Exegesis

About: Exegesis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3017 publications have been published within this topic receiving 25212 citations. The topic is also known as: Bible interpretation.

The four senses of scripture

Abstract: Originally published in French as Exegese medievale, Henri de Lubac s monumental, multivolume study of medieval exegesis and theology has remained one of the most significant works of modern biblical studies. Examining the prominent commentators of the Middle Ages and their texts, de Lubac elucidates the medieval approach to biblical interpretation that sought the four senses of Scripture, especially the dominant practice of attempting to uncover Scripture s allegorical meaning."

Through the Lens of Modern Hermeneutics: Authorial Intention in al-Ṭabarī's and al-Ghazālī's Interpretations of Q. 24:35

Abstract: The article explores the meaning of Q. 24∶35 (the ‘Light Verse’) through the interpretations of al-Ṭabarī and al-Ghazālī, and with reference to their respective hermeneutics and interpretive methods, which are compared to modern hermeneutical debate. The central argument is that the methodologies of al-Ṭabarī and al-Ghazālī are in line with the modern hermeneutical position that a text's meaning is what its author intended to communicate (E.D. Hirsch, Jr), as opposed to what its interpreter makes of it (H-G. Gadamer). A medieval Islamic equivalent to Gadamer's hermeneutics can be found in Ismāʿīlī exegesis, which is methodologically opposed to that of al-Ṭabarī and, also, al-Ghazālī. It is suggested that Q. 24∶35 itself is a statement of the hermeneutics of ‘authorial intention’, which implies that the Qur'an's meaning is what God intended to communicate, and the meaning of the term taʾwīl is reassessed in terms of its meaning, literally, ‘to retrieve God's intended meaning from interpretation’. On a seco...

Reading the Bible Theologically

Abstract: Theological interpretation of the Bible is one of the most significant debates within theology today. Yet what exactly is theological reading? Darren Sarisky proposes that it requires identification of the reader via a theological anthropology; an understanding of the text as a collection of signs; and reading the text with a view toward engaging with what it says of transcendence. Accounts of theological reading do not often give explicit focus to the place of the reader, but this work seeks to redress this neglect. Sarisky examines Augustine's approach to the Bible and how his theological insights into the reader and the text generate an aim for interpretation, which is fulfilled by fitting reading strategies. He also engages with Spinoza, showing that theological exegesis contrasts not with approaches that take history seriously, but with naturalistic approaches to reading.

Jerome's Hebrew Philology

Abstract: Focusing on his training in classical literary studies and his extensive interaction with Jewish sources, this book describes the practice of Hebrew scholarship in St Jerome and the significance of Hebrew for his biblical exegesis.

Die Christologie der Pastoralbriefe

Abstract: Die Christologie der Pastoralbriefe, by Hanna Stettler. WUNT 2/105. Tubingen: MohrSiebeck. 1998. Pp. xiv + 397. DM 118.00 (paper). This volume is a slightly revised version of a doctoral dissertation presented in 1997 at the University of Tubingen and written under the supervision of Peter Stuhlmacher. Within it the author gives critical attention to all the texts having relevance for the study of the Christology of the Pastoral Epistles. The discussion is arranged under three main headings-an overview of twentiethcentury scholarship, exegesis of christologically relevant texts, and a summation of the findings-under which there are subsections. In the first section the author reviews five different perspectives on the Christology of the Pastorals, drawing on the work of their major proponents. These perspectives are that the Christology of the Pastorals represents that of Paul late in his career (C. Spicq), that it represents a pre-Pauline stage (H. Windisch, N. Brox), that it is a postPauline Hellenistic departure from Paul (M. Dibelius-H. Conzelmann, V. Hasler, H. Hubner), that it is a Deutero-Pauline synthesis of church teaching (P. Trummer, J. Roloff, J. D. Quinn, H. Merkel), and that it is distinctive and non-Pauline (L. Oberlinner, I. H. Marshall, A. Y. Lau, K. LAger). As the discussion unfolds, it becomes clear that Stettler does not align herself exactly with any of these previous perspectives, although she stands closest to the last of them. The second and longest portion of the book contains analyses of over a dozen passages in the Pastorals that are particularly relevant for a discussion of the Christology of these three books. Included in this section are several excursuses as well. They are on such topics as "Savior," "epiphany," the "faithful saying" phrase, the question of the preexistence of Christ, the absence of the title "Son of God," and (surprisingly) the "Son of Man" concept. These excursuses are for the most part done very well, and they are building blocks for the overall thesis of the book. In regard to the term "epiphany" (1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 1:10; 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13), for example, the author does well in showing that the term need not be thought of as having come simply from Greco-Roman ruler cults, but that it has a background in the LXX as well. The lack of the "Son of God" title is attributed to the author's attempts at avoiding a misunderstanding, by which Gentile readers might think of Jesus as being represented then as one son of the various gods, as in pagan Hellenism. The excursus on the "Son of Man" is the most perplexing part of this section. The title does not appear in the Pastorals. Nevertheless, the author claims that the Son of Man tradition, as represented in 1 Enoch and the Synoptic Gospels, is presupposed. According to her, the Son of Man tradition provides the background for a number of texts, including 1 Tim 5:21; 2 Tim 4:1-8; and others (p. 221). The final section of the book consists of a summation of the Christology of the Pastorals, based on what has gone before. According to Stettler, the author of the Pastorals was a Hellenistic Jewish Christian with a rabbinic education (p. …