BEN DUBOW

Running the Way

Tag: hermeneutics

  • Context

    Context matters. It really matters. And when interpreting the Bible, it matters even more. Why? Because the Bible matters… and getting our interpretation correct matters for those of us for whom the Bible is both formative and authoritative. An example: Many years ago, when I was a Young Life area director working with leaders at… →

  • Hermeneutical Essentials

    [Part 9 in our series on Hermeneutics] In this last post on the hermeneutical process, I want to step outside of the textual/interpretive issues and look at a broader question: what is an essential doctrine (that all orthodox Christians must agree… →

  • Hermeneutical Questions & Principles

    [Part 8 in our series on Hermeneutics] In this series we started by looking at some micro-hermeneutical issues (what I call mechanical hermeneutics) and then moved on to macro-hermeneutics (big ideas, story, etc). Now, we are returning to mechanic… →

  • The Hermeneutical Center

    [Part 7 in our series on Hermeneutics] This past Monday in this series we talked about hinges and how Jesus is the central “hinge” of history and therefore interpretation of scripture. As a Christian, coming in with a posture of faith, committed t… →

  • The Hermeneutical Hinge

    [Part 6 in our series on Hermeneutics] There is a basic rule of Biblical hermeneutics that is important to remember: whatever the text may or may not mean today, its primary meaning must be for the original recipients. I believe that scripture spe… →

  • The Hermeneutical Story

    [Part 5 in our series on Hermeneutics] In our last post on hermeneutics we looked at the hermeneutical circle and the importance of interpreting the text within the overarching “big idea” of the biblical meta-narrative. This is a deductive approac… →

  • The Hermeneutical Circle

    [Part 4 in our series on Hermeneutics] Previously we talked about the hermeneutical spiral — an inductive process for examining a passage, going from text to context. Today, I want to talk about the hemeneutical circle — a deductive approach tha… →

  • The Hermeneutical Posture

    [Part 3 in our series on Hermeneutics] There are fundamentally two postures when it comes to hermeneutics. A posture of faith or a posture of skepticism. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, writing in the beginning of the 19th century, referring to poetry, s… →

  • The Hermeneutical Spiral

    [Part 2 in our series on Hermeneutics] Hermeneutics is the art (not science) of interpretation. There are a number of approaches and issues to consider in hermeneutics. These include deductive approaches, inductive approaches, micro-hermeneutics (… →

  • The Hermeneutical Challenge

    [Part 1 in our series on Hermeneutics] “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” “I don’t interpret the Bible… I just read it and believe it.” These kinds of statements are relatively common — and complete hogwash (to borrow a characterizat… →