  • this could mean the narrative structure, arc of development, or particular motifs
  • Culpepper = John uses motifs of light and darkness
50
Q

What are some strengths of the literary approach?

A
  • literary comparison of the Gospels helps in gaining an insight into the beliefs of the ECC
  • by focusing on the whole text, theological truths become evident
51
Q

What are some weaknesses of the literary approach?

A
  • subjective and open to creating meaning that was never intended
  • the Gospels are more than a story, they are intended to convey specific theological truths to an audience

rs (30 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions