Intro
No one has given Western civilization a work whose meaning is as hotly debated as the creators of the Bible (and who those beings are is Debate #1). Seriously, David Lynch only dreams of creating something with that level of ambiguity.
This goes for the book as a religious text—in which understanding the Bible has seen the birth of thousands of denominations, each with its own reading—and as a literary work—which loads of critics love to see it as, regardless of creed or credo. It comprises multiple genres and speaks through a variety of senses, forms, and figures. It can be and has been read literally, figuratively, mythologically, authoritatively—you name it.
That variety of methods for analyzing the Bible makes it a great text for hermeneutics. That’s partially because that’s a big part of how the practice of philosophical hermeneutics developed—out of both Catholic and Protestant theories of proper scriptural interpretation.
But beyond the folks who interpret scripture and live their lives based on what they get out of that process, this background to hermeneutics relates to multiple traditions of interpretation and has inspired many, many, many interpretative traditions. The Bible, after all, is a work whose meaning has to be uncovered by a study of its historical purposes and audiences.
Plus, looking at the Bible and the ways it’s read, we can easily see what Gadamer meant by calling literature an event: it’s a text that has led to all sorts of actions. People read it as a word that helps them out in the present moment. It’s put into ritual and song and school plays of the nativity scene with its lobster protagonist, plus all sorts of other cultural artifacts that are reproduced and performed in many parts of the world. It’s a text that happened and continues to happen.
Quote
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53:12 NIV)
Analysis
This is a passage from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Christians have historically read this part as prefiguring the crucifixion of Christ.
Of course, Jews and other non-Christians read it otherwise.
As hermeneutically minded Shmoopers, we’re not interested here in finally cracking the code on the right way to read this passage. Instead, we’re interested in the fact that the passage is read differently by different religious traditions. The same words have different meaning for different people because they believe in distinct religious worlds.
Considering this passage from the perspective of the whole of both the New and Old Testaments gives it meaning it doesn’t have if considered only in the context of the Hebrew Scriptures. If you’re familiar with the story of the crucifixion, it’s difficult not to imagine some sort of foreshadowing when reading these few lines; but if you’ve never read the Gospel accounts, then you’re not going to read this as a foreshadowing of the later event depicted therein.
This is how the hermeneutic circle functions. Context matters for how we interpret a text—and you don’t have to be a high priest to understand that.