Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning - Hardcover

Kaiser Jr., Walter C.; Silva, Moisés

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310279518 ISBN 13: 9780310279518

Publisher: Zondervan Academic, 2007

Synopsis

Since its publication in 1994, An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics has become a standard text for a generation of students, pastors, and serious lay readers. This second edition has been substantially updated and expanded, allowing the authors to fine-tune and enrich their discussions on fundamental interpretive topics. In addition, four new chapters have been included that address more recent controversial issues:• The role of biblical theology in interpretation• How to deal with contemporary questions not directly addressed in the Bible• The New Testament’s use of the Old Testament• The role of history in interpretationThe book retains the unique aspect of being written by two scholars who hold differing viewpoints on many issues, making for vibrant, thought-provoking dialogue. What they do agree on, however, is the authority of Scripture, the relevance of personal Bible study to life, and why these things matter.

About this title

About the Authors

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. (PhD, Brandeis University) is distinguished professor emeritus of Old Testament and president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Dr. Kaiser has written over 40 books, including Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching; The Messiah in the Old Testament; and The Promise-Plan of God; and coauthored An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning. Dr. Kaiser and his wife, Marge, currently reside at Kerith Farm in Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. Dr. Kaiser’s website is www.walterckaiserjr.com.

Moisés Silva taught biblical studies at Westmont College, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Gordon-Conwell Seminary. He is the author or coauthor of eight books and the revising editor of the Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics

The Search for MeaningBy Walter C. Kaiser Jr. Moiss Silva

Zondervan

Copyright © 2007 Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moiss Silva
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-27951-8

Contents

Preface to the First Edition......................................................................9Preface to the Second Edition.....................................................................12Abbreviations.....................................................................................14Part 1. The Search for Meaning: Initial Directions1. Who Needs Hermeneutics Anyway?.................................................................172. The Meaning of Meaning.........................................................................293. Let's Be Logical: Using and Abusing Language...................................................494. How Do the Parts Fit the Whole? The Tool of Biblical Theology..................................675. Must We Go "Beyond" the Bible? The Theological Use of the Bible................................836. Does the New Testament Accurately Use the Old Testament?.......................................957. Why Get Entangled with Historical Interpretation? The Role of History..........................107Part 2. Understanding the Text: Meaning in Literary Genres8. "I Will Remember the Deeds of the Lord": The Meaning of Narrative..............................1239. "My Heart Is Stirred by a Noble Theme": The Meaning of Poetry and Wisdom.......................13910. "But These Are Written That You May Believe": The Meaning of the Gospels......................15711. How to Read a Letter: The Meaning of the Epistles.............................................17312. What about the Future? The Meaning of Prophecy................................................191Part 3. Responding to the Text: Meaning and Application13. "As the Deer Pants for Streams of Water": The Devotional Use of the Bible.....................21314. Obeying the Word: The Cultural Use of the Bible...............................................22315. Putting It All Together: The Theological Use of the Bible.....................................241Part 4. The Search for Meaning: Further Challenges16. A Short History of Interpretation.............................................................25717. Contemporary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation............................................27518. The Case for Calvinistic Hermeneutics.........................................................29519. Concluding Observations.......................................................................321Glossary..........................................................................................333Annotated Bibliography............................................................................337Scripture Index...................................................................................339Name Index........................................................................................345Subject Index.....................................................................................347

Chapter One

Who Needs Hermeneutics Anyway?

Moiss Silva

* * *

The term hermeneutics (as well as its more ambiguous and even mysterious cousin, hermeneutic) has become increasingly popular in recent decades. As a result, it has been pulled and stretched every which way. With so many writers using the word, it seems to behave as a moving target, and some readers have been known to suffer attacks of anxiety as they seek, in vain, to pin it down and figure out what it means.

Its traditional meaning is relatively simple: the discipline that deals with principles of interpretation Some writers like to call it the science of interpretation; others prefer to speak of the art of interpretation (perhaps with the implication, "Either you've got it or you don't!") Apart from such differences of perspective, the basic concern of hermeneutics is plain enough. It remains to be added, however, that when writers use the word hermeneutics, most frequently what they have in mind is biblical interpretation. Even when some other text is being discussed, the Bible likely lurks in the background.

