Hermeneutic's guide

Five views

Behind the text: look at the text, history and original meaning

Within the text: Look at literary styles to better understand

In front of the text: We can’t know history so read at face value

1. Where does meaning happen? Is meaning to be located in the author’s intent? What about the reader’s engagement? What is the role of the ancient believing community, the continuing community or the modern community in reading the text today?

2. What is the basis or foundation of meaning? Is it to be found in grounded substance, such as the text or the mind of the author? What if there is no foundation for meaning? Are texts simply constructs created by readers? How does one know?

3. Is meaning limited to the author’s original intent (if we can in fact be certain of finding the author’s original intent)? What about the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament (as in our example)? Does meaning change from one context to another (whether from Old Testament to New Testament or from biblical text to reader)?

4. Who or what arbitrates a “correct” reading or at the very least a “helpful” or “harmful” reading?

5. What is the role of theology in biblical interpretation? Is it assumed, primary or merely derivative?

6. What role do events occurring after the original composition play in interpretation? For example, the Christ event, the process of canonization, the experience of a given reader and so on.

7. What other disciplines should be used to help provide greater clarity to biblical studies? Philosophy? Theology? Literary studies?

Stanley E. Porter and Beth M. Stovell, “Introduction: Trajectories in Biblical Hermeneutics,” in Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Beth M. Stovell, Spectrum Multiview Books (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2012), 20–21.

Five views on interpreting scripture

The historical-critical/grammatical view seeks insight for interpretation from taking a critical view of the history behind the text, on the one hand, and utilizing a grammatical analysis of the text, on the other.

literary/postmodern interpreters use a synchronic approach instead of the diachronic approach more common in traditional criticism, and they are attuned to literary questions of style, character and narrative, as well as to hermeneutical issues raised by poststructuralism, postcolonialism and reader-response theories.

redemptive-historical view, following the theological interpretation of the Reformers as well as scholars such as Geerhardus Vos, argue that the role of Christ in his redemptive work is central to interpreting the whole of Scripture, whether the Old or the New Testament

canonical criticism well by arguing for the necessity of reading the entire canon in relationship to each part of the canon. Thus the Old Testament should be read in light of the New Testament and the New Testament in light of the Old Testament.

philosophically oriented biblical hermeneutics provides an awareness of many of the major issues also influencing what might be called theological hermeneutics as it addresses questions in biblical hermeneutics through a philosophical lens.

Invatation to biblical hermeneutics

Chapter 1

Two triangles

Author, text, reader

History, Liturature, Theology

1. historical-cultural awareness; 2. canonical consciousness; 3. sensitivity to genre; 4. literary and linguistic competence; 5. a firm and growing grasp of biblical theology; and 6. an ability to apply and proclaim passages from every biblical genre to life.

Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson, Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology, 2nd Edition., Invitation to Theological Studies Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2021), 66.