Introduction to Biblical Interpretation Workbook

Study Questions, Practical Exercises, and Lab Reports

William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, Robert L. Hubbard, Jr.

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780310536680
• eBook ISBN: 9780310536697
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

This workbook accompanies the third edition of Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Following the textbook’s structure, it offers readings, activities, and exercises designed to teach students how to understand and apply the Bible.

This workbook gives students a chance to get hands-on experience in interpreting biblical texts as they are guided along by insightful questions and pointers from the authors. Ultimately the workbook is designed to get students interacting with the content of the textbook and with the biblical text in a way that helps reinforce classroom learning, while at the same time giving both student and instructor a way to gauge how well the student is learning the material from the textbook.

The third edition of a classic hermeneutics textbook sets forth concise, logical, and practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God’s Word. A valuable tool for readers who desire to understand and apply the Bible, this text:

• Defines and describes hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation
• Suggests effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text
• Surveys the literary, cultural, social, and historical issues that impact any text
• Evaluates both traditional and modern approaches to Bible interpretation
• Examines the reader’s role as an interpreter of the text and helps identify what the reader brings to the text that could distort its message
• Tackles the problem of how to apply the Bible in valid and significant ways today
• Provides an extensive and revised annotated list of books that readers will find helpful in the practice of biblical interpretation

Part I

THE TASK OF

INTERPRETATION

1

THE NEED FOR INTERPRETATION

LESSON 1.1A OBSERVATION EXERCISE
THE STUDENT, THE FISH, AND AGASSIZ; PHILIPPIANS 2:16–17

Accurate Bible study must proceed on the basis that we have read the text carefully. We can’t move on to interpretation and application until we master the first step of observation. We must see what is actually in the text and not read into it or assume ideas that are not really there. Read the following story (several times) and then complete the observation assignment that follows.

The Student, the Fish, and Agassiz¹
by the Student (Samuel H. Scudder)

It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the scientific school as a student of natural history. He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the mode in which I afterwards proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and finally, whether I wished to study any special branch. To the latter I replied that while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote myself specially to insects.

“When do you wish to begin?” he asked.

“Now,” I replied.

This seemed to please him, and with an energetic “Very well,” he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol.

“Take this fish,” he said, “and look at it; we call it a Haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen.”

With that he left me, but in a moment returned with explicit instructions as to the care of the object entrusted to me.

“No man is fit to be a naturalist,” said he, “who does not know how to take care of specimens.”

I was to keep the fish before me in a tin tray, and occasionally moisten the surface with alcohol from the jar, always taking care to replace the stopper tightly. Those were not the days of ground glass stoppers, and elegantly shaped exhibition jars; all the old students will recall the huge, neckless glass bottles with their leaky, wax-besmeared corks, half-eaten by insects and begrimed with cellar dust. Entomology was a cleaner science than ichthyology, but the example of the professor who had unhesitatingly plunged to the bottom of the jar to produce the fish was infectious; and though this alcohol had “a very ancient and fish-like smell,” I really dared not show any aversion within these sacred precincts, and treated the alcohol as though it were pure water. Still I was conscious of a passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. My friends at home, too, were annoyed, when they discovered that no amount of eau de cologne would drown the perfume which haunted me like a shadow.

In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, and started in search of the professor, who had, however, left the museum; and when I returned, after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate it from a fainting-fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of a normal, sloppy appearance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed, an hour, another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face—ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at a three-quarters view—just as ghastly. I was in despair; at an early hour, I concluded that lunch was necessary; so with infinite relief, the fish was carefully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free.

On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the museum, but had gone and would not return for several hours. My fellow students were too busy to be disturbed by continued conversation. Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feeling of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a magnifying glass; instruments of all kinds were interdicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish; it seemed a most limited field. I pushed my fingers down its throat to see how sharp its teeth were. I began to count the scales in the different rows until I was convinced that that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me—I would draw the fish; and now with surprise I began to discover new features in the creature. Just then the professor returned.

“That is right,” said he, “a pencil is one of the best eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet and your bottle corked.”

With these encouraging words he added—

“Well, what is it like?”

He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of parts whose names were still unknown to me; the ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: The Task of Interpretation
• Chapter 1: The Need for Interpretation
• Chapter 2: The History of Interpretation
• Chapter 3: Literary and Social-Scientific Approaches to Interpretation
• Chapter 4: The Canon and Translations
• Part II: The Interpreter and the Goal
• Chapter 5: The Interpreter
• Chapter 6: The Goal of Interpretation
• Part III: Understanding Literature
• Chapter 7: General Rules of Hermeneutics: Prose
• Chapter 8: General Rules of Hermeneutics: Biblical Poetry
• Part IV: Understanding Bible Genres
• Chapter 9: Genres of the Old Testament
• Chapter 10: Genres of the New Testament
• Part V: The Fruits of Interpretation
• Chapter 11: Using the Bible Today
• Chapter 12: Application
• Chapter 13: Putting It All Together