"Exegesis [the process of drawing out of a text its intended meaning] involves a process: (1) examining the text itself, its origin and wording, (2) scrutiny of translation, (3) discovery of historical context -- authorship, setting, and dating, (4) analysis of literary context, (5) determining the genre or literary type, (6) outlining and diagramming structure, (7) classification of grammar and syntax, (8) systematically studying a given truth in the setting of all revealed truth, and (9) applying the text.
"In short, three basic questions may be asked of any text: What does it say? What does it mean? How does it impact me? Care must be given, however, not to shortchange all the steps of exegesis lest a learner rush to a personal application that is totally unwarranted from the biblical data."
Of the Three steps Edward encourages readers to take, the middle seems to be the most ignored, and for good reason! It's the one that takes the most work! Reading words directly off a page can be pretty easy. Deciding how we are going to let it impact us can be a bit more complicated, but by following either the heart or the head a decision is usually made fairly quickly (often while still reading the words on the page). Taking the time to pause before rendering judgement and looking deeper into the actual meaning takes patience, brain power, and sometimes even courage.
I find this applicable not only with the Bible, but with any text that we go to seeking understanding. Often times we jump straight to personal connections such as: How does it make you feel? What are you going to do about it? These are important of course, but secondary to the true meaning. Before jumping to action we should seek understanding. The origin, authorship, purpose, and context are crucial to understanding any text's meaning. For example... pretend, just for a moment, that we found a piece of a document written by Martin Luther King Jr. saying that all blacks should be slaves. Knowing what we know about MLK Jr. I would hope that you would be rather skeptical of that opinion actually being his. Now through careful research and study it could possibly turn out that he was making this statement not as his own opinion, but stating the opinion of someone he disagrees with in order to refute that flawed opinion. By simply jumping to a heart decision before seeking the true meaning of the text we would slander the very memory of a great human rights activist. Similar misunderstandings could take place when a text written for entertainment is taken literally, or when poetry is taken as science. The intention of the author must be considered.
I am sidetracking myself, as usual. The true reason I found this so intriguing today during my reading was that these steps don't just apply to reading, they apply to basic conversation, and every day interaction. If we were to judge people/text/movies/songs/etc... less on what they say, and more on what they mean we might find our experience here greatly changed! A person who offended you by not carefully choosing their words most likely still had good intentions yet a friendship is sacrificed due to linguistics. A song with inappropriate content is played in commercials, at ball games, or even in school assemblies simply because 'it doesn't actually say it.' Movies create innuendos that without so much a word, but we catch their meaning.
My point for this entry I suppose is just to pause, before rendering judgement, and look at what the author/speaker/artist is trying to communicate, and how you will choose to let that message effect you.
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