Sunday, August 14, 2011

Do you use eisegesis or exegesis?

Now I do understand that while you may not exactly know either of these two words, every one of us, when we speak about a subject or topic known to us, do so using the method of one or the other of these two ways of interpreting words and subjects.
Eisegesis, which was the Word of the Day for Saturday, June 18, 201, is an interpretation that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text itself.
Whereas, Exegesis, “is the critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text, especially of the Bible, with no bias or outside influences added.”
In other words with eisegesis, one is saying authoritarily, but not always correctly, “That this is what I think the text is saying”. Where with exegesis, one is saying, also equally authoritarily, “This is exactly what the text is saying, with nothing extra added by me.”
So when you speak, whether on a Biblical subject, or on something much more mundane, do you use eisegesis or exegeses? Over to you for your reflection now.

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