Exegesis (from the
Greek 'to lead out') is a critical
explanation or
interpretation
of a text.
Biblical exegesis is a critical explanation or
interpretation of the Bible. The goal of Biblical exegesis is to
find the meaning of the text which then leads to discovering its
significance or relevance.
Traditionally the term exegesis was used primarily for exegesis of
the
Bible. However in contemporary usage
exegesis has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text.
The term is most often used for
religious
texts although it can be used for non-religious texts as
well.
The critical aspects in doing exegesis covers a wide range of
disciplines. Textual criticism is the investigation into the
history and origins of the text. In addition there is an
examination of the historical and cultural backgrounds for the
author, the text, and the original audience. Then there is a
classification of the types of literary genre present in the text,
and an analysis of grammatical and syntactical features in the text
itself.
Sometimes the terms exegesis and
hermeneutics have been used interchangeably.
However,
hermeneutics is a more widely
defined discipline of interpretation theory. Hermeneutics includes
the entire framework of the interpretative process, encompassing
all forms of communication: written, verbal and nonverbal. Exegesis
consists of interpretation principles that focus primarily on the
written text.
Usage
One who practices exegesis is called an exegete. The plural of
exegesis is exegeses. Adjectives for exegesis are exegetic or
exegetical (i.e., exegetical commentaries). In Biblical exegesis,
the opposite of exegesis (to draw out) is
eisegesis (to draw in). Eisegesis, often used as a
derogatory term, implies that the reader is importing their own
meaning into the text. Exegesis is an attempt to discover the
meaning of the text objectively, while eisegesis is importing a
subjective meaning into the text.
Christianity
According to some forms of Christianity, two different forms of
exegesis exist: revealed and rational.
- Revealed exegesis considers that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the
scriptural texts, and so the words of those texts convey a divine
revelation.
- Rational exegesis bases its operation on the idea that
the authors have their own inspiration, so their works result from
human intelligence.
A common published form of a biblical exegesis is known as a 'bible
commentary' and typically takes the form of an encyclopedia-like
set of books each of which are devoted to the exposition of one or
two books of the bible, in the order they appear in the Bible. Long
books such as
Psalms may be split over 2 or 3
volumes while short books such as
1,
2 and
3 John may be conflated into one
volume. The form of each book is identical, consisting of a
background and introductory section, following by detailed
commentary of the book in a verse-by-verse basis (split up either
into chapters or smaller units of text). Before the 20th century, a
commentary would be written by a sole author, but today a
publishing board will commission a team of scholars to write a
commentary, with each volume being divided out among them. A single
commentary will generally attempt to give a coherent and unified
view on the bible as a whole, for example, from a
Catholic or
Reformed perspective, or a commentary that
focuses on textual or historical considerations. However, each
volume will inevitably lean toward the personal emphasis of its
author, and within any commentaries there may be great variety in
the depth, accuracy and critical strength of each volume.
Catholic traditions
Catholic centres of biblical exegesis include:
Protestant traditions
For more
than a century, German universities such as Tübingen
have had reputations as centres of exegesis; in the
USA, the Divinity Schools in Chicago
, Harvard
and Yale
became
famous.
Robert A. Traina's book
Methodical Bible Study has become
influential in the field of Protestant Christian exegesis. Many
regarded it as the standard text describing the
inductive approach to interpreting the
English-language Bible.
Judaism
Traditional Jewish forms of exegesis appear throughout
rabbinic literature, which includes the
Mishnah, the two
Talmuds, and the
midrash
literature.
Jewish exegetes have the title
meforshim
(commentators).
Midrash
The
Midrash is a homiletic method of
exegesis and a compilation of homiletic teachings or commentaries
on the
Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), a Biblical
exegesis of the
Pentateuch and its
paragraphs related to the Law or
Torah, which
also forms an object of analysis. It comprises the legal and ritual
Halakha, the collective body of Jewish laws,
and exegesis of the written Law; and the non-legalistic
Aaggadah, a compendium of Rabbinic homilies of the
parts of the
Pentateuch not connected
with Law.
