Hermenutics Exam

Authorially Intended Meaning

the lesson that the author wants the reader to learn

Authoritative (as trait of scripture)

the biblical text and its message is to be heeded

Big Question (of a book)

The problem or dilemma that the book is addressing

Deduction

Understanding a book or part of a book by focusing on its big picture or general categories

Effective History/Wirkungsgeschichte

The history of interpretations that influenced later readers

Eisegesis

Interpreting by inserting an outside meaning into a biblical text

Exegesis

Interpreting by drawing out the meaning from a biblical text

General revelation

Revelation that is avaible to all people in all generations that proves unable to teach and by itself draw men to salvation (Nature vs. History) and (The inner being of a person)

Historiography

the writing of human historical events into a meaningful text that interprets the events it describes

Illumination (in regards to a biblical book)

the work of the Holy Spirit to help readers understand, interpret, and heed the biblical text's message

Induction

understanding a book or part or a book by focusing on its details and particulars

inerrant (as trait of scripture)

The biblical text has no errors

infallible (as trait of scripture)

The biblical text will not lead you astray

inference

A conclusion drawn by a reader based on evidence and reasoning

inspiration (of a biblical book)

God's superintending activity to ensure the writing of the biblical text reflects His voice and His character. It makes the text both human and divine.

Linguistics

the study of languages and its structures with sub disciplines including morphology, phonology, semantics, grammar, and syntax

Main Message

The primary lesson that the author intends for the reader that resolves the big question or primary problem the book addresses

Mimesis

The process whereby an author can mimic or represent his experienced reality, even his perception and interpretation of what was, in a particular medium, such as a book, to a reader.

Mimesis 1

A person experiences an event and (subconsciously) records it into his memory (from the event to memory)

Mimesis 2

A person takes an event from his memory, consciously and deliberately records it into his book (from the memory to text)

Mimesis 3

Another person consciously and deliberately reads the text and (subconsciously) records the event into his own memory (from text to memory)

perspective (in the making of a biblical book)

A person's point of a view towards life and experience that shows up in how they understand reality especially in all three phrases of mimesis.

philology

a pre-cursor to the science of linguistics that uses painstaking textual analysis of (primarily) old, written texts. The ancient texts is available in manuscript over time.

reader response (aspect of interpretation)

an interpretive approach that grants the reader to define the meaning of the text being read

special revelation

Specific, particular knowledge of God that directs one to sufficient knowledge of God, man, and salvation

sufficient (as trait of scripture)

The biblical text and its message is capable of communicating how to worship God in any and every situation

textual outline (aspect of interpretation)

an organized presentation of a book's message that divides the text into major and minor units, following the design of the text's surface structure, and helps a reader discover its message

textual argument (aspect of interpretation)

a synthesis of how the parts of a text work together to create meaning by how the juxtaposed big parts relate to each other to advances the book's message from its problem and solution

textual spine (aspect of interpretation) [TSp]

Common repeitions between the book's middle and ending

textual strings (aspect of interpretation) [TSt]

Common and significant repetitions within and across the book or its parts

dispensationalism

explains the Bible's message through the discontinuity of the covenants with each new covenant forming a distinct test of a person or group of people or all of humanity to show that man is in constant need of God's grace; it emphasizes a distinction between Israel and the church; the MC's law codes do not apply to the church

orthodoxy

right doctrine

orthopraxy

right practice

a book's dilemma

the problem, question, issue, or concern that the author is addressing by his book

a book's solution

the answer to the book's question, problem, dilemma, issue, or concern; biblical books always offer a solution in God

application (aspect of interpretation)

the aspect of interpretation in which a reader relates the biblical book's lesson to his life

author

the person who selects, adapts, and arranges his material into a whole book that is both cohesive and coherent with a particular beginning, middle, and ending

clarity (claritas scripturae) (doctrine of)

the Scripture is able to communicate its most important ideas, also known as perspicuity

coherence (trait of a book)

a book's ability to make sense

cohesion (trait of a book)

a book's ability to stick together

correlation (aspect of interpretation)

the process of connecting two points of data within interpretation or from interpretation to application

message of a book

the lesson that the author wants the reader to learn; it usually emphasizes a solution to the book's primary dilemma; it is the book's hope

perspicuity

the Scripture is able to communicate its most important ideas, also known as clarity (claritas scripturae)

presuppositions (in the making of a biblical book)

prior and presumed ideas an author brings into the making of his book

Deep structure of text

grammatical organization and re-representation of the actual words of a text in grammatical and syntactical categories rather than the specific words provided in the canonical form

surface-structure of text

the actual words in the biblical text laid out in their canonical order (its outward form), word by word, phrase by phrase, and clause by clause

Phrase

Group of words performing a single function in a clause

3 main categories of grammar

Nouns, verbs, particles

What lies in the noun category

Pronouns, proper nouns, adjectives

What lies in the verb category

Participles, infinitives

Main functions in grammar

Subject, object, possessive, object of preposition

Transjective

a relationship between object and subject that is co-created by the subject and the environment and is as real—or even realer—than either object or subject.

