The word "hermeneutics" refers to the art of science of interpretation of
written texts. The term was derived from the Pagan Greek of Hermes, the son of
Zeus and a mountain nymph; he was the messenger of the gods. Within
Christianity, the term generally refers to methods of interpreting the Bible.
Christians have reached a near consensus on what the Bible says.
However, Christian denominations as well as individual
Christians -- theologians, clergy and laity -- hold a wide range of
assumptions about the nature of the Bible. Different assumptions lead to
different methods of interpreting the text. As
a result, they reach very diverse conclusions about what a given passage actually
means.
In interpreting the Bible:
Some Protestant Christian faith groups follow two of the main slogans of
the Reformation:
"sola scriptura:" Faith is to be based on the Bible alone.
"Quod non est
biblicum, non est theologicum: What is not biblical is not theological." 1
The Bible is considered to be the Word of God.
The Roman Catholic Church and some other denominations consider the
Bible to be a main source,
supplemented by their church's traditions. The Catholic Church stated at the
Council of Trent
that the Church is "...the divinely constituted depository and judge
of both Scripture and tradition." 2
Other Christian faith traditions base their beliefs on some combination
of the text of the
Bible; church tradition; reason, including the scientific method; and personal
experience. Depending upon the particular denomination, a different weighting
is given to each source.
An often unrecognized, and sometimes overwhelming, influence is that of the
national culture. Individuals can:
Zero in on a particular biblical passage, story or theme,
Carefully employ an accept hermeneutic technique,
Interpret the same passage in very different ways,
Be certain that their analysis is correct, and
Not be aware how their conclusions were strongly influenced by their
national culture acting in the background.
The influence of culture has particularly obvious within the
Anglican Communion's beliefs concerning homosexuality.
The 38 provinces of the Communion share the same Bible, the same Anglican
traditions, the same rituals, etc. However, the theological stance of each
Anglican church province towards homosexual rights is strongly influenced by
their local culture. For example, the Episcopal Church,
USA and Anglican Church of Canada are relatively
liberal on matters relating to sexual orientation; most Anglican provinces in
Africa are profoundly homophobic.
There have been major human rights conflicts throughout history in which both or all
sides quoted extensively from the Bible to support their positions. This has
happened over human slavery, women's
suffrage, the use of contraceptives, the roles and status of women,
female ordination, how to
discipline children, racial segregation,
inter-racial marriage, abortion access, religious
tolerance, equal rights for gays and lesbians,
same-sex marriage, etc. One of the reasons why emotions currently run particularly high in
North America on
topics like abortion and homosexuality is that many Christians on all sides
of the issues sincerely believe that the Bible totally supports their viewpoint.
They believe that they have
interpreted the Bible correctly and have
assessed the will of God on the matter. Many feel
assured that God agrees with
their beliefs, and that they are acting as an agent for God on the Earth. They
assume that other Christians with different views are simply careless or lacking
expertise in their biblical interpretation
This lack of consensus is so extreme that
sincerely and devoutly held beliefs by very liberal Christians may well be considered blasphemy
by very conservative Christians, and vice-versa. One result is that some
Christians view Christianity as a collection of religions, not
as a single religion.
Where do your personal beliefs about the Bible fit in?
The LeadershipJournal.net asks the question:
"Ever wonder how two people can look at the same passage of the Bible and
come away with such different applications? The ways we interpret the Bible,
and what enters into our process of applying the Bible, are important for us
to be aware of. Without this self-awareness, we can have blind spots in our
Bible reading and not even know it.
The creators of the quiz divide individuals into three
groups:
Conservatives (score under 53): They emphasize the
"... authority, ongoing and normative authority, of all of Scripture." They
interpret biblical passages as literally true where possible. "If the Bible
says it, that settles it."
Moderates (53 to 65): They struggle to reach what
they feel are the correct interpretations, sometimes siding with
conservatives, and sometimes with progressives. They are sometimes
criticized for being inconsistent.
