Text - Reader - Author: Towards a Theory of Exegesis: Some European Viewpoints

Abstract

The starting point of the article is a triple crisis of the traditional historical exegesis of the OT. Proposed is a "theory of exegesis" which offers a basis for transformations of traditional questions and methods and which offers "interfaces" for both, the integration of recent trends of literary sciences and the dialog with non-academic, contextual approaches. The (biblical) text is basically understood as an "aesthetic subject" in order to stress that the interrelation between the text and its readers proceeds from the productive encounter between both. As "co-ordinates" of the theory function U. Eco's three "intentions of interpretation" and their relations: the "intentio operis" which opens the perspective on descriptive text theories, the "intentio lectoris" which integrates "aesthetics of reception" and the "intentio auctoris" which offers the link to the traditional historical-critical exegesis.

The drum and its significance for the interpretation of the Old Testament from an African perspective: Part one

“…12.Various attempts at contextual exegesis can be found, that is, buffalo/ white/ liberation/ black, and so forth (see also Utzschneider 1996;Pontifical Biblical Commission 1994).…”

“…It is in contextualisation that theological interpretive exegesis is brought to the local level of another society other than that which forms the background of the Bible. However, through the integration of the 15.Various attempts at contextual exegesis can be found, that is, buffalo/ white/ liberation/black and so forth (see also Utzschneider 1996;Pontifical Biblical Commission 1994).…”

“…The impact of the African context on the interpretation of the Bible (West 1997b:99) comes amidst the crisis of orientation in Old Testament exegetical studies on the one hand (Utzschneider 1996:2) 1 and 1.Although Utzschneider (1996:1-23) is referring specifically to Europe, this crisis of interpretation is also evident in South Africa in so far as Old Testament scholarship was influenced by Europe (Deist 1994:34). A clear indication of the impact of the sociopolitical developments in South Africa on Old Testament scholarship is the white to black ratio of 155:3 of the membership of the Old Testament Society of Southern Africa (Deist 1994:43).…”