Interpreting Scripture

Question 1

Exegesis

Answer 1

careful investigation of the original meaning of texts in their historical and literary contexts

Question 2

Hermeneutics

Answer 2

Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpreting the books of the Bible and its meaning. Also involves the study of principles of interpreting all forms of communication, nonverbal and verbal. The study of interpreting the Bible.
Its purpose is to try and understand what the text really says, what the Bible really means, its deeper messages and ideas.
• the word comes from Hermes, messenger of the Gods
• Wasn’t used until 1500s, until which interpretation was only done within the Church
• When the reformation took place, more people felt a need to interpret the scripture for themselves. Beforehand, most people did not have access to the Bible

Question 3

(Types of interpretation) inspired

Answer 3

• of extraordinary quality as if arising from some external creative impulse
• (of air or another substance) that is breathed in

Question 4

(Types of interpretation) Literal

Answer 4

• taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or exaggeration, ‘plain meaning’
• (of a translation) representing the exact words of the original text
• literal meaning links to the purpose of the authors
• often associated with verbal inspiration
• extreme versions of this view are criticised as they don’t account for the individuality of style and vocabulary found in the various biblical authors
• 4th century scholar Jerome championed the literal interpretation of the Bible, also argued by Aquinas, Luther and Calvin

Question 5

(Types of interpretation) Allegorical

Answer 5

• a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one
• interpretive exegesis assumes that the Bible has various levels of meaning, focusing on the spiritual sense
• St Paul: uses story of Sarah and Hagar (Genesis 16) allegorically (Galatians 4:21-24)
• Hagar’s son Ishmael is treated by Paul as an allegory for children of Abraham and Sarah;s son Isaac as an allegory for the spiritual children of Abraham- “children of the promise”
• medieval scholars believed the OT was an allegory of NT events- Jonah in the whale for three days represents Jesus’ death and resurrection

Question 6

(Types of interpretation) Moral

Answer 6

• a lesson that can be derived form a story or experience (Acts 10)
• standards of behaviour; principles of right and wrong
• what is the Godly thing to do?
• Many of Jesus’ parables and the book of Proverbs and other wisdom books are packed with this meaning (Luke 10:25-37 good samaritan)
• Pope Francis: “Christian love is loving without counting the cost”

Question 7

Biblical inspiration

Answer 7

• Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in Christian theology that the authors and editors of the Bible wee led or influenced by God with the result that their writings may be designated in some sense the word of God
—2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”

• some passages authors claim divines inspiration for their message or report the effects of such inspiration on others
—Second Epistle of Peter: “no prophecy of Scripture…was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (1:20-21), supported in 2 Pet 3:16

• Holy Spirit: the third person of the Trinity; God as spiritually active in the world

Question 8

Criticism of the Bible as divinely inspired

Answer 8

C.H. Dodd: “the entire corpus of Scripture consists of writings every word of which (presumably in the original autographs…) was directly “dictated”…they consequently convey absolute truth with no trace of error or relativity…no attempt will be made here to formulate an alternative definition of inspiration…That I believe to be a false method. There is indeed no question about the original implications of the term”

Question 9

Karl Barth general

Answer 9

A Swiss reformed theologian who is often regarded as the greatest protestant theologian of the 20th century

• scripture is an allegorical story of God, a human attempt to put into words the divine act of God’s revelation
• not the word of God, Jesus is the word of God, humans just witnessed Jesus and wrote
• therefore scripture should be analysed allegorically
• Some say that God has revealed himself, we do not look for God through reason, because our reason is flawed. Instead, he has found us, taking the initiative.

Question 10

Barth Quotes (maybe delete and just have in quotation bank)

Answer 10

• “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude”
• “laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God”
• “Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way”
• “The gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question mark against all truths”

Question 11

Barth’s propositional view

Answer 11

• Propositional refers to statements of belief, creeds. For ‘Religions of the book’, God has spoken/revealed the actual words. Generates an I-It relationship, faith is accepting the words as being from God and therefore true: “divinely authenticated truths”.
• According to Karl Barth, Natural Theology (man’s search for God) is a misunderstanding of the focus of revelation, God should be the focus as the revealer, not man as the receiver. We don’t need to understand every single word, just what is revealed.

Question 12

Critics of Barth

Answer 12

• Liberals: called him a Bible- thumping fundamentalist
• Conservatives questioned his orthodoxy because he refused to consider the Bible to be infallible (Barth thought only Jesus was infallible)
• others thought Barth’s theology overemphasised God’s transcendence, making God seem distant
• others argued that God did show signs of his presence in nature and history (something early Barth denied)

Question 13

Rudolf Bultmann and demythologisation

Answer 13

a German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testamtent at Marlburg. Major figure of early twentieth century biblical studies and liberal Christianity
-demythologising: to interpret what are considered to be mythological elements of the Bible
• involves stripping mythological layers of meaning to find the true Gospel message
• none of the stories are supposed to be taken literally, all convey a hidden message in the same sense as some of the more commonly accepted Old Testament myths
• “It is impossible to use electric light and the wireless and to avail ourselves of modern medical and surgical discoveries and at the same time to believe in the New Testament world of demons and spirits”- look at the bible through the lens of modern knowledge

