101551 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Biblical Hermeneutics, Anagoge, Hermeneutics

• School: UWS
• Department: University of Western Sydney
• Course: 101551
• Professor: anon

Document Summary

Hermeneutics, the study of the general principles of biblical interpretation. For both jews and christians throughout their histories, the primary purpose of hermeneutics, and of the exegetical methods employed in interpretation, has been to discover the truths and values of the bible. The sacred status of the bible in judaism and christianity rests upon the conviction that it is a receptacle of divine revelation. This understanding of the bible as the word of god, however, has not generated one uniform hermeneutical principle for its interpretation. Still others have maintained that some parts of the bible must be treated literally and some figuratively. In the history of biblical interpretation, four major types of hermeneutics have emerged: the literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical. Literal interpretation asserts that a biblical text is to be interpreted according to the plain meaning conveyed by its grammatical construction and historical context. The literal meaning is held to correspond to the intention of the authors.