Lexicon

a specialized dictionary that communicates the english equivalents of words in the source languages of Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, or Koine Greek

concordance

a book (or electronic tool) that shows what Greek or Hebrew words are the source for our translated texts

Semantics

The study of word meaning

Morpheme

the meaningful sub-parts of words, parts that signify something

Morphology

the part of linguistics that studies word formation and their constituent parts, its morphemes. (Can't be divided, conveys meaning, smallest meaningful parts)

Phoneme

a sound unit of a language that creates distinctions for the readers or hearers and does not communcate a particular meaning by the sound

Phonology

Branch of linguistics. The study of a language's phonemes, sound units, to create distinction so that words and meaning can be differentiated

literal meaning of a term

what the word refers to or names in reality, its most basic meaning without referring to metaphorical or figurative senses

figurative meaning of a term

the non-literal, metaphorical meaning of a term

Connotative meaning

the meanings ASSOCIATED with a word outside its particular lexical meanings that can accompany the primary lexical meanings

Hapax Legomena

a word that only occurs once in the Old Testament (Hebrew/Aramaic) or once in the New Testament (Greek)

denotative meaning

the main meaning of a word, its primary lexical meaning, namely what the word refers to or names

determinate meaning

a precise meaning that can be determined nearly objectively by the textual evidence

Indeterminate Meaning

the precise meaning cannot be known by the textual evidence

Primary usage of a term

the most common way a word is used

Secondary usage of a term

a not as common way that a word is used

etymology

The study of the origin of words and the way of which their meanings have changed throughout history.

Semantic Range

a word's semantic range is the field of possible usages of that word

Semantic usage

Determining the specific meaning of a word or phrase based on how it is used in a particular context rather than simply just the word'sH root of origin.

Synonym

a word that shares semantic overlap and meaning with another word

partial synonym

a word that has SOME semantic overlap with another

translation

writing the meaning of a biblical word, phrase, clause or book in another language

Transliteration

writing a biblical word or phrase from the original (source) language with the alphabet of another (target) language

clause

a complete statement that predicates something about a subject; it can be independent or dependent; the basic structural unit of a book

grammar

the study of a language's structure and system, including syntax, morphology, phonology, and semantics

Syntax

the set of rules that define how clauses function and relate to other clauses

verb

a part of speech that expresses action (regular verbs) or state of being (linking verbs)

Predicate

declares what the subject is or does in a clause;

these verbs declare what happened;

these nominatives name the subject;

these adjectives modify or describe the subject

subject

a noun or adjective that is the identity of the clause, indicating who or what acts in the clause or the topic of the clause

Noun

a part of speech that names a person, place, thing, or idea

adjective

a part of speech that may 1) modify a noun by giving it a trait (attributive), 2) predicate something about a subject, usually a noun, or 3) take the place of a noun

Adverb

a part of speech that may 1) modify a verb, 2) explain manner, time, or place, or 3) become a catch all for words that are structural

predicate nominative

a noun (or it is acting as a noun) that predicates a subject by naming it

predicate adjective

an adjective that predicates a subject by modifying or describing it

complement

a word or group of words that completes the meaning of a sentence or a part of it, providing essential information about the subject or object.

verbal tense

in English, a verbal tense provides a verbal form that communicates distinction of time or duration and/or the nature of the action

verbal clause

in English, a clause that provides a regular verb and emphasizes an action by the subject

nominal clause

a clause that defines who a subject is; requires a linking verb to modify and to name it

Interjection

a part of speech that is an exclamation, aside, or interruption into the text

intransitive verb

a verb that does not require a direct object

linking verb

a verb that tells the what the subject is rather than what it is doing; it requires a predicate adjective to modify or describe the subject or a predicate nominative that names the subject; many english verb tenses use linking verbs

object complement

a part of some clauses that modifies or describes its object with an adjective or names the object with a noun

particles

a part of speech that provides structure to its clauses, phrases, and words and a catch-all for words not easily labeled

Transitive Verb

a verb that requires a direct object

Composition

How the author put it together