Historical Critical Exegesis What is a Historical Critical Exegesis? A historical critical exegesis is a critical interpretation or analysis of religious texts such as the bible. When interpreting the historical component we are gathering an idea of the historical situations which gave rise to the texts as the authors often reflect their own historical context and have composed their writings to address people within their own socio-cultural background within that period of time. The critical component would include “an analysis of the book in terms of its form(s) or genre(s) or type(s) of literature” which each have its own unique patterns that contribute to probabilities in determining how a particular piece of literature developed and should be interpreted. What does this type of textual analysis address? A historical critical exegesis is one that aims to explore the biblical …show more content…
authors as to who might they be, what they wrote and what was their intended meaning. This approach also explores the various aspects of the text in terms of culture, the language, literary genre and the social background of the biblical world within that time”. By identifying authorship and analysing the text critically, you begin to achieve an understanding of the meaning and purpose of the text. The bible can be interpreted as a library due to its varying authors, literature, language and genres. Thus, each providing its unique purpose, meaning and perspectives in portraying ‘the word of God’. Documentary hypothesis as being exemplary of a Historical Critical approach to scripture: Documentary hypothesis has determined that the Pentateuch (Torah) was not written by a single author.
It arose as scholars began to notice the inconsistencies of the initial belief that the Pentateuch was written by Moses. Documentary hypothesis describes the Pentateuch as having a series of editors. These editors have distinctive literature traditions which underpins one editor from another. The 4 significant strands of literary traditions are known as The Yahwist (J), the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D) and the Priestly (P). Each of these authors have different perspectives and are seen to be from different periods of time (J – 900BCE, E – 800BCE, D – 600BCE and P – 500BCE), reflecting different literary styles such as literature around law or narratives and written in a way that was socially, culturally relevant to them. Having this knowledge gives you a better understanding of the context, era, and social situations within that particular author’s text. It provides more insight as to why an author has written what they have and depicts their various perspectives in more
detail. Why is this analysis preferred within the Catholic Church? Texts within the Bible were written by humans at different points in time and is bound to be inconsistent within critical analysis. However, Brown states that “we cannot bypass historical criticism which is concerned with what a passage meant to the author who wrote it, but the meaning of the Bible goes beyond that”. A historical critical approach forms the basis for interpreting scripture in a meaningful way. It does not mean the bible should be taken literally and limit itself to just a literal interpretation but instead, recognises and interconnects the theological content present in the inspired text. Historical critical exegesis allows us to think critically of the text and discover the difference between what the word of God meant and what it actually means.
According to David M. Carr, the history of Scriptural interpretation indicates that religious texts are popular candidates for reinterpretation and, as such, are spaces wherein the personal identity of the reader frequently inscribes itself at length:
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
...e to the study of the bible instead of all the doubts that was created by the other criticism. To them all the odd parts and repeated phrases or parts all add to a strikingly beautiful tale. They see the bible as a literary masterpiece in which the authors used gorgeous imagery to strike at the heart of the reader to show them God’s greatness. In essence rhetorical critics want you to see the big picture instead of all the little side pictures. The J story of Genesis as well at times the P story is filled with imagery that is meant to show God’s power.
The study of textual criticism is important when talking about any historical manuscript or text. In particular, when talking about something with as much impact and influence as the bible, textual criticism is a necessary part of scholarship. Brad Ehrman does an excellent job in explaining the basics of textual criticism and how it can be used to determine the accuracy of biblical texts and manuscripts. His book, Misquoting Jesus, serves as a primer to the study of historical biblical manuscripts. As Ehrman states in his introduction, the thesis explained in the text is that biblical manuscripts have been changed throughout history, both intentionally and non-intentionally, and that those changes were affected by the attitudes and beliefs of the scribes.
Metzger, B. (1997). The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. New York.
Damrosch, David, and David L. Pike, eds. "The Gospel According to Luke." The Longman Anothology of World Literature. Compact ed. New York: Pearson, 2008. 822-33. Print.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. Print
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
Andrew H and Walton J. (2009). A survey of the Old Testament. 3rd Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. Osborne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
Scholars have shifted from the notion that the Bible differs from other ancient Near Eastern literature, cultures, and religions. If this were so, the Bible would be considered a myth. In this chapter Oswalt gives descriptions to what a myth is and gives insight into whether it is acceptable to label the Bible as a myth. Since the 1960s, scholars have been stating that the attributes of the Bible and its contemporary belief system have more in common to a myth even though the data used to make these claims have remained the same.
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
In this paper I am trying to find out what true Biblical exegesis means. By finding that truth then I and the person reading this paper can leave with an understand-ing on how to comprehend the content of exegesis. Through out my paper you will see noted some of my sources. I have carefully read these books and have selected the best ones to fit the purpose of this document. I will be exploring many areas of exegesis and will be giving you a brief overview of these and then explaining different uses for exegesis.
Answering these questions is the purpose of this essay. I begin by arguing that the Bible cannot be adequately understood independent of its historical context. I concede later that historical context alone however is insufficient, for the Bible is a living-breathing document as relevant to us today as it was the day it was scribed. I conclude we need both testimonies of God at work to fully appreciate how the Bible speaks to us.
The first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy contain the beginnings of the story of God and humanity. At a first glance each book seems not fully connect with all the others; yet with a closer look, the Pentateuch is one complete story to be read in unison. In fact, Gary Schnittjer would say that Genesis 1-12 stets the pattern for the rest of the Pentateuch’s story and form. Furthermore, the continuity between the five books raises the question of authorship. Was the Pentateuch the work of a sole-author—Moses, or is the Pentateuch a compilation of several writings put together in order to tell one story? Therefore, current scholarship on the authorship of the Pentateuch helps to answer that