• Protects from ignorant arrogance

• Protects us from making the same mistakes as our predecessors

• Enables us to understand others

• Reminds us for the need for personal consistency in hermeneutics

With the varied history of Biblical Interpretation, we can see that some methods bring God glory in the handling of His word, and others allow for readers to find their own answers.

Some of the important lessons we should take away from the history of Biblical Interpretation:

• Authorial Intent

• Author is still the Author

• Audience is the Audience

• Reverence for God’s word

For additional reading:

• Zuck, Roy. Basic Bible Interpretation, “Bible Interpretation Then and Now,” Chapter Two.

• McKim, Donald. Historical Handbook of Major Bible Interpreters, 1998 IVP.

• Bray, Gerald. Biblical Interpretation: Past & Present, 1995 IVP.

• Froehlich, Karlfried. Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church. Philadelphia. Fortress Press, 1980. (Amazon)

• Osborne, Grant. "Appendix 1 The Problem of Meaning: The Issues" & "Appendix 2 The Problem of Meaning: Toward a Solution" in The Hermeneutical Spiral. (Amazon, CBD)

1. Practice your Allegorical interpretation
   

   1. Interpret the verse John 19:34 - find the symbols, and import meaning from other passages, movies, the internet, phones books, etc.

2. Practice your Bultmann interpretation
   

   1. Interpret the verse Joshua 10:13 - remove the supernatural, but determine what the import was to the original audience, then find an application for the modern audience.

3. Practice your “New-Hermeneutic”

   1. Interpret the passage Ezekiel 37:4-10 - forget about the author, or the audience, and probably context... does this impact your world? how does it make you feel?

4. Practice your Post-modern interpretation
   

   1. Interpret the verse John 14:6 - determine what truth claims that verse presents. Think of truth claims of other religions that would generally be in contrast to the propositions in the verse. Now conceptualize these as subjective, defined by the cultures and people groups that express them.

   2. Research and define the term “religious pluralism.”

Note: Philosophical Concepts can be hard to understand. It can be helpful to be aware that there are concepts we don’t know, and this allows use to piece things together in the future.

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