Progressives (66 to 100): They look upon the Bible
as "historically shaped and culturally conditioned." They try to understand
the culture in which the authors lived in order to interpret what a passage
meant at the time it was written. Then, they struggle to apply their
writings to today's world. Some passages, particularly those related to
human slavery, the treatment of women, the treatment of religious and sexual
minorities, genocide, torture, etc. simply have to be abandoned as
inapplicable.
Four common ways of interpreting the Bible are listed below:
Method 1. Interpreting the Bible literally:
Christians taking this conservative approach recognize that:
Some biblical passages are clearly written as poetry.
Jesus made extensive use of parables; the people and incidents that
he described may or may not have been fictional.
Some other biblical verses must be interpreted figuratively. For
example, when Jesus is reported to have said in John 15:1 "I am the
vine, ye are the branches..." Jesus is obviously not a vine, and his
followers are obviously not branches.
However, they believe that most biblical passages, from Genesis to
Revelation, should be interpreted literally.
Thus, as the first part of Genesis explains:
God did create the first humans, the other species
of life, the earth itself and the rest of the universe in six days.
The flood destroyed all of the human race except for Noah and his
family.
Noah's descendents repopulated the earth after the flood.
The first
rainbow really was seen by Noah and his family.
God confounded the speech of
the people at the Tower of Babel and thereby established the major linguistic
groups in the world,
And so on.
It all happened exactly as the Bible describes.
The literal interpretation of the Bible is generally based on the following
foundational beliefs:
The Bible is a unique document. It is different from every other book in
the world. Its authors were directly inspired by God
at the time that they were writing their book(s).
The Bible is inerrant. That is, when its 66 books were originally written, God prevented the
authors from making any errors. The biblical text is accurate, whether it
is discussing science,
history, theology, morality, or any other topic. Some minor copying errors
may have occurred since
those original autograph copies were written. However, they have had
no significant impact on modern-day religious
doctrines.
The bible is infallible. That is, it is fully trustworthy. It does not
deceive the reader.
The Bible is correct when it identifies authors of its books. So,
the Pentateuch -- the first five books in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old
Testament) -- were written by Moses. All of the Epistles in which Paul is identified as
the author were written by him.
The official canon of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) was
finalized by church leaders during the 4th century
CE. Under God's inspiration, they separated the
canonical books from the many heretical
works which were then in circulation. For example, they chose exactly four Gospels from
among the over
40 that were in use within the early Christian movement as God inspired,
inerrant and infallible. They rejected the rest.
All passages in the Bible are equally valid and are useful as a spiritual guide.
As 2 Timothy 3:16 says: "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness."
The Bible is the "Word of God." It is internally
absolutely consistent. It was as valid at the time of Moses as it is today,
because God is unchangeable.
Most English versions of the Bible are reliable translations.
This is particularly true of the King James
Version (KJV) and New International Version (NIV).
Literally hundreds of apparent contradictions exist in the Bible.
However, almost all can be harmonized with a little thought. A very few
unimportant contradictions can be attributed to copyist errors. A few
discrepancies cannot
be harmonized with our currently available knowledge. However, an explanation does
exist, and will be discovered some day.
Many, but not all, Christians who interpret the Bible literally also believe
that an unsaved individual cannot achieve a deep understanding of the Bible.
However, when the person repents of their sins and trusts Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within them and leads them
properly comprehend the text. As Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:14 writes: "...the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
Method 2. Interpreting the Bible as a historical document:
Liberal Christians who use this approach to biblical interpretation view the Bible as having been written by
very human, fallible authors. The writers were motivated by a desire to
promote their own religious, spiritual, and political beliefs and/or those
of their faith group. Thus, the Bible reflects the evolution
of religious and cultural thought over about a ten century time span.
Some beliefs which are
common to those using this interpretive technique include:
The authors of the Bible were very human and often made mistakes in
their writing.
