Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

by Klein, William W.; Blomberg, Craig L.; Hubbard, Robert L. (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780849907746
• ISBN10: 0849907748
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-08-01
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc

Summary

Although accurate Bible interpretation is a challenging task, the authors of this book have combined years of expertise and devotion to Scripture to provide a truly unique volume that sets forth concise, logical, practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God's Word.

Author Biography

Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. is Professor of Biblical Literature at North Park theological Seminary in Chicago. Craig L. Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary. William W. Klein is Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. xv
Preface	p. xxi
Introduction	p. xxv
The Task of Interpretation
The Need for Hermeneutics	p. 3
Why Hermeneutics?	p. 4
Hermeneutics Defined	p. 5
The Art and Science of Interpretation	p. 5
The Role of the Interpreter	p. 7
The Meaning of the Message	p. 8
The Text	p. 9
The Author and the Audience	p. 10
Some Challenges of Bible Interpretation	p. 13
Distance of Time	p. 13
Cultural Distance	p. 14
Geographical Distance	p. 16
Distance of Language	p. 16
Eternal Relevance--The Divine Factor	p. 17
The Goal of Hermeneutics	p. 18
Conclusion	p. 19
The History of Interpretation	p. 23
Jewish Interpretation	p. 23
Hellenistic Judaism	p. 25
The Qumran Community	p. 27
Rabbinic Judaism	p. 28
The Apostolic Period (ca. A.D. 30-100)	p. 31
The Patristic Period (ca. A.D. 100-590)	p. 34
The Apostolic Fathers (ca. A.D. 100-150)	p. 35
Alexandrian School (ca. A.D. 150-400)	p. 37
Church Councils (ca. A.D. 400-590)	p. 40
The Middle Ages (ca. A.D. 590-1500)	p. 42
The Reformation (ca. A.D. 1500-1650)	p. 45
The Post-Reformation Period (ca. A.D. 1650-1800)	p. 50
The Modern Period (ca. A.D. 1800--Present)	p. 52
The Nineteenth Century	p. 52
The Twentieth Century	p. 55
Post-World War I	p. 56
Post-World War II	p. 59
Recent Literary and Social-Scientific Approaches to Interpretation	p. 63
Literary Criticism	p. 64
Narrative Criticism	p. 65
Applications	p. 65
Critique	p. 70
Poststructuralism	p. 71
Reader-Response Criticism	p. 73
Deconstruction	p. 75
Social-Scientific Approaches to Scripture	p. 78
Classification	p. 78
Social History	p. 79
Application of Social-Scientific Theories	p. 83
Advocacy Groups	p. 87
Liberation Hermeneutics	p. 87
Cultural Criticism	p. 90
Feminist Hermeneutics	p. 96
The Canon and Translations	p. 103
The Biblical Canon	p. 103
The Canon of the Old Testament	p. 103
The Development of the Canon	p. 103
The Order of the Canon	p. 109
The Canon of the New Testament	p. 109
The Development of the Canon	p. 109
The Order of the Canon	p. 114
Criteria of Canonicity	p. 115
Canon Criticism	p. 116
Texts and Translations	p. 119
Textual Criticism	p. 120
Techniques of Translation	p. 125
The Major English Translations	p. 127
Choosing a Translation	p. 130
The Interpreter and the Goal
The Interpreter	p. 135
Qualifications of the Interpreter	p. 135
A Reasoned Faith	p. 136
Obedience	p. 138
Illumination	p. 139
Membership in the Church	p. 141
Appropriate Methods	p. 141
Presuppositions for Correct Interpretation	p. 142
Presuppositions about the Nature of the Bible	p. 143
Presuppositions about Methodology	p. 150
Presuppositions about the Ultimate Goal of Hermeneutics	p. 153
Preunderstandings of the Interpreter	p. 154
Definition of Preunderstanding	p. 154
The Role of Preunderstanding	p. 155
A Philosophy of Interpretation as Preunderstanding	p. 158
Testing Preunderstandings	p. 162
A Christian Preunderstanding	p. 164
Preunderstandings Change with Understanding	p. 165
Preunderstandings and Objectivity in Interpretation	p. 167
The Goal of Interpretation	p. 169
Levels of Meaning	p. 171
Does the Text Have One Fixed Meaning or Several Levels of Meaning?	p. 171
Author-Centered Textual Meaning	p. 185
What Kind of "Meaning" Ought to Be the Goal of Interpretation?	p. 185
Legitimate Reader-Response Interpretation	p. 192
How Can We Assure that We Give the Reader Full Due?	p. 192
Validating Our Interpretation	p. 201
How Can We Validate Our Interpretation?	p. 201
Understanding Literature
General Rules of Hermeneutics: Prose	p. 213
Literary Context	p. 214
The Importance of the Literary Context	p. 214
Principles of Hermeneutics Relating to Context	p. 217
Circles of Contextual Study	p. 219
Historical-Cultural Background	p. 229
The Significance of the Historical-Cultural Background	p. 229
Principles for Historical-Cultural Interpretation	p. 232
Retrieving the Historical-Cultural Background	p. 237
Word Meanings	p. 240
Crucial Issues about the Nature of Words	p. 241
