INSTRUCTIONS FOR NT505 EXEGETICAL PROCESS

Transcription

1 NT505 Introduction to NT Exegesis using Logos Bible Software rev WHH Dallas Theological Seminary Department of New Testament Studies INSTRUCTIONS FOR NT505 EXEGETICAL PROCESS The following instructions focus initially on the process of New Testament exegesis. They are designed to walk you through the process of doing exegesis on a given NT passage starting from scratch. The second part of the instructions focus on the product, that is, writing up your Exegetical Discussion assignment. We recommend that you follow these steps as you prepare your final NT505 assignment ( Exegetical Discussion of Passage ) to make sure you don t overlook any major parts of the exegetical process. Once you have completed the class, you may of course freely adapt any parts of the process, or the order in which you do the parts, to suit your own preparation needs for your teaching, preaching, or writing. I. PROCESS: GUIDELINES FOR DOING EXEGESIS ON A NT PASSAGE USING LOGOS BIBLE SOFTWARE A. Overview of the Passage: Observation in its Context 1. Select a passage of manageable length, preferably one that covers a complete unit or sub-unit of thought. (In NT505 we choose the passage(s) for you. The assigned passage for the Exegetical Discussion assignment is Eph 2:11-22.) 2. Read the passage to gain general familiarity with its contents in the passage s wider literary context. Use a modern English translation for this step like LEB, NASB95, NET, NIV, ESV, or NRSV, all of which are available in the DTS Logos Package. If necessary, at the same time read an introduction to the book (e.g., Ephesians in this case) in a study Bible or non-technical commentary. 3. Ask questions about the text by focusing your attention on the passage in light of your initial reading (spend about 30 minutes on this step). Jot down some quick notes about anything you notice that you think might be important later including especially things about the passage you do not understand. a. Observe the major structural markers in the passage. You should have already created a Visual Filter in Logos Bible Software that identifies many of the major structural markers as part of the Structural Layout assignment completed previously. You should activate the Visual Filter now if you have not already done so, and use it for this observation step. b. Pay particular attention to the finite verbs, participles and infinitives in the passage, and see if you can begin to walk your way through the argument flow in the passage based on these key elements. Tracing the argument flow is provisional at this step; you will work more on this later. c. Next, look for contextually significant structural markers like conjunctions indicating contrast, signpost connectives (e.g. inferential conjuctions) that might indicate section breaks in the material, and word meanings that might be key or unclear, as well as other potential difficulties for understanding the passage.

2 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 2 d. In general, ask this question: What issues must I deal with in this passage in order to understand it correctly and explain it clearly to someone else? (NOTE: if you have the Lexham Bible Guide for this NT book in your Logos Library, don t consult the Issues at a Glance section yet, but save this for later.) e. Caution: Do not get bogged down in details here! Though very important, this is still the overview stage. 4. Identify the main point (or message) of the passage as a whole as best you can at this stage, that is, What is the author (e.g., Paul) talking about here? 5. Sketch out a rough outline of the passage to keep the big picture before you as you proceed to analyze the passage in detail. B. Analysis of the Passage: Answering Key Questions [Discovery Phase] NOTE: All of these steps do not apply equally to all NT passages. However, there is no way to be sure of this in advance, so the student needs to consider each of the steps in the process for every passage. 1. Textual Criticism: What are the original words of the Greek text? Are there problems with the wording of the passage I m studying? a. Consult the Text-critical Notes (marked as TN) in the NET Bible to see if there are any textual issues in your passage. b. Consult A Textual Guide to the Greek New Testament (Omanson, Roger L., German Bible Society: 2006) 1 to see if there are any textual issues in your passage. [NOTE: This is an add-on to the DTS Logos Package] 2. Grammatical and Syntactical Analysis Step: What do Greek grammar and syntax contribute to the meaning of this passage? Use the Visual Filter you have constructed to study the major Greek structural markers in the passage. a. There are a couple of ways you can work with the major Greek structural markers in your passage. One is to Construct a Structural Layout of Greek Clauses for the passage and include all significant modifying words and phrases. Make sure to use the Visual Filter in Logos Bible Software created earlier in constructing your Structural Layout. b. If you are contstructing your own Structural Layout, you can go ahead at this point and consult The Lexham Clausal Outlines of the Greek New Testament: SBL Edition by Dean Deppe (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2011). This will give you some significant help in identifying the major Greek structural markers in the passage. [NOTE: This resource is included in the DTS Logos 1 This work is based on Metzger s Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, but was designed for Bible translators who have not received formal training in textual criticism. It enables them and other people interested in the initial text of the Greek New Testament to discover more easily the reasons that certain variant readings in the New Testament are more likely to be original than others. Therefore the notes of Metzger have been simplified and expanded. Included are discussions of significant differences in divisions and punctuation where those involve differences in meaning. Technical matters are explained in non-technical language. An easy-to-read introduction provides a brief overview of textual criticism, including explanations of key terms, a history of the text, and methods that are used by scholars to arrive at their conclusions. (Excerpt from the Overview on the Logos Product page)

