Exegesis
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Exegesis (/ˌɛksɪˈdʒiːsɪs/ EK-sih-JEE-sis; from the Greek ἐξήγησις, from ἐξηγεῖσθαι, "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations of virtually any text, including not just religious texts but also philosophy, literature, or virtually any other genre of writing. The phrase Biblical exegesis can be used to distinguish studies of the Bible from other critical textual explanations.
Textual criticism investigates the history and origins of the text, but exegesis may include the study of the historical and cultural backgrounds of the author, text, and original audience. Other analyses include classification of the type of literary genres presented in the text and analysis of grammatical and syntactical features in the text itself.
Usage
One who practices exegesis is called an exegete (/ˌɛksɪˈdʒiːt/; from Greek ἐξηγητής), the plural of exegesis is exegeses (/ˌɛksɪˈdʒiːsiːz/), and adjectives are exegetic or exegetical (e.g., exegetical commentaries). In biblical exegesis, the opposite of exegesis (to draw out) is eisegesis (to draw in), in the sense of an eisegetic commentator "importing" or "drawing in" their own subjective interpretations into the text, unsupported by the text itself. Eisegesis is often used as a derogatory term.
Mesopotamian commentaries
One of the early examples of exegesis, and one of the larger corpora of text commentaries from the ancient world, comes from
As with the majority of the thousands of texts from the
Cuneiform commentaries are important because they provide information about Mesopotamian languages and culture that are not available elsewhere in the cuneiform record. To give but one example, the pronunciation of the cryptically written name of Gilgamesh, the hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, was discovered in a cuneiform commentary on a medical text.[1] However, the significance of cuneiform commentaries extends beyond the light they shed on specific details of Mesopotamian civilization. They shed light on what the concerns of the Mesopotamian literate elite were when they read some of the most widely studied texts in the Mesopotamian intellectual tradition, a perspective that is important for "seeing things their way."[2] Finally, cuneiform commentaries are also the earliest examples of textual interpretation. It has been repeatedly argued that they influenced rabbinical exegesis.[3]
The publication and interpretation of these texts began in the mid-19th century, with the discovery of the royal Assyrian libraries at Nineveh, from which ca. 454 text commentaries have been recovered. The study of cuneiform commentaries is, however, far from complete. It is the subject of on-going research by the small, international community of scholars who specialize in the field of Assyriology.
Commentaries on Plato
Commentaries on Plato include a large corpus of literature, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Plato. Many Platonist philosophers in the centuries following Plato sought to clarify and summarise his thoughts, but it was during the Roman era, that the Neoplatonists, in particular, wrote many commentaries on individual dialogues of Plato, many of which survive to the present day.
Biblical commentaries
A common published form of biblical exegesis is known as a Bible commentary and typically takes the form of a set of books, each of which is devoted to the
The form of each book may be identical or allow for variations in methodology among the many authors who collaborate to write a full commentary. Each book's commentary generally consists of a background and introductory section, followed by detailed commentary of the book pericope-by-pericope or verse-by-verse. Before the 20th century, a commentary would be written by a sole author, but in the recent period, 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
Christianity
In Christianity, biblical exegeses have relied on various doctrines.[4]
The doctrine of
The
Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or
Revealed exegesis considers that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the scriptural texts,[citation needed] and so the words of those texts convey a divine revelation. In this view of exegesis, the principle of sensus plenior applies—that because of its divine authorship, the Bible has a "fuller meaning" than its human authors intended or could have foreseen.
Rational exegesis bases its operation on the idea that the authors have their own inspiration (in this sense, synonymous with artistic inspiration), so their works are completely and utterly a product of the social environment and human intelligence of their authors.[citation needed]
Catholic
Catholic centres of biblical exegesis include:
- the Vatican II
- the Catholic exegesis through teaching and through the Pontifical Biblical Commission
Protestant
For more than a century, German universities such as Tübingen have had reputations as centers of exegesis; in the US, the Divinity Schools of Chicago, Harvard and Yale became famous.
