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Difference between revisions of "Tips for reading and understanding scripture"
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===First, we should understand the nature of revelation=== | ===First, we should understand the nature of revelation=== | ||
The scriptures won't be understood if we don't understand the nature of revelation. This is addressed [https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_How_do_Mormons_understand_prophetic_revelation%3F/ here]. | The scriptures won't be understood if we don't understand the nature of revelation. This is addressed [https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_How_do_Mormons_understand_prophetic_revelation%3F/ here]. | ||
| − | === | + | ===Read Them Contextually=== |
| − | + | [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exegesis Exegesis] is an interpretation or explanation of scripture. Usually, when we’re speaking of exegesis, we are referring to a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical-grammatical_method historical-grammatical method] of exegesis. That is, trying to understand how the first hearers/readers of those scriptures understood the text. When we perform historical-grammatical exegesis, we are looking for the correct interpretation of scripture by assuming that something about the historical background of that scripture can tell us about how to interpret it. | |
| − | + | The interpretation of a text is subject to the constraints added on by the three stages of a text's transmission: | |
| + | #The author’s intent or purpose in what he or she wrote. The text exists in the author's mind at some point and they had something that they intended to communicate to us. | ||
| + | #What the author actually wrote separate from that purpose/intent. | ||
| + | #How we, as readers, interpret or react to that text today. | ||
| − | + | The historical-grammatical method of exegesis helps us to try and get a more accurate understanding of the first two stages of transmission so that the interpretation made at the last stage of transmission can be best informed. | |
| − | |||
| − | === | + | Latter-day Saints are admonished to seek to understand scripture in its original context. Scripture contains several admonitions to not wrest it.<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/2-pet/3.16?lang=eng 2 Peter 3:16]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/13.20?lang=eng Alma 13:20]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/41.1?lang=eng 41:1]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/10.63?lang=eng Doctrine and Covenants 10:63]; [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/88.77-79?lang=eng 88:77-79]</ref> |
| − | + | [https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Young,_Brigham President Brigham Young] stated: | |
| − | + | <blockquote>Do you read the Scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them? If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may be as familiar with the spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your daily walk and conversation, or as you are with your workmen or with your households. You may understand what the Prophets understood and thought—what they designed and planned to bring forth to their brethren for their good.” | |
| − | + | [https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Journal_of_Discourses/7/52#33/ Journal of Discourses 7: 333]</blockquote> | |
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| − | + | To perform historical grammatical exegesis, one should seek to establish four types of context for scripture: generical, historical, textual, and linguistic. | |
| − | Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament in Greek, we need to understand | + | #'''Generical:''' Scripture has many genres of writing. There is legal code, historical texts, narratives, poetry, and more. Understanding the genre of scripture can help us in interpreting that scripture. |
| + | #'''Historical:''' Scripture was written at a particular time and in a particular culture. We often need a lot of tools to help us understand when scripture was written and under what cultural filters. Scholars for many years have used study bibles in order to help them establish this context. This author recommends ''The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible'' and the ''Jewish Study Bible'' to gain a better understanding of Scripture's historical context. | ||
| + | #'''Textual:''' Any verse is going to be embedded in a series of other verses where the author is talking about a particular topic. We should read the verses preceding and succeeding our verse in question in order to understand what the author is talking about. | ||
| + | #'''Linguistic:''' words obviously have meaning. They can have different meanings to different people at different times. Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament in Koine Greek, we will need to understand these languages somehow in order to understand what the translated English word might be getting at. Even English words as contained in the King James Bible (the Church’s officially preferred translation for English readers) are going to be hard to understand because they either aren’t in common use anymore or because they are [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diachronic diachronic]. That is: they can change in meaning over time. What an English word meant to the King James translators; what it meant to Joseph Smith when he gave us the revelations/translations/narrations recorded in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price; and what it means to us today in our common parlance can be different--even starkly different. | ||
