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EXEGESIS

The critical explanation or interpretation of a biblical text. The term etymologically related to the Greek word meaning “to guide” or “lead out.” The history of the exegesis of the Bible can be traced to the Bible itself. In particular, the case can be made that at least some of the editing of the Bible began the process of exegesis. Some scholars claim that Psalm titles are among the earliest forms of exegesis. Further evidence for this early process are texts like Deuteronomy and Chronicles, both of which appear to reinterpret and re-present material that we know from other parts of the Bible. In addition, versions of the Bible in other languages, and much in the Pseudepigrapha, can be understood as exegetical. Moreover, the history of exegesis continued in early rabbinic Judaism and early Christian sources, and onward into the medieval literature of each religious tradition.

Modern, so called “critical,” exegesis began with the realization that the Bible could be understood as a product of its historical period as well as a guide to religious life. As a result, modern exegesis tends to have as its goal the pursuit of the objective realia that lie behind the text. The 20th century has seen the relativization of many of the modern critical assumptions about exegesis, with the result that exegesis now comprises an extremely wide range of approaches to reading the Bible, many of which share little other than the object of their inquiry.

Larry L. Lyke

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EXEGESIS

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)