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Hermeneutics as a Theory of Understanding

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Chapter One

Bibliography

Frye, Northrop. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.

Grondin, Jean. Einführung in die philosophische Hermeneutik. Darmstadt:Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1991.

Jasper, David. A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Jeanrond, Werner G. Text und Interpretation als Kategorien theologischen Denkens. Tübingen: Mohr, 1986.

Jensen, Alexander S.. Theological Hermeneutics. London: SCM Press, 2007.

Lessing, Hans-Ulrich, ed. Philosophische Hermeneutik. Freiburg: Alber, 1999.

Morgan, Robert, with John Barton. Biblical Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Oeming, Manfred. Biblische Hermeneutik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1998. ET Contemporary Biblical Hermeneutics (Hampshire, Eng.: Ashgate, 2006).

Palmer, Richard E. Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

Pokorný, Petr, and Jan Roskovec, eds. Philosophical Hermeneutics and Biblical Exegesis. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.

Porter, Stanley E., and D. A. Carson, eds. Linguistics and the New Testament: Critical Junctures. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.

Ressequil, James L. Narrative Criticism of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Ricoeur, Paul. Du texte à l'action. Paris: du Seuil, 1986. ET From Text to Action (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1991).

Soulen, Richard N., and R. Kendall Soulen. Handbook of Biblical Criticism. 3d ed., rev. and expanded. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Szondi, Peter. Einführung in die literarische Hermeneutik. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1975. ET Introduction to Literary Hermeneutics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Tate, W. Randolph. Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991.

Weder, Hans. Neutestamentliche Hermeneutik. Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1986. 2d ed., 1989.

Wischmeyer, Oda. Hermeneutik des Neuen Testaments. Ein Lehrbuch. Tübingen: Francke, 2004.

Hermeneutics as a theory of interpretation has, as conceived of today, become a theory of understanding in general. It began to take shape in this modern form from the time of the Reformation, initially as an interpretation of individual biblical concepts (Matthias Flacius Illyricus, 1520-75). From the mid-eighteenth century onward, it is possible to speak of the modern tradition of hermeneutics, as described by the Hungarian-German literary theorist Peter Szondi (1929-71) in his groundbreaking studies. The leading representatives of this phase were Martin Chladenius (1710-59), Georg F. Meier (1718-77), and Friedrich Ast (1778-1841), whose influence came in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. This important phase culminated in the work of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768-1834), which likewise constituted a turning point. Schleiermacher placed a far more fundamental emphasis than Chladenius on the cognitive role of the human subject in formulating the overall meaning of the text or speech that was being interpreted, and he positioned hermeneutics on the boundary between science and art. In so doing, he wanted to imply that it was not an exact science but one that was connected with history and with human subjects. This role was stressed more than half a century later by Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) in his study "Die Entstehung der Hermeneutik" ("The Origins of Hermeneutics"), written in 1900.

According to Schleiermacher, one of the main functions of hermeneutics is the interpretation of old texts, which requires a whole range of scientific approaches taken from the fields of history, philology, and linguistics (the historical side of hermeneutics). In the final analysis, however, it is after all probably more of an art, in which inspiration, empathy, and personal decision (the intuitive side) form a bridge between knowledge of the general and encounter with the unique.

Hermeneutics, which today has become a discipline bringing together all fields of science and the arts, has its roots far back in Greek philosophy and rhetoric, and even its modern history is more varied than might be supposed from what we have said about its German tradition. This is because this tradition first began to work systematically with the term "hermeneutics," whereas in the tradition of modern philosophy (esp. phenomenological philosophy) and linguistics, hermeneutic issues (such as the cognitive role of the subject, the definition of meaning, the function of signs, and self-understanding) were dealt with in various contexts and using different types of terminology. A good overview of these antecedents of contemporary hermeneutics is provided in an introduction by the Canadian literary theorist Jean Grondin, who has worked partly in Germany. I have therefore decided to refer readers to Grondin's work and to examine only certain selected issues relating to the history of hermeneutics.