| − | + | An example of this is the word “virtue” in the Bible | |
| − | |||
| − | + | In Ruth 3:11 we read “And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requires: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.” | |
| − | + | And in Proverbs 31:10 we read: "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. “ | |
| − | With these verses we might easily conclude that the King James translators were referring to virtue as we | + | With these verses we might easily conclude that the King James translators were referring to virtue as we sometimes use it today which would be "to be chaste." However, a confusing case arises in the New Testament. Luke 6:19 reads “And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.” So, chastity left Jesus’ body after a woman touched him? Or is our definition of virtue perhaps different than that of the King James translators? The definition was closer to power than being chaste. |
| − | + | As we understand both the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek term and the English term translated into our King James Version—as well as the definition of a word in Joseph Smith's time— the better we will be able to understand the scriptures as the ancients understood them and how we, today, are commanded to understand them (as observed above). | |
| − | |||
| − | + | For understanding the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the author recommends either making an effort to learning those languages or using the features at [https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+1# netbible.org] that allow readers to click on the tab that gives the original Greek or Hebrew text, hover over the text to see the word that was translated, and then use the pop-up dictionaries. For understanding confusing King Jamesian English, the author recommends using the resources found at [http://www.kingjamesbibledictionary.com/ kingjamesbibledictionary.com]. For understanding the meaning of a word in Joseph Smith's time, one should probably consult the King James Bible Dictionary (link above), 1828 Webster's Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary. The reason that one should consult both is because, as Stanford Carmack has persuasively argued, the 1828 Webster's Dictionary lacks important possibilities for how Joseph Smith might have defined a word in his mind when giving us all his scriptural productions.<ref>Stanford Carmack, "[https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/why-the-oxford-english-dictionary-and-not-websters-1828/ Why the Oxford English Dictionary (and not Webster’s 1828)]," ''Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship'' 15 (2015): 65–77.</ref> | |
| − | + | The goal of all this work is to establish that one has the superior interpretation of scripture or, in other words, the one that is most likely the correct one. Thus, one should seek for and document as much support for their interpretation of scripture as possible. | |
| − | To | + | To aid in doing exegesis, members might simply consult any one of the literally hundreds of scholarly commentaries that have been produced to interpret different books of the New and Old Testament as well as the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Many Latter-day Saints have been benefitted in using scriptural commentaries and study bibles such as the ''Harper Collins Study Bible'', the ''Oxford Annotated Study Bible'', and the ''Jewish Study Bible''. These study bibles contain essays at the beginning of each book to help explain authorship, historical place in canon, historical context in which the book was written, and literary value before allowing the reader to move forward with their study. The bibles also contain explanatory footnotes which allow the reader to see how an author is alluding to other passages of scripture and how one can best understand such phenomena. For Latter-day Saint scripture, members have enjoyed reading similar analytical commentaries such as Brant Gardner's ''Second Witness'' for the Book of Mormon; Steven Harper's ''Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants: |
| + | A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations'' for the Doctrine and Covenants; and the resources at [https://www.pearlofgreatpricecentral.org/ Pearl of Great Price Central] for the Pearl of Great Price. | ||
===Scripture must be read holistically. Both to understand what we need to defend and to understand all that the Lord wants us to understand about any given topic.=== | ===Scripture must be read holistically. Both to understand what we need to defend and to understand all that the Lord wants us to understand about any given topic.=== | ||
Revision as of 15:47, 13 August 2021
- REDIRECTTemplate:Test3
Contents
- 1 Question: How can one best read and understand the scriptures?
- 1.1 First, we should understand the nature of revelation
- 1.2 Read Them Contextually
- 1.3 Scripture must be read holistically. Both to understand what we need to defend and to understand all that the Lord wants us to understand about any given topic.
- 1.4 Scripture, if making a scientific claim, should be weighed with science
Question: How can one best read and understand the scriptures?
First, we should understand the nature of revelation
The scriptures won't be understood if we don't understand the nature of revelation. This is addressed here.