3 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 3 Package.] When you consult Deppe s Clausal Outlines, make sure your Visual Filter is turned on so that you can view the major structural markers in the Greek text easily. c. With Logos 6, another easier way to produce a structural layout of Greek clauses for your passage is simply to activate the new Propositional Outlines resource under the Visual Filters dropdown menu. This will produce an indented outline of the text (for all texts for which the resource is available, that is, most interlinears and reverse interlinears, original language texts, etc.). In addition at the left hand margin are descriptive terms that generally give the force of the indented line or phrase, and these labels can be moused over to show a definition (from LPOG, the Lexham Propositional Outlines Glossary ). This is the simplest, fastest, and most intuitive way to view the structure of the Greek text from the Greek text itself, or from an interlinear or reverse interlinear text. d. Now try to identify the important grammatical features and syntactical uses of all contextually non-routine (vs. routine) words, phrases and clauses on your Clausal Structural Layout. One easy way to mine your Logos Library for grammatical tools on a given passage is to run an Exegetical Guide and look under the section Grammars to see what is available. If you have purchased and added Wallace s Greek Grammar beyond the Basics to your library, it should show up here, along with whatever other resources you own (results may vary depending on what you have added to your Logos Library). You can also use the Cited By tool in Logos Bible Software (found under Tools/Lookup/Cited By) to help search your Logos Library for references to verses in the passage. 2 (This will bring up all references in all resources in your Logos Library, however, unless you create a Collection of grammatical reference works only, and restrict the Cited By search only to that.) Still another way to view grammatical and syntactical usage of words, particularly if you don t know any Greek, is to run a Bible Word Study on key words in the passage, and look at the Example Uses CSGGR section of the Bible Word Study (which are taken from the Cascadia Syntax Graphs of the New Testament: SBLGNT Editon which is included in the DTS Logos Package). [NOTE: In my opinion, it is easier to get information from the Cascadia Syntax Graphs through these sections of the Bible Word Study tool than to consult the Cascadia Syntax Graphs directly.] e. Compare the translation of this passage in three or more English translations using the Text Comparison tool in Logos Bible Software (found under Tools/Passage/Text Comparison). (HINT: use some less common translations such as GNB, NCV, NRSV, in addition to the NASB95, ESV, NET Bible, or NLT to surface the issues and to break down preconceived notions.) Note grammatical and/or syntactical differences between the translations and try to explain them. The NET Bible Translator s Notes (TN) may be especially helpful here. 2 The more reference tools and grammars you have in your Logos Library, the more helpful the Cited By tool becomes. This is one reason why we recommend adding Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics to your Logos Library as soon as possible.

