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 Artist as Reader of the Bible. Visual Exegesis and the Adoration of the Magi

Abstract: The article explores the processes at work in a painting's engagement of its viewer in biblical subject matter. It accentuates the role of the artist as an active reader of the Bible and not merely an illustrator of biblical scenes, the dynamic that occurs in the text-reader process as paradigmatic for the image-viewer relationship and the important role of the developing tradition that felt the need to change or rewrite the biblical story. The processes are explored in terms of hermeneutics and exegesis: hermeneutics defined as 'the interweaving of language and life within the horizon of the text and within the horizons of traditions and the modern reader' (Gadamer) and exegesis as 'the dialectic between textual meaning and the reader's existence' (Berdini). Applied to the visualization of biblical subject matter, the approaches of Gadamer and Berdini illumine the key role given to the viewer in the visual hermeneutical process. The biblical story of the adoration of the Magi (Matt. 2: 1-12), the first public and universal seeing of Christ and one of the most frequently depicted themes in the entire history of biblical art, is used to illustrate their approach. The emphasis in the biblical narrative on revealing the Christ child to the reader parallels a key concept in Gadamer's hermeneutical aesthetics, namely Darstellung , the way in which a painting facilitates its subject matter in coming forth , in becoming an existential event in the life of the viewer.

They Went Out from Us: The Identity of the Opponents in First John

Abstract: By means of careful historical work and exegesis, Streett argues that the secession mentioned in 1 John did not have to do with a later complex Christological issue such as docetism, Cerinthianism, or a devaluation of the historical life/death of Jesus, but rather concerned the foundational belief in the Messiahship of Jesus, a tenet the secessionists had renounced in order to return to the Jewish synagogue. He critiques the common maximalistic mirror-reading approach to the letter as misguided, and contends that the letter is primarily pastoral, meant to comfort and reassure the community rather than to argue against the secessionists. Streett's main contributions are his detailed examination of the ancient historical evidence (especially the Patristic evidence) for the Johannine opponents, and his in-depth and innovative exegesis of the key opponent passages (1 Jn 2:18-27; 4:1-6; 5:6-12; 2 Jn 4-11).

The quest for a philosophical YHWH (part 1) : Old Testament studies and philosophy of religion

Abstract: In Old Testament studies, philosophy of religion is seldom if ever utilised in research on ancient Israelite religion. No independent and officially recognised interpretative approach currently exists that allows biblical scholars to concern themselves solely with a philosophical analysis of the religious beliefs of ancient Yahwism(s). In this article, the first in a series of three, the author acknowledges this gap in the research and seeks to pioneer the utilisation of 'philosophy of religion' as an auxiliary discipline in biblical interpretation. Following in-depth discussions on related historical, meta-philosophical, heuristic and hermeneutical issues, the author proposes the establishment of a new approach to the text called 'philosophicalcritical analysis'. This will at last make it possible for biblical scholars to engage in philosophy of religion both on the level of exegesis (via 'philosophical criticism') and on a larger scale (via 'philosophy of Old Testament religion').