Read Them Contextually
Exegesis is an interpretation or explanation of scripture. Usually, when we’re speaking of exegesis, we are referring to a historical-grammatical method of exegesis. That is, trying to understand how the first hearers/readers of those scriptures understood the text. When we perform historical-grammatical exegesis, we are looking for the correct interpretation of scripture by assuming that something about the historical background of that scripture can tell us about how to interpret it.
The interpretation of a text is subject to the constraints added on by the three stages of a text's transmission:
- The author’s intent or purpose in what he or she wrote. The text exists in the author's mind at some point and they had something that they intended to communicate to us.
- What the author actually wrote separate from that purpose/intent.
- How we, as readers, interpret or react to that text today.
The historical-grammatical method of exegesis helps us to try and get a more accurate understanding of the first two stages of transmission so that the interpretation made at the last stage of transmission can be best informed.
Latter-day Saints are admonished to seek to understand scripture in its original context. Scripture contains several admonitions to not wrest it.[1]
President Brigham Young stated:
Do you read the Scriptures, my brethren and sisters, as though you were writing them a thousand, two thousand, or five thousand years ago? Do you read them as though you stood in the place of the men who wrote them? If you do not feel thus, it is your privilege to do so, that you may be as familiar with the spirit and meaning of the written word of God as you are with your daily walk and conversation, or as you are with your workmen or with your households. You may understand what the Prophets understood and thought—what they designed and planned to bring forth to their brethren for their good.” Journal of Discourses 7: 333
To perform historical grammatical exegesis, one should seek to establish four types of context for scripture: generical, historical, textual, and linguistic.
- Generical: Scripture has many genres of writing. There is legal code, historical texts, narratives, poetry, and more. Understanding the genre of scripture can help us in interpreting that scripture.
- Historical: Scripture was written at a particular time and in a particular culture. We often need a lot of tools to help us understand when scripture was written and under what cultural filters. Scholars for many years have used study bibles in order to help them establish this context. This author recommends The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible and the Jewish Study Bible to gain a better understanding of Scripture's historical context.
- Textual: Any verse is going to be embedded in a series of other verses where the author is talking about a particular topic. We should read the verses preceding and succeeding our verse in question in order to understand what the author is talking about.
- Linguistic: words obviously have meaning. They can have different meanings to different people at different times. Since the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament in Koine Greek, we will need to understand these languages somehow in order to understand what the translated English word might be getting at. Even English words as contained in the King James Bible (the Church’s officially preferred translation for English readers) are going to be hard to understand because they either aren’t in common use anymore or because they are diachronic. That is: they can change in meaning over time. What an English word meant to the King James translators; what it meant to Joseph Smith when he gave us the revelations/translations/narrations recorded in the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price; and what it means to us today in our common parlance can be different--even starkly different.
An example of this is the word “virtue” in the Bible
In Ruth 3:11 we read “And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requires: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.”
And in Proverbs 31:10 we read: "Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. “
With these verses we might easily conclude that the King James translators were referring to virtue as we sometimes use it today which would be "to be chaste." However, a confusing case arises in the New Testament. Luke 6:19 reads “And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.” So, chastity left Jesus’ body after a woman touched him? Or is our definition of virtue perhaps different than that of the King James translators? The definition was closer to power than being chaste.
As we understand both the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek term and the English term translated into our King James Version—as well as the definition of a word in Joseph Smith's time— the better we will be able to understand the scriptures as the ancients understood them and how we, today, are commanded to understand them (as observed above).
