Week 2: Opening the Dusty Book

Looking at a text

Gen. 6 When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, "My spirit shall not abide [a] in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years." 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days –and also afterward – when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

Hermeneutics

What is this about? What does it mean? What do we need to know to make sense out of it? To find meaning?

Interpretation an image

Questions to consider

• What is happening? What is the most coherent interpretation?
• Justify your conclusions. What evidence was most important?
• What do you need to know in order to be able to interpret it?
• What process did you follow to develop your interpretation?

Interpreting a text

Read the following text: a translation

• What do you need to know to understand this text?
• What does it mean?
• What questions do you have for the text?

Historicity

Passage of time

• The timeline of "history" is one of the fundamental ways that we find understanding in texts.
• Gaining a sense of perspective is fundamental to "understanding" history

http://prezi.com/2ocnrs77kd6f/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Simplified hermeneutics

Meaning found by relating:

• The time, context, intention of the original item
• The item itself. This would include issues having to do with language.
• Our present time, context, and understandings

Interpretation

Understanding is all about understanding the text.

• What is the text?
• Who wrote it? What was the context? What was the intent?
• What does it mean today?

Carvalho introduces a wide variety of approaches used in the interpretation of the text. These are found in "boxes" spread throughout the text.