Bible for all its worth-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelp

Questions: 1.Discuss what the authors believe to be the aim of interpretation? 2.What is Fee Stuarts point about every reader being an interpreter? 3.What is the danger of assuming that our own understanding is the same as the Holy Spirits? 4.Explain the point of the authors about the starting point for our interpretation of the Scriptures. Why is understanding this important? 5.Write a short journal 200-250 words to explain what you believe to be the challenges for you as you seek to become more proficient in the task of interpreting Scripture? Be specific on the challenges you believe you face and what specific steps may help you to respond to those challenges. 6.Explain what the authors see as the antidote to bad interpretation. Answers: 1.According to Fee and Stuart (2003), the aim of interpretation is to get at the plain meaning of the text. Therefore, the authors believe that the aim of a good interpretation is not uniqueness but to clearly state the inherent meaning of the text (Fee and Stuart 2003). It is to be noted that often the actual meaning is lost in the middle of all the interpretations by the various religious preachers and teachers and therefore, the authors believe that the actual aim of interpretation should be to clearly state the inherent meaning of the text without much textual jargon. The aim of interpretation is also to understand the then and there and the here and now meaning of the Scripture (Fee and Stuart 2003). 2.According to the authors Fee and Stuart (2003), each reader is an interpreter and he or she interprets the text as per his or her own intellectual capabilities. It is also interesting to note that the interpretation of the text by an individual is often different from the religious interpretations of the same text. It can be a reflection of the cultural, social economic, educational backgrounds and other factors which determine the identity of an individual that comes into play when the same person tries to interpret the text. This also gives rise to the diversification of meaning for the same word. In Chapter 1 of the text, the authors Fee and Stuart use the metaphor of cross to drive home this particular point (Fee and Stuart 2003). 3.According to the authors Fee and Stuart (2003), each reader is also an interpreter. However, it is often seen that the meaning of the text which is being interpreted by the various individuals is very different from the religious connotations of the same text. Most people think that their understanding of the text is the same as the Holys Spirits. However, most of the time people forgot that the way an individual interprets the text depends on his or her cultural, social, economic and educational background. Therefore, if the reader assumes that his or her understanding is the same as the Holy Spirits then the process of interpretation will not be an effective one 4.It is to be noted that the Bible is often considered to be both the eternal relevance as well as the the human words in history. Therefore, an interpreter needs to take both these two points into consideration before he or she embarks on the process of interpretation. In the words of the two authors, The Bible......is the Word of God given in human words in history(Fee and Stuart 2003). Moreover, it is to be noted that the Church since the traditional time has understood the nature of the Scripture to the same as that of Christ. Therefore, as per the authors the starting point of our interpretation of the Scriptures requires an understanding of the then and there and here and now (Fee and Stuart 2003). According to the authors Fee and Stuart (2003), an understanding of the then and there and the here and now is very important for an understanding of the Scriptures because during the interpretation of the Bible, the interpreter often faces a tension between the historical and the eternal relevance of the scripture. According to the authors, God chose to speak in the context of real human history, we may take courage that these same words will speak again and again in our own real history, as they have throughout the history of the church(Fee and Stuart 2003). Moreover, in order to interpret the then and there in a more effective manner the interpreter also needs understand the general rules applicable to the Biblical words. In addition to this, the here and now help the interpreter to understand the manner in which the Almighty communicates with the individuals. Therefore, it can be said an effective understanding of these two points is very important for an interpreter to interpret the scripture in the best possible manner 5.An effective interpretation of the Scripture has always been a challenge for me. There were times when I used to have a tough time trying to interpret the Scripture for myself and had to take the help of my parents and elders to interpret the Scripture. I would say that the first challenge which I faced during the process of my interpretation of the Scripture was the use of too many obsolete as well as ecclesiastical words with which I was not very familiar. I would like to say here that I had to take the help of not only my parents and elders but also the help of the Father of our local Church to understand the exact meaning of those words and the context in which they were used. Another major challenge faced by me during the process of interpretation of the Scripture was my inability to understand the setting as well as the latent meaning of some of the parables. Once again the support provided by my elders, parents and the Father of our local Church were very helpful. Another ma jor challenge which I faced was the tension between the then and there and the here and now of the Scripture. I would like to add here that being a citizen of the 21st century I was obviously trying to interpret the Scripture in the context of the 21st century Literature however, later i came to know from my teachers and elders the then and there aspect also matter a lot. The Father of our local Church cleared up the air for me and helped me to understand there are two aspects of the Bible the eternal relevance and the human words in history and that both the aspects need to taken into consideration for an effective interpretation of the Scripture. 6.According to the authors, the antidote to bad interpretation is not no interpretation but good interpretation (Fee and Stuart 2003). An interpreter should take into consideration both the then and there and here and now aspects of the text(Fee and Stuart 2003). According to the authors, this particular problem arises because of the dual nature of the Biblical text- as an eternal relevance and human words in history (Fee and Stuart 2003). Therefore, an interpreter needs to take into consideration both these aspects of the text before embarking on the process of interpretation. In addition to this, the interpreter also needs to take into consideration the differences in the meaning of certain words used in the Bible and their common use. Reference Fee, G.D. and Stuart, D., 2003. How to Read the Biblefor All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan