Hermeneutics - Composition Terms

a book

the work (output) of an author as he selects, adapts, and arranges his textual section (parts) into a whole text with traits of cohesion and coherence that gives it a particular beginning, middle, and ending

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

apocalyptic (genre)

a genre that depends on symbolic and metaphorical imagery to convey and communicate about the last days

apodictic laws

laws that teach primary principles and paradigms that are not tied to a specific situation or contexts

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

casuistic laws

particular law codes that apply apodictic laws to specific situations usually having a miniature narrative within the law code

chasm

a rhetorical device used by many biblical authors within certain pericopes and sometimes across a book that focuses the reader on its middle part that is surrounded by parallel portion: the first adn last portions are paralleled; the second adn second to last are paralleled, etc

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

composition criticism

analysis of a biblical book that seeks to understand the literary strategy of a book by isolating how it was put together with a focus on the book's repetitions, juxtapositions, pronominalization, and prominence

consolidation (phase in making a biblical book)

the passing of a completed (canonical) biblical book over time through communities who are being shaped by the text that they received and shaping the text as they pass it on to the next generation

correlation (aspect of interpretation)

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

diachronic analysis

study of a text that focuses on its development over time

dialogue (within a biblical book)

speech in a narrative text by characters within the narrative, usually to each other

epistles (genre)

New Testament letters

genre

a type of literature with common traits

genre/form criticism

a form of higher criticism that determines the archetypal literary patterns" or expected traits of a text or a section of a text as the key to interpretation the present biblical texts

higher criticism

critical study of a text that focuses on analysis of its prior, earlier, and hypothetical forms

historical criticism

a form of higher criticism that focuses on determining the sources and origins of biblical texts with the goal of uncovering the historical world of the sources

illegitimate totality transfer

an interpretive error that applies all or many of teh possible usages of a word to a particular instance

implications (of interpretation)

a conclusion drawn from something by the reader that is not explicitly stated

implied author

the "authorial character" of a book as presented in the text so that it may be inferred by the reader (not the actual author)

implied reader

the presumed of hypothetical reader of a text being addressed by the text (not the actual reader)

inclusio

a literary or rhetorical device that draws the reader's attention to the beginning and ending of a section by having repetitions between them

innertextuality

repetitions across parts (different pericopes) of one book that develop its message

intercalation

the presence of a text inserted within a text

interpretive direction (in making a biblical book)

defines between two related texts which text is reading and interpreting the older biblical text

intertextuality

repetitions between biblical books that allow the author of the later book to show the reader how the reads the earlier biblical book

intextuality

repetitions within a single part (a single pericope) of a biblical text that usually show teh boundaries of teh pericope and create meaning

juxtaposition

setting parts of the text side by side so that they create meaning together

legal codes

Biblical laws, especially in the Torah, that can be apomictic or casuistic

literary criticism

a form of higher criticism that sets criteria of unity or disunity of a biblical book to determine the "original" shape of the book

message of a book

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

metaphor

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two different things that is not literally applicable but creates actual meaning in it compassion, its word picture

narrative (genre)

literature that depicts and interprets past events

narrative description (within a biblical book)

within narrative texts, narrative "description" depicts and interprets its events for the reader; it is communication directly from the author adn to the reader; it emphasizes actions

narrative technique

the manner, tactics and strategies by which an author conveys his message through the book's design

narrative world

revealed in the text itself and its implications, which also convey a particular logic of how the story function; the narrative world of biblical texts are meant to explain the real world we inhabit

parable (genre)

simple stories that provide examples for moral and spiritual lessons; it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning or a story about heaven that takes place on earth

pericope

a particular section of a text, which usually can "stand on its own," and is part of larger biblical book

perspicuity

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

poetry (genre)

biblical literature that depicts truth with brevity, which create questions for the reader, and parallelism which provides answers that repeat or expand ideas

presuppositions (in the making of a biblical book)

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

pronominalization (in the making of biblical book)

a rhetorical technique of linking clauses of a text by the use of pronouns and their referents

prophecy (genre)

poetic literature that conveys prophetic word of ethics and eschatology

provenance (of a book)

the location and occasion of the book's writing

redaction criticism

analysis of a biblical book that seeks to understand its various editions within composition and canonization

redactor

a scribe who adds to an already finished (canonical book; he is not an author)

repetition

an instance of an observable commonality or commonalities between two or more different points of a text

rhetoric (in language)

the stylistic approach of a writing that helps to communicate the author's message

scribe

someone who copies completed (canonical) biblical books; he is not an author

setting of book

where the events of a book take place, the depicted locale

simile

a figure of speech that compares on thing with another naturally unrelated thing to communicate an idea

source criticism

a form of higher criticism that takes the results of literary criticism to determine the sources of the biblical book

synchronic analysis

study of the Bible that looks at all of the Bible at one time

text

a written work that Is discrete; often used interchangeably with "book" or with "parts of a book"

the allegorical meaning of a text

a meaning of a text not derived in the words themselves but in relations beyond the text or in larger patterns and referents across biblical texts in most hermeneutical approaches; the church fathers considered allegory positively and included what many call typology or figuration in it; usually tells us about Christ

the analogical meaning of a text

a meaning of a text that explains its eschatological (personal and general) referent

the author adapts

a biblical author adjusts, tweaks, and aligns the parts of his work with repetitions, juxtapositions, pronominalization, and prominence to make his book whole; most of this work is shown at the seams of the book's many pieces

the author arranges

a biblical author orders and lays out the pieces of his text so that it has a particular beginning, middle, and ending to convey his message through repetitions, juxtaposition, pronominalization, and prominence

the author selects

a biblical author chooses to include (and exclude) material so that his book conveys his message

the literal meaning of a text

the basic meaning of the text when it is taken at face value, especially when its words are concerted to other parts of the book and canon; often connected to the authorial intended meaning

the spiritual meaning of a text

a meaning of a text that communicates spiritual truths that should be connected to the literal sense and provides moral, allegorical, and anangogical senses; the nature of the spiritual sense varies

theme

a significant or reoccurring idea of a book that provides the book's major topics or categories

tone

the general character or attitude of a biblical book or section of a book

tradition criticism

a form of higher criticism that describes the oral and written stages of Biblical text before it became a book

type

a part of biblical book that develops and connects the patterns found in Adam's and Israel's stories within the Torah to the rest of the Torah and the rest of the Bible (OT and/or NT)

typology

patterns that unify the biblical derived from how biblical authors repeated elements of the Torah and drew out interpretation and implications through them

wisdom

biblical wisdom is God's wisdom (divine wisdom) that ends well for man and provides His insight for how to live today; it responds to the promise of how things end well (eschatology) to inform how we should live today (ethics); death divides divine wisdom from human wisdom