Biblical Hermenutics Test #2

Written communication has three potential meanings. What are they?

1. What the author meant to say

2. How the reader understands it

3. Meaning of the words in the text

What can we not ask the original authors and readers?

What the author meant

The readers’ interpretation

What is the best thing we can do to interpret the Bible?

Develop appropriate interpretive skills

We cannot create the meaning, but what can we do instead?

We can discover the message that’s already there.

What does polyvalence mean?

Multiple meanings

What should we ask ourselves when we are discovering the meaning that is already there?

Is there only one meaning or is the multiple meanings?

What did Humpty Dumpty say?

When I use a word, it means just what i choose it to mean, neither more or less.

WK Wimsott and Monroe Beardlsley did what?

They were literal critics

They began a modern dogma

What time did Wimsott and Monroe create their modern dogma?

1946

What are two extremes to the question “Does it really matter what the intention of the original author was”?

1. There is one correct meaning, the one the author intended

2. Meaning is a function of the reader not the author. The meaning of the text is what it means to me.

What did Hans-George Gadamere say about the text’s interpretation?

Truth cannot reside in the readers attempt to get back to the author’s meaning. That can’t be realized because prejudies can’t be avoided, past meaning cannot be reproduced in the present.

When did Gadamere have his theory on interpreting the text?

1960

What did Paul Riccour say about the text’s interpretation?

The text means whatever it says, not necessaryily what the author meant.

What document argues the statement “does it matter what it meant then, if it has no meaning now.”

The US Constitution

What did Ed Hirsch think about the issue of interpretation?

When critics deliberately banish the original author, they themselves usurp his place. To banish the original author as the determiner of meaning is to reject the compelling normative principle that would give validity to our interpretation

What did Gordon Fee think about the issue?

Scripture can never mean what it never ment

What is reading the letters of the NT look like?

It looks like looking over someone’s shoulder and reading their mail

What are some of the intentions the authors had when writting Scripture?

1. The author intends one meaning and only the historic meaning is legitimate.

2. The author may have intended the test to have multiple meanings.

3. Later readers can read in meaning not intended by the original author.

4. Along with the lliteral sense of human authors there may be a hidden meaning shown by the Holy Spirit.

5. There was an original intended meaning, but the author may have discovered additional meaning.

What lense can you look at the interpretation of the Bible with?

Christological lenses

What is the term for Matthew may of having a fuller sense?

Sense Plensior

Senses Plensior should be left to whom?

The inspired authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

What is the best answer for “Were the NT authors totally unconcerned with the original meaning?”

Typology-God’s way of acting are consistent in history.

What is the central objective of hermenutics?

The historical meaning of the text

What happens when we take away the original meaning of the text?

We are no longer seeking to find God’s actual authentic message.

What must we do to find the original meaning?

1. Historical and Cultural Context background , genre, context, purpose

2. Recognize our prejudices

3. Ask is our interpretain workable in lives of belivers

4. Secure the assent of the believing community

What must we do if there is still a disagreement?

Grace must prevail

What might not be clear to us even though it might be clear from the audience then?

Statements might not be clear

What must we understand of the Bible?

The Bible was written for us but not to us.

What are the basic principles that we must concentrate on?

1. Biblical Context

2. Historical and Cultural background

3. Word meaings and relationships

What is the intended meaning of a passage?

What is most consistent with the sense of the literary context.

What are the three reasons we must interpret within the context?

1. To protect the flow of the author’s thought

2. Context provides the accurate meaning of the word

3. Context insure we pay attention to the complete document

What are principles of hermenutics relating to context?

1. Each statement must be understood according to its natural meaning in the literary context in which it occurs

2. Text without context is pretext

3. The smaller the passage being studied the greater the chance of error

What are the circles of contextual studies?

1. Immediate or Narrow Context

2. The Context of the Book

3. Context of the Entire Bible

What are we looking at when we are looking at the immediate or narrow context?

1. Always look for the theme of the passage preceding yours.

2. The structure, what is the connection between the passages.

What is the logical order for 1 Thessalonians?

1. Address - 1:1

2. Greeting - 1:1

3. Thanksgiving - 1:2-20

4. Main Body - Chs2-5:22

5. Closing - 5:23-27

6. Benediction - 5:28

What are there no connections with, sometimes?

Abrupt transitions

What are three types of information in the context of the book?

1. The theme or purpose of the book.

2. The basic plan of the book - is there a theme found in different sections?

3. Parallel passages in the book

How many authors are there for the Bible?

40 different human authors

1 divine author

Why do we think that there are 40 human authors and 1 divine author?

1. Parallel passages in other books by the same auhtor: Roman and Galatians

2. Other authors in the same Testament

3. The other testaments. We must be careful not to read in NT views the OT authors would never have

What does “remove not the ancient landmarks” mean?