Biblical
interpretation by the Tannaim
and the
Amoraim, which may be best designated as
scholarly interpretations of the Midrash,
was a product of natural growth and of great freedom in the
treatment of the words of the Bible. But it proved an
obstacle to further development when, endowed with the authority of
a sacred tradition in the
Talmud and in the
Midrash (collections edited subsequently to
the Talmud), it became the sole source for the interpretation of
the Bible among later generations. Traditional literature contains
explanations that are in harmony with the wording and the context.
It reflects evidence of linguistic sense, judgment, and an insight
into the peculiarities and difficulties of the Biblical text. But
side by side with these elements of a natural and simple Bible
exegesis, of value even today, the traditional literature contains
an even larger mass of expositions removed from the actual meaning
of the text.
- Halakha and Aggadah
In the
halakic as well as in the
haggadic exegesis the
expounder endeavored not so much to seek the original
meaning of the text as to find authority in some Bible passage for
concepts and ideas, rules of conduct and teachings, for which he
wished to have a Biblical foundation. To this were added, on the
one hand, the belief that the words of the Bible had many meanings,
and, on the other, the importance attached to the smallest portion,
the slightest
peculiarity of the text. Because of this move
towards particularities the exegesis of the
Midrash strayed further and further away from a
natural and
common-sense
interpretation.
- Midrash
Midrash exegesis was largely in the nature of
homiletics, expounding the Bible not in order to
investigate its actual meaning and to understand the documents of
the past. This was done to find religious
edification, moral instruction, and sustenance for the
thoughts and feelings of the present. The contrast between
explanation of the literal sense and the Midrash, that did not
follow the words, was recognized by the Tannaim and the
Amoraim. Although their idea of the literal meaning
of a Biblical passage may not be allowed by more modern standards.
The above-mentioned
tanna,
Ishmael b. Elisha said, rejecting an exposition of
Eliezer b. Hyrcanus: "Truly, you say to Scripture,
'Be silent while I am expounding!'" (
Sifra on
Lev. xiii. 49).
- Tannaim
Tannaitic exegesis distinguishes
principally between the actual deduction of a thesis from a Bible
passage as a means of proving a point, and the use of such a
passage as a mere
mnemonic device – a
distinction that was also made in a different form later in the
Babylonian schools. The Babylonian
Amoraim were the first to use the expression
"
Peshaṭ" ("simple" or face value
method) to designate the primary sense, contrasting it with the
"Drash," the
Midrashic exegesis. These two
terms were later on destined to become important features in the
history of
Jewish Bible exegesis. In
Babylonia was formulated the important principle
that the
Midrashic exegesis could not
annul the primary sense. This principle subsequently became the
watchword of commonsense Bible exegesis. How little it was known or
recognized may be seen from the admission of
Kahana, a Babylonian
amora of
the fourth century, that while at 18 years of age he had already
learned the whole
Mishnah, he had only heard
of that principle a great many years later (
Shab 63a).
Kahana's admission is
characteristic of the centuries following the final redaction of
the Talmud. The primary meaning is no longer considered, but it
becomes more and more the fashion to interpret the text according
to the meaning given to it in traditional literature. The ability
and even the desire for original investigation of the text
succumbed to the overwhelming authority of the
Midrash. It was, therefore, providential that, just
at the time when the
Midrash was paramount,
the close study of the text of the Bible, at least in one
direction, was pursued with rare energy and perseverance by the
careful
Masorites, who set themselves to
preserving and transmitting the pronunciation and correct reading
of the text. By introducing punctuation (
vowel-points and
accents) into the Biblical text, in the seventh
century, they supplied that protecting hedge which, according to
Rabbi Akiba's saying, the
Masorah was to be for the words of the Bible.
Punctuation, on the one hand, protected the tradition from being
forgotten, and, on the other, was the precursor of an independent
Bible science to be developed in a later age.
