Types of Christian Exegesis:
In the earliest phase of exegesis the main strands of doctrine and ethics were established and we find interpretation oscillating between the contrasting approaches of the literal and the allegorical. In the medieval period much of this polarity was continued, but one major development arose as a result of the interpretation of Apocalypse and the departure from the Augustinian consensus found in the work of Joachim of Fiore (twelfth century) and his successors in which the Bible as whole offered a philosophy of history which reflected the trinitarian nature of God. By the time of the Reformation a distinct preference had developed for the plain sense of Scripture over the manifold meanings that had been worked out in medieval exegesis, itself largely dependent on the work of the patristic period. Scripture, within Protestantism, moved from being one important component in discerning the divine will to become the central means of Christian life and thought. At the Enlightenment, the importance of human experience and intellectual reflection and the expansion of historiography at the time of the Enlightenment reflected a resistance to authoritative texts and institutions, and led to a shift from studying the literal meaning of texts to considering them within their supposed historical contexts.
Literal exegesis
Literal exegesis of scripture is in fact a limited enterprise in which the basic tasks, such as consultation of the best manuscripts and accurate construal and translation of passages in the original, enable a reader to know what the text actually says and means. The task of understanding meaning almost always moves beyond the literal through recourse to analogies, such as parallels drawn from other texts, whether inside or outside the Bible, or through historical reconstruction.
Figurative and allegorical exegesis
There has always been a dialectic between literal interpretation and those forms of interpretation in which another referent becomes a factor. This latter kind of interpretation presupposes that the letter of the text points to another level of reality and other dimensions of meaning. The literal sense of Scripture yields a "deeper," "transcendent" meaning in the contrast between two cities and two covenants (e.g., Gal. 4:24). Paul refers to this kind of method in 2 Corinthians 3:6 as a contrast between the letter and the spirit. Allegorical exegesis, therefore, involves the ability of the interpreter to discern in a piece of biblical text subject matter different from the apparent subject, even though it may be suggested by the latter.
Textual and social context
Context in exegesis can be provided by something as basic as reference to the occurrence of synonyms, or thematic parallels, in a single document or in multiple parts of the Bible. In the modern period, however, context is also understood in a broader sense as, firstly, the situation of the original writer and recipients, and, secondly, the effects of social context on the interpreter. The impact of social situation upon exegesis is something already deeply rooted in Jewish exegesis, as the application of the Torah in new circumstances led to interpretative approaches that either amplified, or were determined by, social context. Consciousness of the extent to which social context influences interpretation has been a feature of all exegesis influenced by the theology of liberation.
From Christian tradition to ancient history
The modern period witnessed a significant shift at the end of the eighteenth century with the rise of the historical method. This meant that a method of interpretation based on the received wisdom of the Christian tradition was over time replaced with a form of interpretation that either had only loose ties to the earlier tradition, or rejected it completely. In the place of traditional exegesis, there emerged an interpretative approach in which the exegesis of specific biblical texts was based primarily on establishing relationships between those texts and others that were contemporaneous with them. The emergence of the historical method as a hegemonic mode of biblical interpretation in the academy and then the church meant that there was a significant caesura with earlier patterns of interpretation. That difference is more apparent than real, however, as some of the underlying interpretations at work are quite similar, in that historical study is driven by a desire to ascertain what really went on and not to rely on what the text actually says.
Authority
It is because the biblical writings have been deemed to be fundamental for the existence of the Christian religion that their interpretation has been a matter of central significance from the very start. In one important respect, however, largely determined by the form of the biblical material, neither Judaism nor Christianity has been able to resort to their authoritative texts as unambiguous sources of authority in matters of doctrine and ethics. Even legal texts are too imprecise to allow readers to know exactly what is required of adherents: How does one know how to keep the Sabbath holy when all one is give is a general command with little detail regarding what is involved? Much of Jewish tradition is an attempt to relate contemporary circumstance to a tradition of case law and scripture. With its connections to the Jewish Bible so loose, early Christianity could never become a religion of the book. Other factors were always required (tradition, a rule of faith, even charismatic or prophetic inspiration) to guide readers as they sought to use the Bible in connection with their religion.
Exegesis and the Life of Faith
In the modern period there has often been a tense relationship between church and academy in regards to the interpretation of the Bible. For most of Christian history the interpretation of the Bible was part of the life of faith. That is not to suggest that it was an uncritical activity. There was, however, a widespread recognition that the interpretation of Scripture was not an end in itself but part of an education in the life of faith. The study of the Bible was for the purpose of hearing God addressing the church and also the individual. A variety of interpretative techniques contributed to the fulfillment of this goal, in order that even the most apparently inhospitable parts of scripture could provide a means whereby the believer could be addressed by God. This is well illustrated by some famous lines that summarize Christian exegesis: "The literal sense teaches what happened, allegory what you are to believe, the moral sense what you are to do, anagogy [interpretation] where you are going" (Nicholas of Lyra, thirteenth century). The point of the interpretation of Scripture is also well illustrated in the following quotation from Augustine's De doctrina christiana:
The student who fears God earnestly seeks his will in the Holy Scriptures. Holiness makes him gentle, so that he does not revel in controversy; knowledge of languages protects him from uncertainty over unfamiliar words and phrases, and a knowledge of certain essential things protects him from ignorance of the significance and detail of what is used by way of imagery. … Once close consideration has revealed that it is uncertain how a passage should be punctuated and articulated, we must consult the rule of faith, as it is perceived through the plainer passages of the scriptures and the authority of the church (iii.1).
