Essential Questions in Hermeneutics
(1) In interpretation should we look primarily for another's mind, maybe the original creative act? Should we seek to know the surrounding socio-historical circumstances of the author? Perhaps we should seek a dialogue with something that the author could not have foreseen, and something that his or her circumstances cannot control, namely an experience in which we ask the text questions and it asks of us.
(2) Does misunderstanding and radical difference come first in every experience? Or does a common accord, however slight, pre-exist, thereby enabling understanding?
(3) To what degree should we rely on methods, principles, or laws of understanding?
(4) What does it mean to cultivate a critical and reflective attitude? Is that mutually exclusive from methods? What is the proper role, if any, of practical wisdom and personal responsibility in hermeneutics?
(5) Is interpretation an objective or subjective act? Perhaps it is neither. Perhaps it is a play, an intersubjective accord, or maybe even something so fluid that we cannot really call it anything specific at all.
(6) Is there then a correct interpretation? Maybe we should concern ourselves with the best interpretation possible at that moment. Further still, perhaps we should reject the idea of a correct or best interpretation and seek instead merely to enjoy reading for its pleasure value alone, recognizing that there is no real transhistorical or transcultural truth involved.
(7) What is the proper role of hermeneutics in theological and biblical interpretation?
Stanley E. Porter; Jason C. Robinson (2011). Hermeneutics: An Introduction to Interpretive Theory. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Kindle Edition.
(2) Does misunderstanding and radical difference come first in every experience? Or does a common accord, however slight, pre-exist, thereby enabling understanding?
(3) To what degree should we rely on methods, principles, or laws of understanding?
(4) What does it mean to cultivate a critical and reflective attitude? Is that mutually exclusive from methods? What is the proper role, if any, of practical wisdom and personal responsibility in hermeneutics?
(5) Is interpretation an objective or subjective act? Perhaps it is neither. Perhaps it is a play, an intersubjective accord, or maybe even something so fluid that we cannot really call it anything specific at all.
(6) Is there then a correct interpretation? Maybe we should concern ourselves with the best interpretation possible at that moment. Further still, perhaps we should reject the idea of a correct or best interpretation and seek instead merely to enjoy reading for its pleasure value alone, recognizing that there is no real transhistorical or transcultural truth involved.
(7) What is the proper role of hermeneutics in theological and biblical interpretation?
Stanley E. Porter; Jason C. Robinson (2011). Hermeneutics: An Introduction to Interpretive Theory. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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