Mikra
The
Mikra, the fundamental part of the
national science, was the subject of the primary instruction. It
was also divided into the three historic groups of the books of the
Bible: the
Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa.
The intelligent reading and comprehension of the text, arrived at
by a correct division of the sentences and words, formed the course
of instruction in the Bible. The scribes were also required to know
the Targum, the Aramaic translation of the text. The Targum made
possible an immediate comprehension of the text, but was
continuously influenced by the exegesis taught in the schools. The
synagogues were preeminently the centers for instruction in the
Bible and its exegesis. The reading of the Biblical text, which was
combined with that of the Targum, served to widen the knowledge of
the scholars learned in the first division of the national science.
The scribes found the material for their discourses, which formed a
part of the synagogue service, in the second division of the
several branches of the tradition. The Haggadah, the third of these
branches, especially furnished the material for the sermon.
Jewish exegesis did not finish with the redaction of the
Talmud, but continued during ancient times, the
Middle Ages and the
Renaissance; it remains a subject of study
today. Jews have centres for exegetic studies around the world, in
each community: they consider exegesis an important tool for the
understanding of the Scriptures.
Indian philosophy
The
Mimamsa school of
Indian philosophy, also known as ("prior"
inquiry, also ), in contrast to ("posterior" inquiry, also ), is
strongly concerned with textual
exegesis,
and consequently gave rise to the study of
philology and the
philosophy of language. Its notion of
shabda "speech" as indivisible unity of sound
and meaning (
signifier and
signified) is due to
Bhartrhari (7th
century).
Islam
An Islamic Exegesis of the
Qur'an is named
Tafsir, and it constituted a large field of the
Islamic studies.
Zoroastrianism
See article on
Zoroastrian exegesis from
Encyclopædia Iranica.
Exegesis in a secular context
Several
universities, including the Sorbonne
in Paris,
Leiden University, and the
Université Libre de Bruxelles
(Free University of Brussels), put exegesis in
a secular context, next to exegesis in a religious
tradition. Secular exegesis is an element of the
study of religion.
Bibliography
Jewish Exegesis
Catholic Exegesis
Protestant Exegesis
Other Works
- Bertholet and A. Meyer, article "Bibelwissenschaft" in Die
Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Tübingen, 1909).
- Diestel, Geschichte des Alten
Testaments in der chrislichen Kirche (Jena, 1869)
- Farrar, The History
of Interpretation (London, 1886)
- Fürst, Bibliotheca
Judaica (Leipzig, 1863)
- Geiger, Urschrift und
Uebersetzungen (Breslau, 1857)
- Ginsburg, Introduction
to the Massoretic Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible
(London, 1897)
- Hody, De Bibliorum
Textibus (Oxford, 1705)
- Nestle, Einführung in das
griechische Neue Testament (Leipzig, 1897, 1909)
- Pfleiderer, Das
Urchristenum (Berlin, 1886, 1902)
- Rosenmüller,
Historia Interpretationis Librorum Sacrorum in Ecclesia
Christiana (Hildsburgshausen, 1795–1814)
- Swete, An Introduction
to the Old Testament in Greek (London, 1900)
- Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica (Jena, 1715–33), continued
by Köcher as Nova Bibliotheca hebraica (Jena,
1783–84)
- Zöckler, Handbuch der
theologischen Wissenschaften Nördlingen, 1890)
See also
Footnotes
- see also chapter 3.2 in Peter M. Scharf, The Denotation of
Generic Terms in Ancient Indian Philosophy (1996)
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Section
des Sciences Religieuses
- Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions
(LISOR)
- Centre Interdisciplinaire d'Etude des Religions et de la
Laïcité (CIERL)
External links
founded in 1890 by the Dominican order's Marie-Joseph Lagrange. The
school became embroiled in the modernist crisis, and had to curtail its
New Testament activities until after
Vatican II
practises exegesis in a more canonical
way
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