750 word Response to BI101
I originally started this course because
of really loving Dr. Heiser’s content, I started with “The Unseen Realm” then
fast forward about 4 more years I have read nearly everything by him and also
read most of the things he has recommended, when I saw he had this introductory
course I felt it be an easy yes to watch. In this course Dr. Heiser details
points in biblical Interpretation that many believers are completely oblivious
to, to be quite honest. Several concepts are foreign to laypeople, I am
extremely happy with this course as it has taught me a lot and what to look out
for in my studies of the bible.
One of the things I learned within this course is about the
obstacles regarding meaning. Meaning is not self-evident and there are several
obstacles to getting to the biblical writer intent. Here is some of those
obstacles
Presuppositions
-the assumptions that we have about certain things as we try to interpret
the biblical text. They’re assumptions that are encoded in our brains just
because of our background, our experience, the framework of our whole
life.
Author
- we have this inherent obstacle of trying to figure out what the
author himself was thinking when he wrote something down under inspiration
in the text of Scripture
Reader
- Ourselves, our own thinking. They bring their own presuppositions,
meaning. Thinking is interpretation.
Medium
- The mode of communication, it’s a written document. You miss voice
inflection, facial expression, body language.
Meaning
- only one meaning? Literalism
Translation
- we want to penetrate past our English translation to the original
languages of the biblical text. i.e., manuscript variances, different
interpretations
Precedent-
We have whole bodies of tradition handed down to us through time by
different groups that all took Scripture very seriously.
Context-
we must decide whether we are letting our own context or some foreign
context to the biblical writer interpret we interpret what they wrote something
that’s official and written down, and this issue is just wider. The right
context for interpreting the Bible is the context of the writer—the
context that produced the thing we’re trying to interpret. Everything else
is foreign, and we need to be aware of that.
Relevance-How
what we are studying applies to our lives.
Validation-
how do we know we are right?
In utilizing this course
we begin to see how much we have to be aware of, there are several pitfalls
that can make bible interpretation difficult, but not impossible in discerning.
Later in the course Dr. Heiser discusses several tools that can be used in
helping to determine the worldview context, here are some listed, Primary
Sources - check out the ancient literature section in a passage guide
Reference
Works - dictionaries and encyclopedias
Academic
Monographs - books focused on a specific subject matter
Bible
Commentaries - Academic research, but a scarcity of specifics
Devotional
or Popular Commentaries - focused on application, not interpretation
Expositional
Commentaries verse by verse exposition, but not much in terms of original
language study, what most Pastors will use
Scholarly
Commentaries - will engage with original languages and will assume the
reader will have a working knowledge of the languages as well and will
take the reader into the context of the writer
Journal
Articles - more specific than reference works, but not as lengthy as an
academic monograph
Digital
Resources - blogs and Podcasts as long as they are subject matter experts
Later Dr. Heiser details different fulfillment types, He
describes them in the following way, sensus plenior
is really about a fuller metaphorical—maybe if you want to use the word even
“symbolic”—kind of fulfillment, but I like metaphor personally. Analogical is a step back from that, where a NT writer will see something
happen with Jesus or will hear about something that happened with Jesus, and
then he’s writing the account down later, and he will sort of sense an analogy
with something in the OT.
So there’s not as direct of a connection between what the nt writer is writing about and something specific in the ot. Even though the nt writer will quote an ot passage, it’s analogous thinking.1
1 Heiser, M. S.
(2018). BI101
Introducing Biblical Interpretation: Contexts and Resources (Revised Edition). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
And finally, Typology
is a foreshadowing of the future in a nonverbal way. Let me read Rom 5:14; this is where the term actually comes from. Paul writes,
“Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not
like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”1
1 Heiser, M. S.
(2018). BI101 Introducing Biblical
Interpretation: Contexts and Resources (Revised Edition).
Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
This course has helped shaped my understanding in bible
interpretation, it has really helped to give a better sense of grasp what the
biblical writers, I recommend this course to everyone who wants to get a little
more in the bible study endeavors.