Do not steal

If we do not know the background of the writers through cultural and historical analysis, what will be ask instead of “what did it mean to the author”.

We would ask, “what it meant to me?”

How did the Bible come to us?

It came to us second hand.

Why is it difficult to reconstruct the historical and cultural background of a specific passage?

1. The situation of the writer

2. The situation of the recipients

3. Relation between writer and audience

4. Cultural and historical feature embedded in the text

What two areas do we need to remember when we think of the authors’ POV?

1. The originalhistorical and culturall context

2. What historical or cultural situation effects this particular passage

What is the study of the meaning of individual words?

Lexicology

What is the study of the way words are combined?

Syntax

What is the term for words may have a variety of meanings?

Fundamental premise

How many meanings does the fundamental premise have?

One

What phrase does no one have the right to say?

“The Spirit has shown me this or that.”

How do we know what the Spirit is speaking if there is no evidence that your interpretation is accurate?

1. Identify the general literary genre.

2. Show how the passage considered fits into the theme.

3. Identify the natural division of the text.

4. Identify connecting words within paragraphs

5. Discover the Word meanings

What kind of slavery is in the saying, “Stands fast therefore and so not submit to the yolk of slavery.”?

It means to the bonds of legalism.

What does prevent mean in Latin?

To go before

What does conversations mean in Latin?

Conduct or way of life

What does denotation mean?

a specific meaning/dictionary definition

What does connotation mean?

additional meanings or implications

What are the connotations and the denotations for “Beware of dogs”?

Denotation - 4-legged animal

Connotation - gentiles, Phonecian women, judaizers

How do you know when to use the denotation of the word or the connotation?

1. Choose the words

2. Determine the range of meaning.

3. Historical roots of the word

4. Select the meaning that best fits the context

How do we determine the range of meaning of words?

1. Original language comparisons

2. Synonyms

What did dandelion mean?

Lion’s teeth

What is the root word for dynamite?

Dunamis

What does diabolos mean?

The devil

What is the Greek word for Lord?

Kurios

What are the different meanings for Lord?

1. Owner of a slave

2. Someone in a higher position

3. Religious usage

Poetry makes up how much of the Old Testament?

1/3

How many books of the OT do not have poetry in them?

Seven

What books do not contain poetry?

Leviticus

Ruth

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Haggai

Malachi

Poetry is the language of what?

Imagery

What does poetry offer us?

Concrete images in abstract ways

What is paraellelism?

Two or more successive lines strengthen, reinforce and develop each others thoughts

Who labeled parallelism the chief characteristic of OT poetry?

Robert Lowth (1753)

What are the three structures of OT poetry?

Synonymous

Antithetic

Synthetic

What is synonymous in poetry?

2nd line repeats the idea of the 1st

What is antithetic in poetry?

2nd line contrats or negates the meaning of the 1st

What is synthetic of poetic?

parallel lines that do not add or oppose

What is the most important thing a reader needs to know about Hebrew poetry?

Not the structure but being able to identify the type of poetic language.

What does imagery mean?

Words that evoke a sensory experience.

What questions do we ask to figure out if the passage contains figure of speech?

1. Is there a mismatch between the subject and the predicate, such as, “God is our Rock?”

2. Does the subject have actions not possible in the real world, “mountains clapped their hands.”

3. Is a colorful word immediately followed by a word that defines or restricts, “ we are dead, in trespasses and sin.”

4. Might there be a reason for a figure of speech to give a more dramatic emphasis?

5. Is this figure identifiable in other contexts?

What are figures of speech that are found in the OT?

1. Similes

2. Metaphor

3. Personification

4. Apostrophe

5. Hyperbole

6. Anthropomorphism

7. Metonymy

8. Synecdoche

9. Euphemism

10. Irony

Who identifies the figure of speech in the OT?

E.W Bullinger

How many figure of speech are found in the OT?

200 figures of speech in the OT used over 8000 times

What is a simile?

comparing two things with like or as

What is a metephor?

Compares two things that are different but have something in common

What is personification?

Speaks of something nonhuman as if it were human.

What is an apostrophe?

Direct address to someone as if they were human

What is a hyperbole?

Conscious exaggeration for effect

What is an anthropomorphism?

Biblically, it refers to God described in the form of man

What is a metonymy?

Substitute one noun for another clearly associates with it

What is a synecdoche?

A part of something serves to represent a whole idea

What is a euphemism?

More pleasant expression for a disagreeable term

What is irony?

Words used to convey an opposite meaning

What are the three things we need to do to interpret poetry?

1. Identify the figure of speech

2. Interpret the figure of speech

3. What is the function of the figure of speech in its context