Biblical writers attempted to explain their beliefs about God and his
will for humanity. Being fallible, they sometimes wrote material that
was contrary to the will of God.
The authors were limited by the tribal nature
of their culture, their theocratic or dictatorial political
structure, their lack of scientific knowledge, etc. Human rights were not
highly valued in biblical times. With few exceptions, women experienced a very low status in the
culture, and were often treated as property.
Some forged passages have been added by unknown authors since the original texts were written.
Numerous accidental and intentional errors have occurred in copying.
Entire books in the Bible have been written many decades or even
centuries after the apparent author died. This particularly true of some of
the epistles. Four of them -- 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy,
and Titus -- all state that they were written by Paul. However, they
were actually composed 35 to 85 years after Paul's death.
Other books were attributed to mythical characters. The hero Daniel, who was
supposed to have been born circa 620 BCE, is probably a
mythical character. The book of
Daniel was actually written circa 164 BCE, almost half a millennium after Daniel
was supposed to have lived.
The Pentateuch, the first five books of the
Bible were not written by Moses circa 1450
BCE.
It was written by four anonymous authors or groups of authors generally referred to as
J, E, P and D. over about a three century interval
starting in the late 10th century BCE. The writings were later redacted by "R."
The Bible contains much material copied from neighboring Pagan cultures and
pre-Abrahamic
beliefs. Three examples are the pair of creation stories, the flood of Noah, and
the tower of Babel.
Some biblical passages are religious propaganda, and not historically
reliable. The gospels' text which blamed all of "the Jews" for the execution of Jesus is one
example. Those passages in the Bible are much more closely linked to
conflicts between Jews and Christians some 40 to 70 years after Jesus' death,
than to real historical events at the time of Jesus' ministry.
Jesus actually said only a very few of the words attributed to him in
the Gospels. Jesus spoke in Aramaic. The Christian Scriptures (New
Testament) were written in Greek. The KJV and NIV versions of the Bible are thus
translations from Greek into English of words which were earlier translated from
Aramaic into Greek.
Very few of the words or acts by Jesus in the Gospel of John refer
to real events.
Bible passages have to be interpreted according to the beliefs of the writers and the
culture in which they lived. They may or may not be valid today.
The early Christian church was divided into many differing traditions: (e.g. Jewish, Pauline,
and Gnostic Christianity). The books of the Bible were
chosen in the fourth century CE from among about 50 gospels, hundreds of
epistles, many infancy
stories, many books of revelation etc. They were mainly chosen on the basis of their conformity with orthodox
Christian beliefs as they existed at the time. Another consideration was whether the book was
written by an Apostle or by someone closely associated with an
Apostle. The church leaders who selected books for the official canon
were often mistaken in their understanding of exactly who had written the books. Non-conforming books were suppressed,
and sometimes lost forever. Yet they contained much valuable material
about the primitive Christian movement and were widely accepted by the early
Christians. Some of the books purportedly written by
Paul were written by unknown authors many decades after Paul's death.
It is helpful to study the books of the Christian Scriptures in
chronological order. One can detect how particular beliefs -- e.g. the
virgin birth -- apparently
developed through time.
Modern versions of the Bible are reasonably accurate translations of the original
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, but still reflect the prejudices of the translators, and the
belief systems of the religious institutions which sponsored them. Older translations,
like the KJV, are less reliable because their translators had less complete knowledge of
Hebrew, and had access to fewer ancient manuscripts.
Recent findings of the physical, social and medical sciences have shown that some parts
of the Bible cannot be considered accurate. (e.g. the
creation stories, mental illness
caused by demon possession, concepts of the structure of the universe,
creation of rainbows, origin of various languages, etc).
This is a method of looking at the
Bible from a totally different perspective. As explained by retired
Episcopal Bishop J.S.
