Let's face it. Just the word exegesis puts some of us on edge. We are excited about learning to interpret the Bible, but the thought of exegetical method evokes a chill. Some textbooks on exegesis do nothing to overcome these apprehensions. The language is dense. The concepts are hard. And the expectations are way too high. However, the skills that we need to learn are ones that a minister of the gospel will use every week. Exegesis provides the process for listening, for hearing the biblical text as if you were an ordinary intelligent person listening to a letter from Paul or a Gospel of Mark in first-century Corinth or Ephesus or Antioch. This book by Richard Erickson will help you learn this skill. Thoroughly accessible to students, it clearly introduces the essential methods of interpreting the New Testament, giving students a solid grasp of basic skills while encouraging practice and holding out manageable goals and expectations. Numerous helps and illustrations clarify, summarize and illuminate the principles. And a wealth of exercises tied to each chapter are available on the web. This is a book distinguished not so much by what it covers as by how: it removes the "fear factor" of exegesis. There are many guides to New Testament exegesis, but this one is the most accessible--and fun!

2nd Edition An authoritative guide to accurately interpreting and applying God's Word In this second edition of Invitation to Biblical Interpretation, Andreas Kostenberger leads the reader step-by-step through the process of interpreting and applying God's Word. The primary principle is the hermeneutical triad, which consists of history, literature, and theology. Readers are equipped to explore the historical background of a biblical passage, analyze its literary genre and features, and derive its theological meaning in light of the biblical canon. Numerous examples are provided throughout to illustrate the concepts. A concluding chapter provides direction on practical application, preaching, and helpful tools for Bible study. Additional features include key words and definitions at the end of each chapter, study questions, and practical exercises for applying the material. An appendix lists numerous resources for Bible study, including recommended commentaries for every book of the Bible. The second edition updates these resources, as well as the sources cited throughout, and includes a revised chapter on the Old Testament canon. Instructors, students, pastors, and anyone who desires to interpret Scripture accurately will find this volume to be an indispensable addition to their library.

This handbook provides a substantial theoretical and practical guide to the multi-faceted discipline of exegesis of the New Testament. It offers succinct and well-informed essays, with plenty of bibliography, written by experts in their respective fields. The handbook will serve well as a textbook, as well as a reference book to the major tools and topics in the area. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

This lively, engaging introduction to the New Testament is critical yet faith-friendly, lavishly illustrated, and accompanied by a variety of pedagogical aids, including sidebars, maps, tables, charts, diagrams, and suggestions for further reading. The full-color interior features art from around the world that illustrates the New Testament's impact on history and culture. The first edition has been well received (over 60,000 copies sold). This new edition has been thoroughly revised in response to professor feedback and features an updated interior design. It offers expanded coverage of the New Testament world in a new chapter on Jewish backgrounds, features dozens of new works of fine art from around the world, and provides extensive new online material for students and professors available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.

This handbook provides a one-stop-shopping guide to the New Testament exegetical method. Brief and approachable, it offers both a broad overview of the exegetical process and a step-by-step approach to studying the New Testament in depth, helping students and pastors understand the text and appropriate it responsibly. The book is chock-full of illustrations of New Testament texts where the method under discussion truly makes a difference. "A wonderfully clear and accessible handbook for New Testament exegesis. Exegetically rigorous, theologically informed, and practically useful."--Thomas R. Schreiner, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

From Story Interpretation to Sermon Crafting was written by a preacher for preachers who have to deal with the competing demands of pastoral ministry. It takes some of the gains of the last seven decades of the literary approach to Scripture and applies them to a vital aspect of pastoral ministry--preaching. The book presents a text-centered and theological approach to analyzing Old Testament narratives. This approach lays a solid basis for interpreting the narratives, and demonstrates that the movement from examining the text to crafting the sermon is a continuous process. Making use of many examples based on narrative passages from the Old Testament that facilitate grasping the methodology, this approach to sermon crafting is rooted in the text, shaped by the text, and is characterized by sound and controlled exegesis. It provides the pastor with an approach that enables Old Testament historical narrative to speak to Christian believers in contemporary society in a way that addresses the issues, concerns, and struggles faced by the church and Christians. The writer to the Hebrews says of righteous Abel, "though he is dead, he still speaks" (11:4). Similarly, these ancient stories do speak and can still speak today. To make them heard effectively and relevantly is the purpose of the book.

Biblical and Ancient Greek Linguistics (BAGL) is an international journal that exists to further the application of modern linguistics to the study of Ancient and Biblical Greek, with a particular focus on the analysis of texts, including but not restricted to the Greek New Testament. The journal is hosted by McMaster Divinity College and works in conjunction with its Centre for Biblical Linguistics, Translation and Exegesis, and the OpenText.org organization (www.opentext.org) in the sponsoring of conferences and symposia open to scholars and students working in Greek linguistics who are interested in contributing to advancing the discussion and methods of the field of research. BAGL is a refereed on-line and print journal dedicated to distributing the results of significant research in the area of linguistic theory and application to biblical and ancient Greek, and is open to all scholars, not just those connected to the Centre and the OpenText.org project.

In Biblical Exegesis without Authorial Intention? Interdisciplinary Approaches to Authorship and Meaning, Clarissa Breu offers interdisciplinary contributions to the question of the author in biblical interpretation with a focus on “death of the author” theory. The wide range of approaches represented in the volume comprises mostly postmodern theory (e. g. Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Paul de Man, Julia Kristeva and Gilles Deleuze), but also the implied author and intentio operis. Furthermore, psychology, choreography, reader-response theories and anthropological studies are reflected. Inasmuch as the contributions demonstrate that biblical studies could utilize significantly more differentiated views on the author than are predominantly presumed within the discipline, it is an invitation to question the importance and place attributed to the author.

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, now in its third edition, is a classic hermeneutics textbook that sets forth concise, logical, and practical guidelines for discovering the truth in God’s Word. With updates and revisions throughout that keep pace with current scholarship, this book offers students the best and most up-to-date information needed to interpret Scripture. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation: Defines and describes hermeneutics, the science of biblical interpretation Suggests effective methods to understand the meaning of the biblical text Surveys the literary, cultural, social, and historical issues that impact any text Evaluates both traditional and modern approaches to Bible interpretation Examines the reader’s role as an interpreter of the text and helps identify what the reader brings to the text that could distort its message Tackles the problem of how to apply the Bible in valid and significant ways today Provides an extensive and revised annotated list of books that readers will find helpful in the practice of biblical interpretation Used in college and seminary classrooms around the world, this volume is a trusted and valuable tool for students and other readers who desire to understand and apply the Bible.

Interpreting the Bible requires theoretical discernment and practical know-how. A book that focuses solely on interpretive methods or deals exclusively with the philosophical underpinnings of interpretation fails to provide a full picture of how to read and study Scripture. Beginning with hermeneutics, Matthew Malcolm surveys the history of the discipline, engages with important theological issues, and arrives at a memorable depiction of what happens when fruitful interpretation takes place. After covering these foundational elements, Malcom focuses on exegesis. He helps readers understand the issues at stake in interpreting biblical passages, and provides a straightforward guide to writing an exegesis paper. Academically solid without being overwhelmingly detailed, this is a reliable guide to the important path from hermeneutics to exegesis.