Exegesis

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

A Latin Bible handwritten in 1407 AD.

Exegesis (from the Greek ἐξηγεῖσθαι 'to lead out') is a critical interpretation of any text, especially of religious texts such as the Bible or Qur'an. More specifically it is an extensive investigation of the original meaning of a text in its historical and literary contexts, which is also known as the historical-grammatical method. A person who is skilled in the science of exegesis is known as an exegete. The opposite of this would be eisegesis.

An important principle of exegesis is determining the meaning an author wished to convey to the audience. It is quite right to use the historians principle of giving more historical weight to those who have more historical immediacy in order to determine what the original intention of the audience views was. It is notable that the young age view was held by the early church as well as early Jewish religious leaders.

Some individuals take issue with the Biblical exegesis done by the early church fathers and early Jews because they believe these people were more primitive and were not as advanced in scientific understanding as modern readers. In regards to the truth of the Biblical text logicians would call this the use of genetic fallacy (disputing the source rather than the validity of a view) or using an appeal to novelty, which is asserting the newer is necessarily truer.

Method

The Bible can indeed be seen as a historical book first and foremost, it records the history of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth and the history of the early church. The historical-grammatical, or what is sometimes called a plain reading of biblical scripture is an important and essential way to understand or glean the true meaning of verses within the Bible, always taking into account contextual importance. The aim is to understand the original meaning the author intended with each verse. When reaching this goal study of the cultural, archeological, social, political and economic surroundings during the time a specific verse was written is always a way to gain even deeper contextual insight. It is important not to allow human judgments or bias into the interpretation of a specific verse, instead first and foremost let it define itself.

It is the most scientific way to approach scripture in today's world, as Andrew S. Kulikovsky states in An Evaluation of historical-critical methods:

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The overall purpose of historical-critical methods is to investigate what actually happened in the events described or alluded to (Marshall 1985, p. 126). Krentz (1975, p. 35-36) gives the following goals of historical investigation:

Present a body of facts that show what actually happened and why.
Illuminate the past, creating a comprehensive picture of a culture's own record of history.
Understand the significance of events and interpret them.
Understand motives as well as actions.

Marshall (1985, p. 128-130) points out that reading Biblical accounts raises the following historical problems or questions:

Discrepancies with parallel Biblical accounts.
Discrepancies with non-Biblical material.
Historical improbabilities.
Supernatural occurrences.
Creation/Modification by the early church
Literary genre.
Insufficient evidence. [1]

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This method assumes that human beings are rational and are capable of language which is important and objective making the essential outcome of the historical-grammatical method, one meaning but many applications. The reader of the Bible must take into account the reasons for the specific text in question and then answer or harmonize logically the problems that occasionally arise through a historical-grammatical method of interpretation of not merely biblical texts but any historical document as well.

Kulikovsky continues:

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If the interpreter begins his task by assuming that the Bible is God’s special, inerrant, propositional revelation to humanity in human language, then most interpretive problems will quickly disappear. Biblical interpretation is sometimes difficult, but careful and judicious exegesis is worth the effort, and gives virtual certainty or at least a very high level of confidence in one’s interpretation. [2]

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Literal interpretation

Many have confusion between the definitions of a literal or historical-grammatical interpretation of biblical scripture. The literal tends to disregard context and linguistic aspects such as the differences between original and translated languages. However in direct contrast, the historical-grammatical method will never take such a stance unless first all other qualifiers of the language like biblical types, parables, prophecy, poetry, figures of speech, idioms and the like are first taken into consideration.

Many anti-Christian apologists continually use blanket statements to dismiss Christian apologists. This is ironically accomplished more often than not through a literal stance of interpretation which is used to discredit beliefs of Christianity as irrational and thus logically the Christian would be irrational and of no consequence in a debate. A literal interpretation encourages dismissal of contextual importance, thus errors, contradictions and discrepencies arise in the biblical texts making the Bible inaccurate and untrustworthy as a historical document. [3]