Steps for Performing Word Studies	p. 247
Grammatical-Structural Relationships	p. 257
The Importance of Grammatical Relationships	p. 259
Steps for Discovering Structural Relationships	p. 264
General Rules of Hermeneutics: Biblical Poetry	p. 273
The Dynamics of Poetry	p. 274
The Sounds of Hebrew Poetry	p. 276
Rhyme and Meter	p. 276
The Sounds of Poetic Words	p. 279
The Structure of Hebrew Poetry	p. 284
Parallelism	p. 284
Basic Units of Parallelism	p. 286
How Parallelism Works	p. 288
Types of Parallelism	p. 289
Other Poetic Structures	p. 297
The Language of Poetry	p. 303
Imagery	p. 304
Devices of Poetic Language	p. 304
Similes and Metaphors	p. 304
Other Poetic Language Devices	p. 309
How to Interpret Poetic Language	p. 315
Larger Units of Poetry	p. 316
Sense Units	p. 316
Understanding Bible Genres
Genres of the Old Testament	p. 323
Narratives	p. 325
Old Testament Narrative Genres	p. 326
Reports	p. 327
Heroic Narrative	p. 329
Prophet Story	p. 332
Comedy	p. 334
Farewell Speech	p. 335
A Sample Narrative: Judges 7:1-15	p. 336
Embedded Genres	p. 337
Popular Proverb	p. 337
Riddles, Fables, and Parables	p. 337
Songs	p. 338
Lists	p. 339
Law	p. 341
Types of Old Testament Legal Material	p. 341
Casuistic Law	p. 341
Apodictic Law	p. 342
Legal Series	p. 343
Legal Instruction	p. 344
Principles of Interpretation--Law	p. 344
A Sample Legal Text: Exodus 21:7-11	p. 350
Deuteronomy	p. 350
Poetry	p. 351
Types of Old Testament Poetry	p. 352
Prayers	p. 352
Songs	p. 354
Liturgies	p. 356
Wisdom Psalms	p. 357
Principles of Interpretation--Poetry	p. 357
Prophecy	p. 359
Basic Types of Prophecy	p. 359
Prophecy of Disaster	p. 359
Prophecy of Salvation	p. 361
Woe Speech	p. 361
Prophetic Dirge	p. 363
Prophetic Hymn	p. 363
Prophetic Liturgy	p. 364
Prophetic Disputation	p. 366
Prophetic Lawsuit	p. 367
Prophecy Against Foreign Nations	p. 368
Prophetic Vision Report	p. 369
Prophetic Narratives	p. 369
General Principles for Interpreting Old Testament Prophecy	p. 370
Interpreting Prophetic "Forthtelling"	p. 371
Interpreting Prophetic "Foretelling"	p. 374
The Many Ways of Fulfillment	p. 378
Specific Principles for Interpretation--Prophecy	p. 381
A Sample Prophetic Text: Isaiah 5:1-7	p. 382
Apocalyptic Prophecy	p. 384
Wisdom	p. 387
Types of Wisdom Literature	p. 387
Proverbs	p. 387
Instruction	p. 390
Example Story and Reflection	p. 391
Disputation Speeches	p. 393
A Sample Wisdom Text--Proverbs 30:24-28	p. 397
Conclusion	p. 397
Genres of the New Testament	p. 399
The Genre of the Gospels	p. 399
Implications for Interpretation	p. 401
Historical Trustworthiness	p. 401
Reading Horizontally and Vertically	p. 403
The Gospels' First Audiences	p. 406
Key Theological Issues	p. 407
The Kingdom of God	p. 407
The Ethics of Jesus	p. 409
The Forms Within the Gospels	p. 411
Parables	p. 411
Miracle Stories	p. 415
Pronouncement Stories	p. 417
Other Forms	p. 418
The Genre of Acts	p. 418
Implications for Interpretation	p. 419
Thinking Vertically	p. 420
The Significance of Pentecost	p. 422
Acts as Narrative	p. 424
The Genre of the Epistles	p. 426
Implications for Interpretation	p. 426
General Considerations	p. 426
Specific Considerations	p. 430
Distinctives of Hebrews and the "General Epistles"	p. 433
Individual Forms in the Epistles	p. 435
Creeds or Hymns	p. 435
The Domestic Code	p. 436
Slogans	p. 436
Vice and Virtue Lists	p. 438
Key Theological Issues for the Pauline Epistles	p. 438
The Center of Pauline Theology	p. 438
Is There Development in Paul's Writings?	p. 439
The Genre of Revelation	p. 440
Revelation as an Epistle	p. 440
Revelation as Prophecy	p. 442
Revelation as Apocalyptic	p. 444
Conclusion	p. 448
The Fruits of Interpretation
Using the Bible Today	p. 451
To Gain Information and Understanding	p. 451
To Worship	p. 452
To Create Liturgy	p. 455
To Formulate Theology	p. 456
To Preach	p. 465
To Teach	p. 467
To Provide Pastoral Care	p. 469
For Spiritual Formation in the Christian Life	p. 471
For Aesthetic Enjoyment	p. 475
Summary	p. 475
Application	p. 477
The Importance of Application	p. 478
Avoiding Mistakes in Application	p. 479
Total Neglect of Any Context	p. 480
Partial Neglect of the Literary or Historical Context of a Passage	p. 481
Insufficiently Analogous Situations	p. 482
A Four-Step Methodology for Legitimate Application	p. 482
Determine the Original Application(s)	p. 484
Evaluate the Level of Specificity of the Original Application(s)	p. 485
Identify the Cross-Cultural Principles	p. 498
Find Appropriate Applications that Embody the Broader Principles	p. 501
The Role of the Holy Spirit	p. 503
Annotated Bibliography	p. 505
Hermeneutical Tools	p. 505
Annotated Listing	p. 506
Indexes	p. 544
Index of Subjects	p. 544
Index of Scripture and Ancient Writings	p. 547
Index of Authors and Names	p. 556
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