Question 14

(Bultmann) Myths

Answer 14

Myths: stories which have a meaning behind them but should not be taken as literal accounts- they communicate a message
• describes myth as the use of imagery from the physical to discuss and communicate anout the metaphysical
• Bultmann says: we must demythologise myths to find true meaning, we should understand what the non-literal part was so we can understand said meaning. Anti realist stance.
• Example: Fo5000 is not historical, but is to emphasise Jesus’ love, compassion and goodness; blind receiving sight, eyes opened to the truth, this would be understood by 1st century readers
• The reality of the resurrection is not necessarily important, he considered it more important to take from it that humans owe their existence to God; symbol of everlasting God in heaven, reforming corrupt character, becoming alive in Christ, reaching potential as a human being, the enduring justice of the universe where good triumphs over evil

Question 15

Problems with Bultmann

Answer 15

• at what point do we stop mythologising and settle on the truth
• does God himself end up being a symbol? is this a problem?
• how can we know what the essential truths being gained from the texts actually are?
• can meaningful discussion take place if everything is symbolic

Question 16

Traditional Biblical Criticism

Answer 16

• focused on choice of words and their meanings
• use of images and symbols, their significance
• characters’ development
• the relationships between characters and the significance

Question 17

Rationalism

Answer 17

• the idea that human reason alone - apart from any supernatural revelation- can discover truth
• the practice of treating reason as the ultimate authority in religion

Question 18

Sociological approach to Biblical Criticism

Answer 18

• what insights from sociology can help in the interpretation of the text
• what patterns of human social behaviour are evident in the text
• involves the interpretation and understanding of the Bible through analysis of social events and their meanings for the human participants- popular during 1960s and 70s
• the central principle is that it is only possible to know the meaning of an act or statement within the context from which it originates
• context is critical to comprehension- an action or event that carries substantial weight to one person or culture may be viewed as meaningless or entirely different to another
—e.g. thumbs up is widely seen as a job well done but other cultures see it as an insult
—also- putting a piece of paper into a box is meaningless unless in an election
• the meaning of Jesus’ words and actions can only be interpreted accurately through an understanding of the society at the time of Jesus, the way people live, lifestyles, etc

Question 19

Socio-Historical Criticism

Answer 19

• if the story claims to be historical, what really happened?
• what social, historical or cultural information can be gleaned from the text
• what background information is necessary to better understand the text
• what was life like for the common people, not just the ruling elites
• Historical criticism places the texts in their historical setting and promotes their interpretation in the light of their contemporary environment
• this is necessary for their understanding, whether they are historical in character or belong to another literary genre
• if they are historical, it is important to establish how faithfully they reflect their dramatic date (the date of the events they record, rather than the date of compostion)
• this test has been applied successfully to Luke and Acts- in relation to roman law and institutions, and in general, the biblical outline of events from the middle bronze age (21st - 16th century BCE) to the 1st Century AD fits remarkably well into the historical context

Question 20

Theistic Rationalism

Answer 20

• first developed during the eighteenth century
• believe natural religion (belief based on reason), Christianity, and rationalism typically can coexist and support each other
• with rational thought balancing the conflicts between the first two aspects
• often asserts the primary role of a person’s religion should support morality
• believe that God plays an active role in human life, rendering prayer effective
• accept parts of the Bible as divinely inspired, using reason as their criterion for what to accept or reject
• belief that God intervenes in human affairs and their approving attitude toward parts of the Bible distinguish theistic rationalists from Deists
• Bible should be interpreted in this context

Question 21

Literary Criticism

Answer 21

• tries to establish the literary genres of biblical documents
• reaches conclusions about their structure, date and authorship
• conclusions are based on internal and external evidence
• use of earlier documents may throw light on the structure of the text being studied
• NT literary criticism has centred on the Gospels
• Mark seems to be a source for Matthew and Luke who also had a further common source (Q)
• aspects of the Gospel problem that literary criticism leaves unsolved are more likely to be illuminated by other critical approaches
• John has less in common with the synoptics and gives an independent line of communication
• a comparative study of those areas where John and synoptic traditions touch each other yields valuable conclusions for the beginnings of the gospel story

Question 22

Evaluation of Literary Criticism

Answer 22

-Strengths
• brings scripture to life by understanding the motives and contests of the authors and the characters
• helpful for believers to defend their faith
• valuable light cast on the meaning and setting of the books, with a consequent advantage to exegesis
-Weaknesses
• arguments are based on little scientific evidence
• conclusions can only ever be assumptions
• arguments based on assumptions can easily be criticised as unreasonable as lacking authority

Question 23

Context of Criticism

Answer 23

• the development of Biblical criticism comes in the context of the post enlightenment world which saw an increasing acceptance and dependence on scientific methods to understand our position in the world
• it moved away from the theological basis of world view which he had held before
• allowed a deeper understanding of scripture and the contexts from which it came
• led to a diminishment of reliance on scripture and a resultant diversion between liberal and conservative attitudes

Question 24

Significance of Biblical criticism for the modern world

Answer 24

• Biblical criticism within the same academic/scientific context as evolution etc
• BC allowed understanding of the Bible to move and develop alongside scientific discoveries using scientific methods
• however it caused strong divergence of beliefs which saw the development of fundamentalism within christianity in an attempt to counteract its secularisation
• the divergence is still prominent