Study Notes
I handwrote'em and now I'm typing them. I'm hoping the repetition will help it sink in. Hopefully enough of the definitions will stick so that I'm covered no matter what terms my prof chooses to throw at us tomorrow. As for the principles and guidelines...I know the principles, but not the guidelines. Bad me for not doing much of the required reading or the pre-class work.
All definitions are specific to Biblical Hermeneutics and were mostly paraphrased from our required texts. If anyone actually reads this and the meaning of a term is slightly off, this would be why. So please don't leave me comments in a bid to try and correct me, because for all intents and purposes these are the correct definitions as far as I'm concerned with tomorrow's exam.
Definitions
metonymy: The name of an object or concept is used for another related object or concept. (Reference: Matt 23:22 - "...And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.")
synecdoche: A part of something is used to referer to, or describe the whole, or vise versa. (e.g. "The Law" being used to refer to the entire Old Testament.)
anthropomorphism: Using human characteristics to described God.
personification: Using human characteristics to described an object.
hyperbole: Exaggeration for effect.
irony: Stating the opposite of what is actually meant. (2 Cor 12:13 - "How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!")
rhetorical: Stating a question with an obvious answer (usu. negative) to affirm a truth. (1 Cor 12:29 - "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?" - answer is no; the truth being affirmed is that we were all given different gifts by the Spirit to serve God.)
exegesis: A critical explanation or interpretation of a text; drawing meaning from out of Scripture.
eisegesis: The opposite of exegesis: an interpretation that expresses the interpreter's own ideas in place of the actual meaning of the text; putting personal ideas into Scripture without just cause for doing so.
Analogy of Faith: The Analogy of Faith is that Scripture must interpret Scripture.( That is, since all Scripture is God-breathed and as such is harmoniously united, if a passage can be interpreted in two ways, and one of those two puts it in direct conflict with another passage that is clear in its teaching, then that conflicting interpretation must be discarded.)
hermeneutics: The science of interpretation, esp. of the Bible. (Or: The science of interpreting the Bible through exegesis.)
Medieval Quadriga: Intepreting Scripture four times based on moral, literal, spiritual and allegorical meanings.
Subjectivism: The doctrine that all knowledge is limited to self-experience and that transcendent knowledge is impossible; moral judgements are based on emotional or mental reactions of the individual or community and certain thoughts and feelings are considered the highest good.
inductive study: Studying and observing the topic to gather evidences so that one can draw a sound consclusion. (Based on inductive reasoning, in which one starts with the specific and works outwards to the general, as opposed to deductive reasoning, in which one starts with the general and works towards the specfic.)
type: The forerunner or imperfect model of a more perfect or more complete model that is yet to come.
anti-type: The fulfillment of a type. (e.g. Moses was the type of Jesus and Jesus was the anti-type of Moses.)
synthetic parallelism: A progression of an idea that builds on a basic concept, usually escalating or clarifying the original thought. (Ps. 1 - Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.)
synonymous parallelism: Repeating an idea more than once, usually in a different or slightly different way with each repetition. (Gen. 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;)
antithetic parallelism: Contrasting one idea against another to reinforce a point or to convey a greater meaning.
apodictic law: Absolute law, such as the ten commandments. Usually in the form of "You shall..." and "You shall not..."
casuistic law: Law governed by the "If...then..." conditional statement; gives guidlines for rendering justice by providing examples and illustrates a principle, which will have a wider realm of application.
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Taken from Robertson McQuilkin's Understanding and Applying the Bible. Principles paraphrased, guidelines not so much:
Principles and Guidelines
All definitions are specific to Biblical Hermeneutics and were mostly paraphrased from our required texts. If anyone actually reads this and the meaning of a term is slightly off, this would be why. So please don't leave me comments in a bid to try and correct me, because for all intents and purposes these are the correct definitions as far as I'm concerned with tomorrow's exam.
