Hermenutics - Introduction

Linguistics

The science of language study.

Philology

The study of ancient texts

(the pre-cursor to linguistics.)

Perspective

The vantage point on reality; shaped by the person’s point of view towards life and experience in order to understand reality of the three mimesis.

Inference

The drawn conclusions based on observations of a text

(class notes treat it as part of interpretation).

Transjective

Reality not just “subjective” or “objective” but between the two, linking text and reader.

Inspiration

The Holy Spirit guiding the biblical author’s writing (M2 process) so that Scripture is God’s special revelation.

Illumination

The Holy Spirit enabling the reader to rightly understand, interpret and heed the Scripture.

Inerrant

Scripture is without error in its autographs.

Infallible

Scripture is incapable of failing in its truth claims and will not lead you astray.

Sufficient

Scripture providing all that is necessary for faith and salvation; communicating how to worship God in any situation.

Authoritative

The Scripture and its message are to be heeded by the divine authority.

Authorially intended meaning

The meaning conveyed by the author’s composition by its lesson or message they intend for the reader to learn from the text.

(selecting, adapting, arranging His material)

Reader response

The person’s interpretive approach that lets the reader define one’s meaning of the text being read.

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 records into his memory

(from the event to memory)

Mimesis 2

a person takes an event form his memory and records it into his book

(from the memory to text)

Mimesis 3

a person’s encounter with another person and reads the text and records the event into his own memory

(from the text to memory)

Main Message

The core meaning the author communicates.

(The primary lesson that the author intends for the reader that resolves the big question/primary problem the book addresses)

Textual Spine

The central thread of repetitions within and across a book or its parts to create conversations and comparisons of different sections of the book.

Textual Strings

Important repetitions (key words, phrases, or themes) that tie the text together to create conversations and comparisons at the beginning and ending a book.

Textual Outline

The structural breakdown of the text in an organized presentation of a book's message, dividing the text into major and minor units.

(beginning, middle, end)

Textual Argument

The logical flow of how the author makes his point.

Big Question

The overarching question/dilemma the author of the book addresses.

Effective History/Wirkungsgeschichte

the history of interpretations and effects of a text that shape how later readers understand it.

General revelation

God’s revelation of Himself through creation and conscience.

Special revelation

God’s direct revelation in Scripture (the biblical text is its focus) .

Exegesis

Interpretation meaning being drawn out of the text as intended by the author.

Eisegesis

Reading one’s own ideas into the text while seeking to add a new meaning.

Historiography

The writing of history; telling the story of the past with perspective.

(The history of Interpretations influenced by later readers.)

Deduction

examines an object (even a biblical book) with an emphasis on its larger traits and certain presuppositions of the whole.

(Starting from general truths/presuppositions and applying them to the details)

Induction

examines an object (even a biblical book) with an emphasis on its particular details and features. (Starting from details and moving toward a larger conclusion)