Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Petr Pokorný (1933-2020) was a leading Czech theologian and biblical scholar who for many years led the department of New Testament studies at Charles University in Prague.

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Hermeneutics as a Theory of Understanding

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Contents

Foreword: Hermeneutics: Hearing God's Word Today, by James Hamilton Charlesworth.....................xiPreface..............................................................................................xv1. What Is Hermeneutics?.............................................................................12. The World of Language.............................................................................73. Text..............................................................................................674. Methods of Interpretation.........................................................................1235. Interpretation....................................................................................177Index of Names.......................................................................................201Index of Biblical and Other Ancient References.......................................................205

Chapter One

Bibliography

Frye, Northrop. The Great Code: The Bible and Literature. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.

Grondin, Jean. Einführung in die philosophische Hermeneutik. Darmstadt:Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1991.

Jasper, David. A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.

Jeanrond, Werner G. Text und Interpretation als Kategorien theologischen Denkens. Tübingen: Mohr, 1986.

Jensen, Alexander S.. Theological Hermeneutics. London: SCM Press, 2007.

Lessing, Hans-Ulrich, ed. Philosophische Hermeneutik. Freiburg: Alber, 1999.

Morgan, Robert, with John Barton. Biblical Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Oeming, Manfred. Biblische Hermeneutik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1998. ET Contemporary Biblical Hermeneutics (Hampshire, Eng.: Ashgate, 2006).

Palmer, Richard E. Hermeneutics: Interpretation Theory in Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, and Gadamer. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

Pokorný, Petr, and Jan Roskovec, eds. Philosophical Hermeneutics and Biblical Exegesis. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.

Porter, Stanley E., and D. A. Carson, eds. Linguistics and the New Testament: Critical Junctures. Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999.

Ressequil, James L. Narrative Criticism of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005.

Ricoeur, Paul. Du texte à l'action. Paris: du Seuil, 1986. ET From Text to Action (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1991).

Soulen, Richard N., and R. Kendall Soulen. Handbook of Biblical Criticism. 3d ed., rev. and expanded. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Szondi, Peter. Einführung in die literarische Hermeneutik. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1975. ET Introduction to Literary Hermeneutics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Tate, W. Randolph. Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991.

Weder, Hans. Neutestamentliche Hermeneutik. Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1986. 2d ed., 1989.

Wischmeyer, Oda. Hermeneutik des Neuen Testaments. Ein Lehrbuch. Tübingen: Francke, 2004.

Hermeneutics as a theory of interpretation has, as conceived of today, become a theory of understanding in general. It began to take shape in this modern form from the time of the Reformation, initially as an interpretation of individual biblical concepts (Matthias Flacius Illyricus, 1520-75). From the mid-eighteenth century onward, it is possible to speak of the modern tradition of hermeneutics, as described by the Hungarian-German literary theorist Peter Szondi (1929-71) in his groundbreaking studies. The leading representatives of this phase were Martin Chladenius (1710-59), Georg F. Meier (1718-77), and Friedrich Ast (1778-1841), whose influence came in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. This important phase culminated in the work of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768-1834), which likewise constituted a turning point. Schleiermacher placed a far more fundamental emphasis than Chladenius on the cognitive role of the human subject in formulating the overall meaning of the text or speech that was being interpreted, and he positioned hermeneutics on the boundary between science and art. In so doing, he wanted to imply that it was not an exact science but one that was connected with history and with human subjects. This role was stressed more than half a century later by Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) in his study "Die Entstehung der Hermeneutik" ("The Origins of Hermeneutics"), written in 1900.

According to Schleiermacher, one of the main functions of hermeneutics is the interpretation of old texts, which requires a whole range of scientific approaches taken from the fields of history, philology, and linguistics (the historical side of hermeneutics). In the final analysis, however, it is after all probably more of an art, in which inspiration, empathy, and personal decision (the intuitive side) form a bridge between knowledge of the general and encounter with the unique.

Hermeneutics, which today has become a discipline bringing together all fields of science and the arts, has its roots far back in Greek philosophy and rhetoric, and even its modern history is more varied than might be supposed from what we have said about its German tradition. This is because this tradition first began to work systematically with the term "hermeneutics," whereas in the tradition of modern philosophy (esp. phenomenological philosophy) and linguistics, hermeneutic issues (such as the cognitive role of the subject, the definition of meaning, the function of signs, and self-understanding) were dealt with in various contexts and using different types of terminology. A good overview of these antecedents of contemporary hermeneutics is provided in an introduction by the Canadian literary theorist Jean Grondin, who has worked partly in Germany. I have therefore decided to refer readers to Grondin's work and to examine only certain selected issues relating to the history of hermeneutics.

The term "hermeneutics" is derived from the Greek word hermeneuo, which seems to have meant "imitating Hermes," who in Greek mythology was the messenger of the gods. Hermeneutics among other things thus indicated expressing divine matters in human speech. In the subchapters on metaphor we will consider the functions of language, which can in some ways be compared to this. The second meaning of this verb — namely, translating from one language to another — will be considered in chapter 4; it is only one aspect of the overall subject of hermeneutics, albeit a particularly instructive one. We devote most attention to the third meaning that hermeneuo had in antiquity — the interpretation of written texts.

Excursus on Theology and Philosophy

In what we have to say, we will be speaking of philosophy and of theology, sometimes even as though they were twin concepts. From the historical point of view, this is not altogether accurate, as theology and philosophy have frequently found...