Hermeneutics

Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation

Henry A. Virkler, Karelynne Ayayo

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780801031380
• eBook ISBN: 9781441200457
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

If non-specialists learn the correct principles and processes for hermeneutics, much more accurate and helpful biblical interpretation can be accomplished. Hermeneutics gives the reader not only an understanding of the principles of proper biblical interpretation but also the ability to apply those principles in sermon preparation, personal Bible study, or writing. This popular book outlines a five-step hermeneutical procedure that includes: (1) historical-cultural and contextual analysis, (2) lexical-syntactical analysis, (3) theological analysis, (4) genre identification and analysis, and (5) application. The second edition includes updated material covering developments in hermeneutics over the past twenty years.

ONE

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INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS

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After completing this chapter, you should be able to

1. Define the terms hermeneutics, general hermeneutics, and special hermeneutics.

2. Describe the various fields of biblical study (study of the canon, textual criticism, historical criticism, exegesis, biblical theology, systematic theology, practical theology) and their relationship to hermeneutics.

3. Explain the theoretical and biblical basis for the need for hermeneutics.

4. Identify three basic views of the doctrine of inspiration and explain the implications of these views for hermeneutics.

5. Identify five controversial issues in contemporary hermeneutics and explain each issue in a few sentences.

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Some Basic Definitions

The word hermeneutics is said to have its origin in the name Hermes, the Greek god who served as messenger for the gods, transmitting and interpreting their communications to their fortunate, or often unfortunate, recipients. By the first century, the verb form hermeneuo was used to mean “explain,” “interpret,” or “translate.” This verb appears three times in the New Testament, each time with the sense of translating from one language to another (John 1:42; 9:7; Heb. 7:2).

In its technical meaning, hermeneutics is often defined as the science and art of biblical interpretation. Hermeneutics is considered a science because it has rules, and these rules can be classified in an orderly system. It is considered an art because communication is flexible, and therefore a mechanical and rigid application of rules will sometimes distort the true meaning of a communication.1 To be a good interpreter one must learn the rules of hermeneutics as well as the art of applying those rules.

Hermeneutical theory is sometimes divided into two subcategories: general and special hermeneutics. General hermeneutics is the study of those rules governing interpretation of the entire biblical text. It includes the topics of historical-cultural, contextual, lexical-syntactical, and theological analyses. Special hermeneutics is the study of those rules that apply to specific genres, such as parables, allegories, types, and prophecy. General hermeneutics is the focus of chapters 3 through 5, special hemeneutics the focus of chapters 6 and 7.

Relations of Hermeneutics to Other Fields of Biblical Study

Hermeneutics is not isolated from other fields of biblical study. It is reermeneutics is not isolated from other fields of biblical study. It is related to study of the canon, textual criticism, historical criticism, exegesis, and biblical, systematic, and practical theology.2

Among these various fields of biblical study, the area that conceptually precedes all others is the study of canonicity, that is, the differentiation between those books that bear the stamp of divine inspiration and those that do not. The historical process by which certain books came to be placed in the canon and others excluded is a long and interesting one and can be found elsewhere.3 Essentially the process of canonization was a historical one in which the Holy Spirit guided the church to recognize that certain books bear the impress of divine authority.

The field of biblical study that conceptually follows the development of the canon is textual criticism, sometimes referred to as lower criticism. Textual criticism is the attempt to ascertain the original wording of a text. It is needed because we have no original manuscripts, only many copies of the originals, and these copies have variations among them. By carefully comparing one manuscript with another, textual critics perform an invaluable service by providing us with a biblical text that closely approximates the original writings given to Old and New Testament believers.4 One of the world’s most renowned New Testament scholars, F. F. Bruce, has said in this regard, “The variant readings about which any doubt remains among textual critics of the New Testament affect no material question of historic fact or of Christian faith and practice.”5

A third field of biblical study is known as historical or higher criticism. Scholars in this field study the authorship and audience of a book, the date of its composition, the historical circumstances surrounding its composition, the authenticity of its contents, and its literary unity.6

Many scholars engaged in higher criticism have begun with presuppositions questioning the belief that Scripture is God’s inspired Word to humanity. For this reason some conservative Christians have tended to equate historical criticism with liberalism. This need not be the case. It is possible to engage in historical criticism starting from presuppositions upholding biblical authority. The introductions to each book of the Bible found in the NIV Study Bible, in the Scofield Reference Bible, and in conservative commentaries are examples. Knowledge of the historical circumstances surrounding the composition of a book is crucial to a proper understanding of its meaning. Chapter 3 is devoted to this topic.

Only after a study of canonicity, textual criticism, and historical criticism is the scholar ready to do exegesis. In exegesis the reader of Scripture applies the principles of hermeneutics to arrive at a correct understanding of the text. The prefix ex (“out of” or “from”) refers to the idea that the interpreter is attempting to derive understanding from the text, rather than reading meaning into the text (eisegesis).

Following exegesis are the twin fields of biblical theology and systematic theology. Biblical theology is the study of divine revelation as it was given through the Old and New Testaments. It asks the question, How did this specific revelation add to the knowledge that believers already possessed at that time? It attempts to show the development of theological knowledge during the Old and New Testament era.

In contrast to biblical theology, systematic theology organizes the biblical data in a logical rather than a historical manner. It attempts to place all the information on a given topic (e.g., the nature of God, the nature of the afterlife, the ministry of angels) together so that we can understand the totality of God’s revelation on that topic. Biblical and systematic theology are complementary fields: together they give us greater understanding than either would alone.