Spong: 3
"Midrash is the Jewish way of saying that everything to be venerated in the
present must somehow be connected with a sacred moment in the past...It is the means
whereby the experience of the present can be affirmed and asserted as true inside the
symbols of yesterday."
Bishop Spong illustrates Midrash by citing four stories in the Hebrew Scriptures which
involved a common miraculous theme: the parting of waters in a sea or river:
The first story is found in Exodus 14:5-28. The Hebrew people were
trapped between the Red or Reed Sea and the approaching Egyptian army. Moses
cried out to God who parted the sea so that the Israelites could pass in
safety.
The second story is found in Joshua 3:14-17. Joshua was the successor to Moses. He
commanded that the ark of the covenant be carried to the Jordan River. As the priests carrying the ark reached the river, God stopped the water and caused it to pile
"up
in a heap a great distance away." (NIV) The priests found themselves standing on
a dry river bed.
The third story is found in 2 Kings 2:7-8. In the presence of
Elisha, Elijah took his
cloak, rolled it up and struck the water of the River Jordan. "The water divided
to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground."
(NIV) At this point, Elijah was taken in a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses up to
heaven. Elisha was left behind.
The fourth story is found next in 2 Kings 2:13-14. Elisha picked up Elijah's cloak,
struck the water with it. Again, "it divided on the right and to the left and he
crossed over." (NIV).
According to a Midrash interpretation, the purpose of the parting of the Red/Reed Sea was to
show the Israelites that God was on their side and that Moses could call on him for
protection. The purpose of the second, third and fourth stories was to show that God
continued to work through his chosen prophets in later times. They also show that the
history of Israel is continuous, containing repetitive themes that link back to earlier
events.
It is not useful to ask whether the partings of the waters actually occurred. A proper
question is:
"What was the experience that led, or even compelled, the compilers of
sacred tradition to include this moment, this life or this event inside the
interpretive framework of their sacred past?" 4
There are many events in the Christian Scriptures that mirror events that
appeared in earlier passages of the Bible and are prime candidates for a
midrash interpretation. Some are:
The guiding stars involved in the births of Abraham, Isaac, Moses and Jesus
The local rulers ordering that Jewish babies be killed, placing both Moses and
Jesus at
risk.
The temple experiences of Samuel and Jesus.
The feeding of 100 men by Elisha and Jesus' feeding of 5000 men plus women and children.
Both Elijah and Jesus bringing dead people back to life.
The ascension of both Elijah and Jesus towards heaven.
Method 4. Interpreting the Bible as folklore:
Alan Dundes is a professor of anthropology and folklore at the University of
California. He has written over 30 books based on his studies of the oral
traditions of many cultures. In
his book called: "Holy writ as oral lit. The Bible as folklore,"
he reports that multiple versions of various stories appear in the Bible. 5 A few
examples are:
the creation of the first woman: one
story in Genesis has her created at the same time as the first man; the second
story has God creating her later.
The flood of Noah: Much of Genesis 7
consists of an interleaving of flood accounts by authors referred to as
"J" and "P." Alternative verses are by different
authors.
The Ten Commandments which appear in
three different versions in the Pentateuch,
The names of
the twelve tribes of Israel,
The names of Jesus' disciples,
Jesus'
Sermon on the Mount or Plain,
The Lord's prayer,
The various inscriptions on the sign on placed on the cross, as described by various
gospel writers.
Dundes
believes that these stories were circulated for decades and even centuries as
an oral tradition. During that time, each version of the stories subtlety changed
as it was circulated before it was recorded
in written form. From the discrepancies among the various version of the same
story, he concluded not only that the Bible contains folklore, but that
the Bible is folklore.
Dundes writes: "...the Bible clearly manifests the basic distinctive criteria of
folklore: namely multiple existence and variation." 6 More information
Scot McKnight, "The
Hermeneutics Quiz: Your biblical blind spots and
what you tend not to see," Leadership Journal, at:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
