“Biblical Exegesis and Hermeneutics–What It Meant And What It Means”
Welcome back!
As a biblical scholar, I can’t go any longer in this “Impolite Topics” blog about religion, politics, and the Bible without mentioning the two most important words behind every post I write.
These two words are “exegesis” and “hermeneutics.”
The academic world carves up areas of study. Long ago, the “Academy” made a fateful decision. Biblical scholars would do “exegesis” and theologians would do “hermeneutics.” Despite the big words, the difference means that biblical scholars would study the Bible to determine “what it meant” (exegesis) in the biblical era and theologians would take the results and tell people what “it means” (hermeneutics) in the contemporary world.
I am at home doing exegesis. I truly love words. My love for words carries with me a passion for precision in the use of language. (It also makes me unbeatable–so far–at Scrabble.) It also means that I have an ear for speech and pay attention to what people say and how they say it.
I have also developed a keen awareness of how religious and spiritual communities develop their own code languages, known to insiders but not immediately obvious to outsiders, unless you tune in on them.
I have never been as interested in the study of systematic theology. It’s too much abstraction, too much effort to fit concepts into a system, and not enough digging into the words, and what the words mean in particular texts to suit me.
And so, I am happy doing exegesis. The problem is, the division of labor between biblical scholarship and systematic theology isn’t working very well. The biblical scholars merrily study ancient texts without being too concerned about bringing their insights forward into the world of here and now. And the systematic theologians are too busy with their abstract systems to immerse themselves in what the Bible scholars could tell them about what it meant. And so biblical scholars write amazingly erudite books about the Bible that only other biblical scholars will read, and systematic theologians write books about systematic theology that systematic theologians read.
The scholar in me must immediately qualify these statements. I am speaking about tendencies, not hard-and-fast categories. There are notable exceptions of wonderful scholars who bridge the gap between the Academy and non-academic audiences.
The practical result is that many of the books and articles about the Bible that reach the general public tend to be written by people who have not spent their lifetimes immersed in rigorous study of either Biblical exegesis or systematic theology.
So, exegesis–”what it meant”–and hermeneutics–”what it means”–are like two neighbors on the opposite side of a high fence at the top of a hillside. Neither pays much attention to the other and whatever the other knows is not being passed through to the other side.
Meanwhile, the big game is being played in an arena far away down the hillside. In that arena, the people with the loudest amplifiers teach the Bible in ways that are superficial at best and deeply flawed at worst.
My first goal is to take what I know as a biblical scholar–an exegete–and make it real in the contemporary world as a hermeneut. (I didn’t make up this word. Hermeneuts do hermeneutics!)
The big game about religion, politics, and the Bible is too important to let the people with bad exegesis and worse hermeneutics dominate the discussion. It’s long past time to bring solid exegesis of the Bible and responsible hermeneutics about the Bible into the public arena.
[These words are excerpted from the "About" page, which I just completed. I have laid out as clearly as I can who I am and my passion and my purpose behind "Impolite Topics." Click here to read the whole "About" page.]
Dr. Kalinda Rose Stevenson
http://kalindarosestevenson.com/ImpoliteTopics/about
I’ve never known the difference between exegesis and hermeneutics (being an official college drop-out and all), so it’s interesting to hear about this line of delineation.
I agree with you that the one needs the other or both can be pointless exercises that mislead. The blind leading the blind.
Just read over your “about” page. When reading about ivory tower “scholars” and “theologians,” I am reminded that the only one of the men generally called apostles in the New Testament with a “college education” or “degree” was Paul, who referred to those things as refuse (I have heard harsher translations for the word). I believe study is useful, but it must be kept in perspective, too. It’s not an end unto itself for everyone to blindly follow someone towards without having usefulness and (real-world) application to it.
I specifically liked what the one lady said to you: “You are the most interesting combination of practical and intellectual.” Shouldn’t that be the point of any teacher or preacher? I can definitely relate.
- John
Ah,such refresment for the mind and the spirit. Thank you. I too am a lover of words and the Word, who strongly believes that exegesis and hermeneutics must be integrated to bring a full and meaningful message to confessing Christians,seekers, and sceptics alike. As an ordained Protestant Christian minister, I sometimes giggle to myself when I print M.Div. following my name; for I too am still growing into my humanity and really do not expect to master divinity any time soon. In fact, my nieces and nephews heartily amuse themselves each time they introduce me as their Aunt Jude aka the Irrev. Judith Justice.
Regarding the big arena down the hill, surely we who have been educated in both exegesis and hermeneutics, in homiletcs,in social change, intentional spiritual growth, and pastoral care have the responsibility to speak so that more may hear. At present I am enrolled in a D. Min prgram where we frequently bemoan the fact that much of what is offered as biblical study and theological truth is extended by those with little education and/or with a personal political agenda. Still we seem unable to martial enough time from our already demanding schedules to energize others and
organize a venue for the many voices we think need to be heard by the greater public.
May your voice continue to inspire. In community we can and must create a way into the world.
I look forward to more from you, Dr. Kalinda.
Thank you “Irrev. Justice.” My word-loving mind is already racing with possibilities about the connection between irreverence and justice. How much injustice is committed in the name of reverence?
But, it is easy enough to point to abuses done by those with Reverend in front of their names and how much Reverend becomes both the enabler and cover-up for injustice. But we get sidetracked when we focus too much on injustices by the irreverent, and it gets us nowhere.
It is more powerful to consider the connection between justice and reverence. What is justice without reverence? Isn’t injustice at its core a demonstration of lack of reverence for the value of another?
And how many times is “justice” lacking in reverence? How many times is “reverence” lacking in justice? Can you imagine the transformative power of combining reverence and justice?
As you know very well, many spiritual traditions, including the Bible, involve taking on a new name. You already have your new name.
And so, maybe the deeper truth in all of this is that it might be time for you to stop giggling at the M. Div after your name, and to ponder deeply what your calling might be as the Reverend Justice.
You write about being unable to martial time from demanding schedules to energize others. (I find the word choice “martial” very interesting here.) Yet, my question to you is this: What do you have to do that is more important than to living into your new name? To go from exegesis to hermeneutics, based on reverent justice?
This is the way into the world that you can create, the way of reverent justice.
Kalinda Rose Stevenson
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