4 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 4 f. Be able to show the significance (the so what? factor) of these grammatical/syntactical items to the meaning of the passage and be able to trace the flow of the author s argument based on your structural/literary analysis. (That is, follow along the Propositional Outline in Logos.) 3. Lexical Analysis Step: What do the words of this passage mean in this context? a. Identify contextually non-routine (vs. routine) words, including words used as figures of speech. You can run a Passage Guide on the verses and consult the Interesting Words section of the Passage Guide for help here. (NOTE: if you have the Lexham Bible Guide for this NT book in your Logos Library, you may also consult the Issues at a Glance section now to see what words in the passage are included as interpretive issues.) You can also run an Exegetical Guide and consult the Word by word section to get access to lexical resources in your Logos Library on any word in the passage, and you can preview the content of the resource by simply mousing over the abbreviation (e.g., BDAG, TLNT, etc.). This is the most detailed way to do this step, but it is easy to get lost in the details if you re not careful! b. Use Logos Bible Software to run Bible Word Studies on key terms (that is, what you think are key terms at this point in your study) in the passage. State the Greek word and the verse where it occurs. List clear categories of usage with examples and give a brief contextual discussion of the word in the passage under study. There is a wealth of information included in a Logos Bible Word Study. Therefore, to avoid information overload, include information from the LXX (the Greek Old Testament), NT era Koine (Josephus, Philo, New Testament Apocrypha), or Classical authors, only if it is relevant to understanding the NT use of the term or if it illustrates the word s usage in the NT book being studied. (NOTE: Your results what you see under Textual Searches in a Bible Word Study will vary depending on what resources you have in your Logos Library.) You can also use Logos Bible Software to consult individual lexical resources like BDAG and other lexical reference tools (e.g., Spicq s Theological Lexicon of the New Testament [TLNT]). You can do this by running an Exegetical Guide on the verses in the passage and following the links provided under each word, word-by-word, to lexical reference tools like BDAG and others in your Logos Library. This is also mentioned under Step 3.a above. 3 3 Still, the easiest way to do this lexical research is just to use Logos Bible Software to complete a Bible Word Study. (This will give you a lot of information to work with maybe more than you want!) Right click (PC) or double finger tap (Mac) the word in the Greek text of Philippians. In the Information Window that pops up, make sure Lemma is selected in the right hand column, then click Bible Word Study in the left hand column. The Bible Word Study will appear in a new window as a report much like a Google search. Be sure to scroll through all the information this gives you. (The exact resources you see may vary depending on whether you own additional resources beyond the basic DTS Logos package.) Under the Lemma section, if the word more appears at the end of the listed resources, make sure to click it to view additional resources. Mousing over the resources in this list will show their contents in a popup tip window; clicking on the resources will open the resource in a new tab in the main Logos window. In the translation section the ring graphs will show different ways the word is translated in the NT and the LXX. Scrolling all the way to the bottom you can see concordance searches of the NT and other categories of material (e.g., LXX) depending on what resources you have in your Logos Library.

5 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 5 c. Again, review and compare the translation of this passage in three or more English translations. This time, note any real differences in lexical usage (not simply the use of an English synonym) and be able to explain them. 4. Problem-Solving and Validation Step: What elements in this passage make it difficult to understand? Which of these must I solve in order to teach or preach the passage clearly? a. Identify the nature of any special problems in the passage that need further study. Determine if the problem is grammatical/syntactical, lexical, interpretive (meaning), theological (e.g., perceived internal contradiction), or if it involves some other feature (e.g., a socio-cultural background issue, a figure of speech, or the use of the OT in the NT). Commentaries will obviously help here. (NOTE: if you have the Lexham Bible Guide for this NT book in your Logos Library, you should consult the Issues at a Glance section to see what it includes as interpretive issues in the passage. This will also help with determining the nature of the problem, e.g., general interpretive problem, Key Word Study, Background Study.) b. Write out brief validated solutions to the major problems/issues in the passage. Begin by stating in your own words the nature of the problem (i.e., define the problem) and state the verse or verses involved. If you haven t done it yet, run the Passage Guide in Logos Bible Software and check over the results in the Commentaries section (results will vary depending on what commentaries you have in your Logos Library). Also check out the Parallel Passages section of the Passage Guide for Old Testament Quotations and Allusions in the New Testament. Now, from your reading/research in the commentaries, make a list of the various viewpoints on the problem (that is, proposed solutions), the support (rationale) for each view, and cite at least one published proponent of each view (that is, a commentator or scholar who holds the view). Proceed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each view and then state your preferred solution, along with a few of the stronger specific supporting reasons from the text and other relevant evidence. This is the view you believe fits the passage best in its context. Name one or two published proponents of your view. Use appropriate lexical and grammatical reference tools and at least 2 or 3 of the better, more recent commentaries to surface the issues and find the various views. 4 Validation aims to give an objective 4 Unless you have added some of the suggested commentaries from the Course Syllabus to your Logos Library, your commentary selection may be fairly limited, because the basic DTS Logos Package does not include a lot of recent commentaries on biblical books. The New American Commentary series will be helpful (covers every book in the Bible except Ephesians!), and so will The Expositor s Bible Commentary (Revised Edition) (13 vols., and make sure to use the Revised Edition!). A little further back there are J. P. Lange s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (63 vols), Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, and for the Old Testament, the Keil & Delitzsch Commentary may still prove useful. The Holman New Testament Commentary series is recent, but is not really technical enough to list options for problem-solving. There are also a few one- or twovolume commentaries like The Bible Knowledge Commentary (1985) and the Holman Concise Bible Commentary (1998), both of which are helpful for overviews but don t contain much detail. Some of the other older commentaries are only marginally useful for exegetical work because they are quite out of date and mainly of historical interest (e.g., Calvin, Matthew Henry).