Robert A. Traina's book Methodical Bible Study[12] is an example of Protestant Christian exegesis.
Indian philosophy
The
Islam
Judaism
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Traditional Jewish forms of exegesis appear throughout rabbinic literature, which includes the Mishnah, the two Talmuds, and the midrash literature.[16] Jewish exegetes have the title mefarshim (מפרשים, "commentators").
Midrash
The
Halakha and Aggadah
In the
Midrashic
Midrash exegesis was largely in the nature of
Tannaim
How little it was known or recognized may be seen from the admission of
It was, therefore, providential that, just at the time when the Midrash was paramount, the close study of the text of the Hebrew Bible, at least in one direction, was pursued with rare energy and perseverance by the
Mikra
The
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 Aggadah, the third of these branches, was the source 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 centers for exegetic studies around the world, in each community: they consider exegesis an important tool for the understanding of scripture. Associated with the rabbinic text studies, such methodology is known to adopt a wide assortment of literary tools, in conjunction with meticulous, widespread engagement with classical exegetical literature.[18]
Zoroastrianism
In a secular context
Several universities, including the
At Australian and British universities, the exegesis forms part of the required work for fine arts, including creative-writing doctorates. A scholarly text accompanies a creative work, such as a film, novel, poetry or other artistic output by the PhD candidate. Together, the two elements form the candidate's research thesis.[23]
Straussian reading
In the late 1930s, Leo Strauss called for the first time for a reconsideration of the "distinction between exoteric (or public) and esoteric (or secret) teaching."[24] In 1952 he published Persecution and the Art of Writing, arguing that serious writers write esoterically, that is, with multiple or layered meanings, often disguised within irony or paradox, obscure references, even deliberate self-contradiction. Esoteric writing serves several purposes: protecting the philosopher from the retribution of the regime, and protecting the regime from the corrosion of philosophy; it attracts the right kind of reader and repels the wrong kind; and ferreting out the interior message is in itself an exercise of philosophic reasoning.[25][26][27]
Taking his bearings from his study of Maimonides and Al-Farabi, and pointing further back to Plato's discussion of writing as contained in the Phaedrus, Strauss proposed that the classical and medieval art of esoteric writing is the proper medium for philosophic learning: rather than displaying philosophers' thoughts superficially, classical and medieval philosophical texts guide their readers in thinking and learning independently of imparted knowledge. Thus, Strauss agrees with the Socrates of the Phaedrus, where the Greek indicates that, insofar as writing does not respond when questioned, good writing provokes questions in the reader—questions that orient the reader towards an understanding of problems the author thought about with utmost seriousness. Strauss thus, in Persecution and the Art of Writing, presents Maimonides "as a closet nonbeliever obfuscating his message for political reasons".[28]
Strauss's argument is not that the medieval writers he studies reserved one exoteric meaning for the many (hoi polloi) and an esoteric, hidden one for the few (hoi oligoi), but that, through rhetorical stratagems including self-contradiction and hyperboles, these writers succeeded in conveying their proper meaning at the tacit heart of their writings—a heart or message irreducible to "the letter" or historical dimension of texts.
Explicitly following Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's lead, Strauss indicates that medieval political philosophers, no less than their ancient counterparts, carefully adapted their wording to the dominant moral views of their time, lest their writings be condemned as heretical or unjust, not by "the many" (who did not read), but by those "few" whom the many regarded as the most righteous guardians of morality. It was precisely these righteous personalities who would be most inclined to persecute/ostracize anyone who was in the business of exposing the noble or great lie upon which the authority of the few over the many stands or falls.[30]
See also
- Allegory in the Middle Ages
- Archetype
- Eisegesis
- Biblical criticism
- Form criticism
- Radical criticism
- Redaction criticism
- Source criticism
- Tradition criticism
- Biblical literalism
- Biblical software
- Biblical studies
- Close reading
- Gloss (annotation)
- Gymnobiblism
- Icon
- Literal and figurative language
- Narrative criticism
- Pesher
- Semiotics
- Symbol
- Typology (theology)
References
- ^ BM 54595 (CCP 4.2.R). See T. G. Pinches, "Exit Gišṭubar!", The Babylonian and Oriental Record, vol. 4, p. 264, 1889.
- S2CID 162350464.
- ^ See Akkadian Commentaries and Early Hebrew Exegesis
- ^ Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, Edgar V. McKnight, Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, Mercer University Press, USA, 1990, p. 372-375
- ^ Bruce Corley, Steve Lemke, Grant Lovejoy, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture, B&H Publishing Group, USA, 2002, p. 102
- ^ Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible, Baker Academic, USA, 2005, p. 283-284
- ISBN 978-0-8010-3413-8.
- ^ The Biblical Commission's Document "The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church" Text and Commentary; ed. Joseph A. Fitzmyer; Subsidia Biblica 18; Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Bibllico, 1995. See esp. p. 26, "The historical-critical method is the indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts."
- ISBN 978-0-664-22314-4.
- ^ "Journal of Higher Criticism".
- ^ Soulen, Richard N. (2001). Handbook of Biblical Criticism. John Knox. p. 79.
- ISBN 978-0-310-31230-7.
- ^ see also chapter 3.2 in Peter M. Scharf, The Denotation of Generic Terms in Ancient Indian Philosophy (1996)
- ^ "al-Baydawi's "Anwar al-Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta'wil" with Frontispiece". World Digital Library. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
- ^ See Izza Rohman, “Tafsir Al-Qur’an Bi Al-Qur’an as A Distinctive Methodology”, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), Volume 137, International Conference on Qur'an and Hadith Studies (ICQHS 2017), pp. 33-37.
- ISBN 0-521-07418-5.
- ^ (Sifra on Lev. xiii. 49)
- OCLC 779489142.
- Encyclopedia Iranica. Vol. IX, Fasc. 2. Costa Mesa: Mazda. pp. 113–116.
- ^ "Ecole pratique des hautes études (EPHE)". sorbonne.fr.
- ^ "Organisatie". leidenuniv.nl.
- ^ "Centre interdisciplinaire d'étude des religions et de la laïcité – CIERL". ulb.ac.be. Archived from the original on 2007-11-12.
- ^ Krauth, Nigel (2011). "Evolution of the exegesis: the radical trajectory of the creative writing doctorate in Australia". Text: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses. 15 (1).
- ^ "Exoteric Teaching" (Critical Edition by Hannes Kerber). In Reorientation: Leo Strauss in the 1930s. Edited by Martin D. Yaffe and Richard S. Ruderman. New York: Palgrave, 2014, p. 275.
- ISBN 978-0226763897. Archivedfrom the original on 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
excerpt entitled "Why Strauss, Why Now?"
- JSTOR 190834.
... a book containing much that is appreciably esoteric to any reader stated in a manner either so elusive or so challenging as to cause him to give up trying to understand it.
- ^ Damon Linker (October 31, 2014). "What if Leo Strauss was Right?". The Week. Archived from the original on 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
- ^ Michael Paley and Jacob J. Staub in Jewish Philosophy: Medieval and Modern, printed in The Schocken Guide to Jewish Books (1992) p. 215.
- ^ Winfried Schröder (ed.), Reading between the lines – Leo Strauss and the history of early modern philosophy, Walter de Gruyter, 2015, p. 39, "According to Robert Hunt, '[t]he Straussian hermeneutic ... sees the course of intellectual history as an ongoing conversation about important philosophical questions'."
- ^ Jew and Philosopher: The Return to Maimonides in the Jewish Thought of Leo Strauss p. 25
External links
- Biblical Interpretation and Application Reading Room: Extensive bibliography for biblical exegesis provided by Tyndale Seminary
- JewishEncyclopedia.com
- Cuneiform Commentaries Project
- en.exegetes.org features paleographic works, translations, and publications of classical exegesis and offers a selection of books for readers.