University of Central Florida Old Testament Overview of Bible Questions

Discussion Prompt: Context and Interpretation

Consider how important your own personal background is to your worldview. Your upbringing, social context, experiences, and environment all combine to shape your unique perspective. Just like we all have a background that affects how we communicate, so too does the OT have a historical context that affects how it is interpreted.

Answer the following questions:

• Based on your reading and the lectures in Session 1, what do you see as the most important contextual issues that affect how we read the OT?
  • How is the context of the OT different from your own?
• What do you think is a more authentic interpretive method: approaching the text with a preconceived notion (eisegesis) or allowing the text to speak for itself (exegesis)?
  • Why?
• Do we have the right to overturn the original author’s intent?

How to Study the Bible•To avoid Eisegesis• Eisegesis – importing meaning into the text• Starting with an unbendable presupposition•To Promote Exegesis• Exegesis – deriving meaning from the text•Approach the text without an unbendablepresupposition•Avoid ”misguided” reliance on the Holy Spirit• The Spirit illumines our understanding, but won’tcontradict the Scriptures• To Enable Historical-Theological Interpretation

Support your response by referencing the text, lectures, and specific scriptures.