6 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 6 defense of a particular interpretation or exegetical decision, contending that it is the most plausible view on the basis of all the available evidence. c. Compare your work with the discussion found in 2 or 3 major exegetical commentaries. Is your discussion clear and is it related clearly to the explanation of the passage? Do this step last. II. PRODUCT: THE EXEGETICAL DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT (Or, Putting It All Together and Assembling Your Exegetical Discussion Assignment) 1. Based on all your previous work, write out a full sentence Exegetical Outline of the passage with specific verse references for every point and sub-point in the outline. This outline should be constructed from the bottom up beginning at the single verse (or half verse) level as appropriate. The outline sentences should reflect as nearly as possible the coordination and subordination of the author's thoughts (ideas) in the passage. The exegetical outline should be based on the Structural Layout of Greek clauses (or the Propositional Outline from Logos 6 which is very similar) for the passage so you will want to construct the Exegetical Outline with your Structural Layout or the Propositional Outline from Logos 6 open in front of you as you work. 3. Next, based on your Exegetical Outline, construct a key-word phrase outline that will serve as the section headings for major divisions in your Exegetical Discussion assignment. This phrase outline should clearly, simply and accurately reflect and summarize your exegetical outline and include the verse references for each point. This outline will look like most phrase-only outlines provided in commentaries (and which also appear in the Outlines section of the Passage Guide). 4. Write up your Exegetical Discussion on the passage. a. Based on all your previous work on the passage, explain your way through the passage clearly (this is your Exegetical Discussion). Begin with a brief introduction (contextual orientation) of a few sentences that explains how the passage relates to what comes before it in the text. The main body of your Exegetical Discussion should consist of brief discussions of any textual problems, discussions of key word studies you have worked on, and discussions of major problems and issues within the passage. Finally, write a brief conclusion (concise review and restatement of the main thrust of your passage). b. Organize the structure of your Exegetical Discussion by using the key-word phrase outline with verse references you have already prepared as section headings throughout your Exegetical Discussion. c. Explain your way through the passage, tracing the author s argument flow in coherent prose style, following your key-word phrase outline point by point. The Exegetical Discussion should not just be a random collection of grammatical or exegetical observations but should attempt to walk the reader of your Exegetical Discussion through the author s argument. As you trace the author s argument throughout the passage, include brief discussions of any textual problems, discussions of key word studies you have worked on, and

7 Instructions for NT505 Exegetical Process 7 discussions of major problems and issues within the passage. You may also include brief discussions of other matters like cultural or historical issues which, based on your research, you think are important for clearly understanding the passage. d. As you discuss your way through the passage, include appropriate validation from the biblical text itself (verse references plus words or phrases, especially from the immediate context) and from any reference works (lexicons, grammars, Bible dictionaries) and commentaries you have used. Document these sources parenthetically or in footnotes (but not endnotes). Your professor will specify which type of documentation is preferred; otherwise you may use either. e. Proofread your work carefully! f. This Exegetical Discussion is synthetic in that it is an explanatory reading of the passage that should make clear how the author s thoughts in the passage fit together as a whole. Your interpretive explanations should always have appropriate and sufficient validation (see above). 5. In light of all your work so far, state the central idea (that is, the exegetical idea) of the passage in a complete sentence of about 30 words or less (an exegetical subject-complement statement that looks just like an Exegetical Outline point the difference is that here, it covers the entire passage). a. State as clearly and concisely as possible the subject of the passage in answer to the question: What is the author writing about here? b. State as clearly and concisely as possible the complement(s) of the passage in answer to the question: What does the author say about this subject here? c. Combine the answer to the subject question and the answer to the complement question into a single statement of about 30 words or less that summarizes the exegetical central idea of the whole passage. 6. Finally, conclude your Exegetical Discussion with 1 or 2 specific applications from the passage which show how its message, in whole or in part, affects your life or the life of the church today (e.g., a precept, promise, prohibition, warning, negative or positive example, or a principle). These applications may be either individual or corporate in emphasis, but in either case make the applications as specific as possible. 7. A formal bibliography of works consulted is not required for the Exegetical Discussion assignment.