The discipline of practical theology rounds out the fields of study related to hermeneutics.7 Practical theology utilizes a three-step process that first describes and analyzes contemporary situations and practices. With the description of a particular situation in mind, practical theology dialogues with the work of the fields discussed above as well as with other social and natural sciences to arrive at a response to the contemporary situation. Practical theology completes its task by developing an effective strategy for Christian life and practice that speaks to the contemporary situation. Practical theology, as the final stage of the hermeneutical process, provides the necessary application of exegesis and theology to lived religious experience.

The diagram summarizes the previous discussion and shows the central role that hermeneutics plays in the development of a proper theology.

The Need for Hermeneutics

When we hear someone recite or read a text, our understanding of what we hear or read is usually spontaneous—the rules by which we interpret meaning occur automatically and unconsciously. When something blocks that spontaneous understanding, we become more aware of the processes we use to understand (for example, when translating from one language to another). Hermeneutics is essentially a codification of the processes we normally use at an unconscious level to understand the meaning of a communication. The more obstacles to spontaneous understanding, the more aware we must become of the process of interpretation and the need for hermeneutics.

When we interpret Scripture, we encounter several obstacles to a spontaneous understanding of the original meaning of the message.8 There is a historical gap caused by the time separating the original writers and contemporary readers. Jonah’s antipathy for the Ninevites, for example, takes on added meaning when we understand the extreme cruelty and sinfulness of the people of Nineveh in his time.

Second, a cultural gap results from the significant differences between the cultures of the ancient Hebrews or the first-century Mediterranean world and our contemporary one. Harold Garfinkel, the controversial UCLA sociologist and founder of ethnomethodology, suggests that it is impossible for an observer to be objective and dispassionate when studying a phenomenon (which in our case would be the study of Scripture). Each of us sees reality through eyes conditioned by our culture and a variety of other experiences. To use a favorite analogy of Garfinkel: it is impossible to study people or phenomena as if we were looking at fish in a goldfish bowl from a detached position outside the bowl; each of us is inside a bowl ourselves.9

Applied to hermeneutics, the analogy suggests that we are goldfish in one bowl (our own time and culture) looking at goldfish in another bowl (biblical times and culture). Failure to recognize either that cultural environment or our own, or the differences between the two, can result in serious misunderstanding of the meaning of biblical words and actions.10 More will be said about this in chapters 3 and 8.

A third significant block is the philosophical gap. Views of life, of circumstances, of the nature of the universe differ among cultures. To transmit a message successfully from one culture to another, a translator or reader must be aware of both the similarities and the contrasts in worldviews.

A fourth block to spontaneous understanding of the biblical message is the linguistic gap. The Bible was written in three languages: the Old Testament contains both Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament is in Greek. The structures and idioms of each of these three languages differ from one another as well as from our own language. Consider the distortion in meaning that resulted, for example, when Kentucky Fried Chicken attempted to translate its ad campaign for a Chinese market. Without recognizing the presence of idioms, the translators rendered “Finger lickin’ good” as “Eat your fingers off.” Similar problems can arise in translating from other languages if the reader is not aware that phrases such as “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” may contain Hebrew idioms that make the original meaning of this phrase something different from that conveyed by the literal English translation.

Hermeneutics is needed, then, because of the historical, cultural, philosophical, and linguistic gaps that block a spontaneous, accurate understanding of God’s Word.

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Exercise 1. To be an informed citizen, you regularly read your local newspaper. Are you typically aware of the hermeneutical process you utilize to understand the articles? Why, or why not? Suppose you were to read Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, written in 1863. Are you likely to be more aware or less aware of your hermeneutical process? Consider the same question with regard to your reading of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Describe the additional barriers to understanding that exist for you when you read the Emancipation Proclamation and Macbeth that do not exist when you read today’s newspaper.

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Alternative Views of Inspiration

The view of inspiration that a biblical interpreter holds has direct implications for hermeneutics. This section offers only a very simplified introduction to the three main views of inspiration. There are several excellent discussions of the topic available elsewhere.11

A position on inspiration common to liberalism is that the biblical writers were inspired in somewhat the same sense as Shakespeare and other great writers. What they transcribed were primitive Hebrew religious conceptions about God and his workings. This position emphasizes developing theories of how editors called redactors pieced the ancient manuscripts together from previous writings, and what these compilations reveal about the growing spiritual awareness of the compilers.

A second general position, one held by many neoorthodox scholars, maintains that God revealed himself only in mighty acts, not in words. The words of Scripture attributed to God reflect a human understanding of the significance of God’s action, and the biblical stories are the attempt to record an encounter with God in human, culturally meaningful words. The Bible becomes the Word of God when individuals read it and the words acquire personal, existential significance for them. This view emphasizes the process of demythologizing, that is, removing the mythological packaging that has been used to convey the existential truth, so that the reader may have a personal encounter with that truth.

The third view of inspiration, the one traditionally held by historic Christianity, is that God work...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• 1. Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics
• 2. The History of Biblical Interpretation
• 3. Historical-Cultural and Contextual Analysis
• 4. Lexical-Syntactical Analysis
• 5. Theological Analysis
• 6. Special Literary Forms: Similes, Metaphors, Proverbs, Parables, and Allegories
• 7. Special Literary Forms: Prophecy, Apocalyptic Literature, and Types
• 8. Applying the Biblical Message: A Proposal for the Transcultural Problem
• Epilogue: Using the Bible for Preaching and Devotions
• Summary: The Processes Involved in Interpretation and Application of a Scriptural Text
• A. A Sample Bibliography of Works Relating to Hermeneutics from Various Theological Viewpoints
• B. Readings on Revelation, Inspiration, and Inerrancy from a Variety of Theological Perspectives
• C. A Bibliography on Sensus Plenior
• D. Computer-Based Resources for Exegetical Study
• E. Instructor’s Resources
• General Bibliography
• Scripture Index
• Subject Index
• Notes
• Back Ad
• BackCover