Presuppositions and Interpretation的假设和解释.pptVIP

Presuppositions and Interpretation 1. Reality and Universality of Presuppositions Every reading has a reference point. 1. Reality and Universality of Presuppositions “Reflection demands mental categories, and these are built upon one’s presupposed worldview and by the faith or reading community to which one belongs.” (Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral, 412) 2. Distinctionsa. Terms (1) Presupposition (or Preunderstandings) Any preconception of reality/truth that is part of one’s thinking as one comes to interpret the Bible (or any text). It includes what one understands the text to mean from previous readings (preunderstanding). 2. Distinctionsa. Terms (2) Prejudice b. Five Types of Tradition(from Gordon Fee, Gospel and Spirit, ch.5) (1) Oral and early written stage of the New Testament (upon which NT is based): the tradition of Christ and his apostle b. Five Types of Tradition (3) Later church tradition which holds an official/authoritative role in the church 3. What to Do with Presuppositions? a. Acknowledge their Existence 3. What to Do with Presuppositions? “The Bible must be read and made sense of, by the traditions (theological and otherwise) within which we stand as interpreters. The idea that it is possible to step back entirely from these influences and achieve a pure reading of the text, therefore, is one which must be shown up for the self-deception that it is…Simple appeals to ‘what the Bible says’ are always the sign of (no doubt unconscious) subservience to an interpretative tradition, not liberation from it. That which we mistakenly think we have escaped from is in reality free to exercise all the more influence over us, and is therefore all the more potentially dangerous” (Trevor Hart, Faith Thinking, 167). 3. What to Do with Presuppositions? a. Acknowledge their Existence b. Become More Aware of Them b. Become More Aware of Them How? (1) Become a Student of the Biblical World (a cross-cultural experience!) “The ability to h