The term "hermeneutics" is derived from the Greek word hermeneuo, which seems to have meant "imitating Hermes," who in Greek mythology was the messenger of the gods. Hermeneutics among other things thus indicated expressing divine matters in human speech. In the subchapters on metaphor we will consider the functions of language, which can in some ways be compared to this. The second meaning of this verb — namely, translating from one language to another — will be considered in chapter 4; it is only one aspect of the overall subject of hermeneutics, albeit a particularly instructive one. We devote most attention to the third meaning that hermeneuo had in antiquity — the interpretation of written texts.

Excursus on Theology and Philosophy

In what we have to say, we will be speaking of philosophy and of theology, sometimes even as though they were twin concepts. From the historical point of view, this is not altogether accurate, as theology and philosophy have frequently found themselves on opposite sides of issues. It is therefore necessary to clarify our terminology right at the start. Here we shall understand philosophy in its elementary meaning as reflection on a specific existence or state, with all the implications for orientation in the "life-world" (Lebenswelt, or world of lived experience), especially in history and society. And we shall refer to theology in the sense that primarily interests us in connection with hermeneutics — that is, as a way of thinking that evaluates the basic Christian testimonies, plus the texts and implications related to those testimonies, and examines to what extent and in what form it is possible, using them as a basis, to arrive at an understanding of the world that is congruent and, under certain circumstances (the acceptance of the Christian testimony), philosophically relevant for people in today's world. From a purely methodological viewpoint, theology is a certain type of philosophy. The fact that it has so far been virtually the exclusive domain of Christians and Jews, for whom theology is at the same time a reflection on their own faith, does not mean that others could not devote themselves to it as well.

To a considerable extent indeed, theology is marked by its historical forms and the tasks that it has assumed over the course of its history. It is the interpreter of Christian doctrinal tradition — a great heritage, but also a burden that it cannot lay aside; these traditions and texts, however, also represent an important interpretation of human life and history. The doctrine of the mystery of the Trinity is in its way a brilliant formula for plotting the experience of faith onto the map of history. God is a subject who transcends history, who is "above" and "in front of" it; Jesus is a subject who represents God's will as unconditional truth and asserts it within history, so that it can be relied on for orientation; and the Holy Spirit enters into the very heart of human beings, into human subjectivity. In the Holy Spirit, God reaches into the human "I" itself. He is extremely close to each human person and understandably extremely difficult to identify. For this reason it is necessary to "examine the spirits" to see whether they acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh (see §3.7.2 below) and thus whether they are from God. Trinitarian thinking thus moves between testimony and critical self-reflection, and the classic creeds are at the same time a scheme for the world — a scheme that earlier mediated between myth and philosophy and today mediates between myth and the analogical or metaphorical language of the contemporary world.

Theology came into being as a systematic reflection on the basic experience of faith. Unfortunately, some theological conclusions that assumed a special authority (i.e., dogmas) effectively came to be seen as revelations of the basic experience of faith, rather than as a reflection on it, and were thus often simply handed down. It is therefore necessary today for the interpretation of these dogmas to return to the roots of experience from which they have sprung. Theology must thus often return to the past, both for its own good and for that of society as a whole, but formulating new schemes, this time consciously left open, does not cease to be its calling. In view of the many dimensions in which it operates, theology in this connection sometimes allocates some of its tasks to fundamental theology, but this does not alter its basic task of examining openly the possibilities that faith offers for orientation in the "life-world."

It remains to define the role of Christian philosophy. It can be defined as that part of philosophical reflection that, in terms of the themes it deals with, overlaps with the basic task of theological reflection, but that in so doing makes use of other traditions and the texts linked with them (from the history of philosophy) in such a way that it communicates its reflections primarily on the basis of, and with the help of, these traditions and texts.

This parallel status of theology and philosophy, along with, to a certain extent, the competition between them, constitutes a certain degree of complication in hermeneutical work, as it is a field in which both sides are involved. At the same time, however, it presents a great opportunity for the two sides to show they are open to mutual dialogue.

Chapter Two

Bibliography

Jack, Alison M. Texts Reading Texts, Sacred and Secular. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.

Patocka, Jan. Telo, spolecenství, jazyk, svet. Prague: OIKOYMENH, 1995.