Definitions
metonymy: The name of an object or concept is used for another related object or concept. (Reference: Matt 23:22 - "...And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.")
synecdoche: A part of something is used to referer to, or describe the whole, or vise versa. (e.g. "The Law" being used to refer to the entire Old Testament.)
anthropomorphism: Using human characteristics to described God.
personification: Using human characteristics to described an object.
hyperbole: Exaggeration for effect.
irony: Stating the opposite of what is actually meant. (2 Cor 12:13 - "How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!")
rhetorical: Stating a question with an obvious answer (usu. negative) to affirm a truth. (1 Cor 12:29 - "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?" - answer is no; the truth being affirmed is that we were all given different gifts by the Spirit to serve God.)
exegesis: A critical explanation or interpretation of a text; drawing meaning from out of Scripture.
eisegesis: The opposite of exegesis: an interpretation that expresses the interpreter's own ideas in place of the actual meaning of the text; putting personal ideas into Scripture without just cause for doing so.
Analogy of Faith: The Analogy of Faith is that Scripture must interpret Scripture.( That is, since all Scripture is God-breathed and as such is harmoniously united, if a passage can be interpreted in two ways, and one of those two puts it in direct conflict with another passage that is clear in its teaching, then that conflicting interpretation must be discarded.)
hermeneutics: The science of interpretation, esp. of the Bible. (Or: The science of interpreting the Bible through exegesis.)
Medieval Quadriga: Intepreting Scripture four times based on moral, literal, spiritual and allegorical meanings.
Subjectivism: The doctrine that all knowledge is limited to self-experience and that transcendent knowledge is impossible; moral judgements are based on emotional or mental reactions of the individual or community and certain thoughts and feelings are considered the highest good.
inductive study: Studying and observing the topic to gather evidences so that one can draw a sound consclusion. (Based on inductive reasoning, in which one starts with the specific and works outwards to the general, as opposed to deductive reasoning, in which one starts with the general and works towards the specfic.)
type: The forerunner or imperfect model of a more perfect or more complete model that is yet to come.
anti-type: The fulfillment of a type. (e.g. Moses was the type of Jesus and Jesus was the anti-type of Moses.)
synthetic parallelism: A progression of an idea that builds on a basic concept, usually escalating or clarifying the original thought. (Ps. 1 - Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.)
synonymous parallelism: Repeating an idea more than once, usually in a different or slightly different way with each repetition. (Gen. 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;)
antithetic parallelism: Contrasting one idea against another to reinforce a point or to convey a greater meaning.
apodictic law: Absolute law, such as the ten commandments. Usually in the form of "You shall..." and "You shall not..."
casuistic law: Law governed by the "If...then..." conditional statement; gives guidlines for rendering justice by providing examples and illustrates a principle, which will have a wider realm of application.
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Taken from Robertson McQuilkin's Understanding and Applying the Bible. Principles paraphrased, guidelines not so much:
Principles and Guidelines
- The Bible was written by humans and must therefore be treated as any other human communication when determining the meaning intended by the writer.
- Base the study on the historical, physical, and cultural setting.
- Research each unclear and important words.
- Analyze the structure of the basic unit of thought, the sentence.
- Examine the immediate context: the passage as a whole, the book as a whole.
- Identify figurative language and determine its literal meaning.
- Interpret parables strictly according to the special principles required by this type of literature.
- Use the parallelism of Hebrew poetry to gain insight into meaning.
- Scripture is God-breathed and true in all its parts and unity must be sought; the supernatural elements must be recognized and understood.
- Compare Scripture with Scripture for light on each passage, and discover the unity of its teaching.
- Establish the coherence of revealed truth.
- Since we hold that the Bible is God-breathed and true in all its parts, when a statement appears to be in error, we are committed to seek an explanation.
- To understand predictive prophecy in Scripture, faithfully observe biblical guidelines.
- Scripture is God-breathed and true, which makes it the absolute authority for life and doctrine.
- Every teaching of Scripture is to be recieved universally, unless the Bible itself limits the audience, either in the context of the passage itself or in other biblical teaching.
- God desires the response of faith and obedience to both direct teachings and the principles of Scripture.