For understanding the underlying Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the author recommends either making an effort to learning those languages or using the features at netbible.org that allow readers to click on the tab that gives the original Greek or Hebrew text, hover over the text to see the word that was translated, and then use the pop-up dictionaries. For understanding confusing King Jamesian English, the author recommends using the resources found at kingjamesbibledictionary.com. For understanding the meaning of a word in Joseph Smith's time, one should probably consult the King James Bible Dictionary (link above), 1828 Webster's Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary. The reason that one should consult both is because, as Stanford Carmack has persuasively argued, the 1828 Webster's Dictionary lacks important possibilities for how Joseph Smith might have defined a word in his mind when giving us all his scriptural productions.[2]
The goal of all this work is to establish that one has the superior interpretation of scripture or, in other words, the one that is most likely the correct one. Thus, one should seek for and document as much support for their interpretation of scripture as possible.
To aid in doing exegesis, members might simply consult any one of the literally hundreds of scholarly commentaries that have been produced to interpret different books of the New and Old Testament as well as the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. Many Latter-day Saints have been benefitted in using scriptural commentaries and study bibles such as the Harper Collins Study Bible, the Oxford Annotated Study Bible, and the Jewish Study Bible. These study bibles contain essays at the beginning of each book to help explain authorship, historical place in canon, historical context in which the book was written, and literary value before allowing the reader to move forward with their study. The bibles also contain explanatory footnotes which allow the reader to see how an author is alluding to other passages of scripture and how one can best understand such phenomena. For Latter-day Saint scripture, members have enjoyed reading similar analytical commentaries such as Brant Gardner's Second Witness for the Book of Mormon; Steven Harper's Making Sense of the Doctrine & Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations for the Doctrine and Covenants; and the resources at Pearl of Great Price Central for the Pearl of Great Price.
Scripture must be read holistically. Both to understand what we need to defend and to understand all that the Lord wants us to understand about any given topic.
If we are to understand scripture, then it must be taken in stride with other revelation on the topic. For example, to understand creation we should both read the creation accounts contained in scripture and understand that the Lord has not revealed all things pertaining to creation but will reveal them at his coming (D&C 101:32-34). This will help us to not get caught in too much doctrinal unraveling in the future. This caution is demonstrated in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism:
Latter-day Saints recognize Bible scholarship and intellectual study of the biblical text. Joseph Smith and his associates studied Greek and Hebrew and taught that religious knowledge is to be obtained by study as well as by faith (D&C 88:118). However, Latter-day Saints prefer to use Bible scholarship rather than be driven or controlled by it."[3]
Reading scripture holistically also helps us to understand everything that the Lord wants us to understand on a given topic. Such is why we have tools such as the Topical Guide, Index, and Guide to the Scriptures to help us do that. One can also use concordances of the scriptures which were designed for the very purpose of evaluating scripture holistically. Such exist for the Bible (e.g. Strong's Concordance) and for Latter-day Saint scripture (Eldin Ricks' Concordance). Some tools can help us read a book of scripture both contextually and holistically at the same time. That was the design for scriptural dictionaries such as Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Dennis Largey's Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price Reference Companions which can be found for purchase online.
Scripture, if making a scientific claim, should be weighed with science
Our theology is not threatened by science. It welcomes it. If we have properly contextualized and interpreted scripture and if the scripture is making a scientific claim, we should weigh that with science to be more perfectly instructed in that doctrine, principle, or theory. D&C 88:77-79 reads
77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.
79 Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are. Things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms
78 Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
Science can, should, and does support revelation on many particulars. We should welcome its voice to our spiritual reasoning when determining what God is trying to reveal to us or what he may reveal to us. This isn’t to say that current science will always agree with revelation nor that revelation will eventually change to fit the demands of the scientific community, but that revelation and science should not fight against each other nor be compartmentalized in our understanding of truth. Science will generally reveal the physical laws of God, while revelation will generally reveal God’s spiritual laws.
Notes
- ↑ 2 Peter 3:16; Alma 13:20; 41:1; Doctrine and Covenants 10:63; 88:77-79
- ↑ Stanford Carmack, "Why the Oxford English Dictionary (and not Webster’s 1828)," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 15 (2015): 65–77.
- ↑ Stephen R. Robinson, "Bible Scholarship," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York City: Macmillan Publishing Company, 2007).