This last observation raises an interesting question. Why should such a discipline be needed at all? We never had to take a class on "How to Interpret the Newspaper." No high school offers a course on "The Hermeneutics of Conversation." For that matter, even with regard to courses on Shakespeare or Homer, which certainly deal with the interpretation of literature, no hermeneutics prerequisite is ever listed. Why then are we told, all of a sudden in our academic training, that we need to become proficient in an exotic-sounding science if we want to understand the Bible?

One possible answer that may occur to us is that the Bible is a divine book, and so we require special training to understand it. But this solution simply will not work. As a Roman Catholic scholar has expressed it: "If anyone is able to speak in an absolutely unambiguous fashion and to make himself understood with irresistible efficacy, such a one is God; therefore, if there is any word that might not require a hermeneutics, it would be the divine word." Protestants, for that matter, have always emphasized the doctrine of the perspicuity or clarity of the Scriptures. The Bible itself tells us that the essential prerequisite for understanding the things of God is having the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:11) and that the Christian, having received the anointing of the Spirit, does not even need a teacher (1 John 2:27).

It turns out, in fact, that we need hermeneutics, not precisely because the Bible is a divine book, but because in addition to being divine, it is a human book. Strange though that may sound, such a way of looking at our problem can put us on the right track. Human language, by its very nature, is largely equivocal, that is, capable of being understood in more than one way. If it were not so, we would never doubt what people mean when they speak; if utterances could signify only one thing, we would hardly ever hear disputes about whether Johnny said this or that. In practice, to be sure, the number of words or sentences that create misunderstandings is a very small proportion of the total utterances by a given individual in a given day What we need to appreciate, however, is that the potential for misinterpretation is almost always there.

To put it differently, we do need hermeneutics for texts other than the Bible. Indeed, we need principles of interpretation to understand trivial conversations and even nonlinguistic events-after all, the failure to understand someone's wink of the eye could spell disaster in certain circumstances. But then we are back to our original question Why were we not required to take hermeneutics in second grade? Why is it that, in spite of that gap in our education, we almost always understand what our neighbor tells us?

The simple answer is that we have been taught hermeneutics all our lives, even from the day we were born. It may well be that the most important things we learn are those that we learn unconsciously. In short, as you begin a course in hermeneutics, you may be assured that you already know quite well the most basic principles of interpretation. Every time you read the newspaper or hear a story or analyze an event, you prove yourself to be a master in the art of hermeneutics!

That is perhaps a dangerous thing to say. You may be tempted to close this "useless" book immediately and return it to the bookstore, hoping to get your money back. Yet the point needs to be made and emphasized. Other than enjoying a right

The problem grows if there are significant linguistic and cultural differences between the speaker (or writer) and the hearer (or reader). Suppose that, having only a basic acquaintance with Shakespeare's writings, we decide to tackle Othello. From time to time we would come across passages containing words that we have never seen before or that seem to have very unusual meanings. For example:

If I do prove her haggard, Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings I'd whistle her off and let her down the wind To prey at fortune.... (3.3.260-63)

Even after we find out that haggard = "hawk" and that jesses = "fastenings," we may find it quite difficult to figure out Othello's meaning, namely, that should his wife be shown to be unfaithful, he would allow his heart to be broken by letting her go.

Consider a more puzzling problem. Earlier in the play the duke of Venice and some senators are discussing recent news regarding a Turkish fleet, but there is considerable discrepancy regarding the number of galleys involved. The duke then says:

I do not so secure me in the error, But the main article I do approve In fearful sense. (1.3.10-12)

What may baffle us about a passage such as this one is that all the words are familiar to us-indeed, even the meanings of those words approximate modern usage-yet the total meaning seems to escape us. Unless we are quite familiar with Shakespearean literature, it may take us a while to interpret this statement correctly: in modern prose, "The fact that there is a discrepancy in the accounts gives me no sense of security; it is with alarm that I must give credence to the main point of the story."

The most insidious problems, however, arise when a word or phrase is familiar and the meaning we attach to it makes sense in the context, yet our ignorance about the history of the language misleads us. When Iago reports something that Cassio said in his sleep, Othello calls it monstrous. Iago reminds Othello that it was only a dream, to which the latter responds: "But this denoted a foregone conclusion" (3.3.429). In our day, the expression a foregone conclusion means "an inevitable result," and it is possible to make some sense of the passage if we take that to be the meaning here. In Elizabethan times, however, the expression simply meant "a previous experience"; Othello believes that what Cassio said in his sleep reflects something that had indeed taken place.

(Continues...)

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Edition details

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0310279518
• ISBN 13: 9780310279518
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352