The Task of Biblical Exegesis

The Task of Biblical Exegesis March 1, 2017

My last few posts have centered around the Bible and the need for good biblical interpretative practices. In that vein, a quote I recently read offers some fantastic illumination on the topic of good biblical interpretation.

Kinship by Covenant

While reading through Scott Hahn’s Kinship by Covenant: A Canonical Approach to the Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promises (Yale University Press, 2009), I came across this quote from the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the task of the biblical exegete:

The primary task of the exegete is to determine as accurately as possible the meaning of biblical texts in their own proper context…and then in the context of the wider canon of Scripture. In the course of carrying out this task, the exegete expounds the theological meaning of texts when such a meaning is present. This paves the way for a relationship of continuity between exegesis and further theological reflection (“Interpreting the Bible in the Life of the Church,” 141).  – p. 348n120

For my money, that is as good a description of good biblical interpretation as I have come across; for both Catholics and Protestants!


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