Saussure, Ferdinand de. Cours de linguistique générale. 1916; Paris: Payot, 1982 (edition with commentary by T. deMauro). ET Course in General Linguistics, ed. Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye (New York: Philosophical Library, 1959).

A text is communication expressed in language. If we are to understand a text, we must understand the function of language.

If in this section we shall refer primarily to the Bible, it is because (1) the Bible is a classic text (or collection of texts) in the European and American cultural heritage, which leads us to ask questions about it through its cultural authority alone. At the same time we must remember that (2) the long history of biblical exegesis is the largest reservoir of hermeneutical experience, a fact it would be foolish to ignore.

We address these observations in two directions as the starting point for study and discussion. First, we would like to point out to the broader public and particularly to students that the Bible is the basic text that was and is interpreted in European history. Without the Bible, we shall be unable to understand the principles of European culture, including some practical aspects of Western traditions that were suppressed in our country during the period of the totalitarian regime but were never completely conquered (such as a critical view of one's past, overcoming the inevitability of fate, the awareness of personal responsibility, and taking for granted the care of the weak and the sick). The Bible has also been used many times to justify terrible deeds. However, a hermeneutical analysis indicates that such a use can be criticized from the point of view of the way the biblical texts are constructed, and it is possible to defend the view that they have been misused in these cases.

Second, we need to remind Christians that there is essentially only one hermeneutics (hermeneutica generalis) — the hermeneutical dimension of a single common universal human question. There is one hermeneutics, just as there is one basic system of communication, which is the system of language, and just as there is one world in which we understand each other. Of course we do have something like "regional hermeneutics"—the interpretation of texts linked by a common genre — which requires certain specific methodological approaches that have been formed over the course of history. In this sense it is also possible to talk of biblical hermeneutics. Essentially, however, the interpretation of the Bible is not a hermeneutical operation for which fundamentally different rules of interpretation apply than for other texts. If there is something unusual about biblical texts, it is the fact that we mentioned in our introduction: in them we are confronted with the issue of hermeneutics in a profound and extreme form, which can help to reveal its essential nature better than is the case with the analysis of most other texts. That is, historical existence in time is pertinent to the understanding of something that fundamentally transcends it. Only in this way does hermeneutica sacra stand out in comparison with general hermeneutics. And because the interpreter must take the claims of the text seriously, the interpretation of biblical texts is concerned with a more universal and profound series of questions. But this special characteristic can be convincingly revealed only if we interpret biblical texts working from the assumptions of general hermeneutics. Otherwise we would constantly be faced with the objection that results obtained by using a different, biblical-hermeneutical strategy cannot be convincing. (Incidentally, even from the theological point of view, attempts to establish a special biblical hermeneutics or interpretational tendencies that might lead in that direction are suspect undertakings. This is because by using a different hermeneutics they are denying Jesus' full humanity, which is a Docetic heresy.)

The interpretation of a text is something very relevant to the present, something that impacts the whole of the interpreter's existence. The very fact that we read and listen to a certain text constitutes an indirect challenge to us to express our opinion on what it is saying and on its quite different world, and to react to it. The alien "I" who speaks to us from the text expands our horizon and becomes our partner in dialogue, enabling us to begin looking at ourselves through different eyes and thus helping us to better understand ourselves. And as soon as we start talking "about something," then what we say is an interpretation or, more accurately, an attempt at an interpretation.

2.1. Language as an Encoding System

We cannot understand contemporary linguistic theory without some knowledge of Course in General Linguistics, by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), first published in French in 1916 as Cours de linguistique générale. In saying this, I do not wish to disparage discoveries that were made and described before this work was published, nor what has followed it. Nevertheless, Saussure's work is the most systematic and most frequently quoted expression of what became the starting point for later discussion. The terminology that he used is also well known among experts, and the translations of his main work include an overview of appropriate renderings of the individual terms he uses in other languages. We shall see that his opinions have been subjected to criticism and his terminology has been modified, but overall research reached an irreversible stage with Saussure, without which it would be difficult to imagine the current models for resolving the basic issues. And because linguistic theory does not yet have a standard terminology, it is convenient to make use of his terminology in specialist discussion in the field.

(Continues...)

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