Dungan - Hermeneutics

D. R. Dungan's Hermeneutics: A Text-Book: Chapter II.
have been removed, and while the Revision is marred by much of the bad grammar of the Common
Version, still there are many valuable changes. And I think it is not too much to say, that in [26] many
respects the Revision is the best work of the kind ever furnished to the reading world.
SEC. 13. A GENERAL AND THOROUGH EDUCATION IS OF GREAT VALUE IN THE INTERPRETATION
OF THE WORD OF GOD.
(1.) No one is at liberty to suppose, from my advocacy of learning, that it can always be trusted. It
can not take the place of good common sense, and certainly not of a true heart and that spiritual purity
which is so greatly needed in order to understand the things that are freely given to us of God.
(2.) There is an idea that learning is destructive of piety. But I know of no evidence of the correctness
of that view. Of course, there are many men so engaged in their investigations of science, and even in
their literary pursuits, that but little or no time is left for the cultivation of their hearts by the soul-stirring
truths of heaven. Anything that will take up the mind entirely, will do that. Farming, merchandise,
politics, anything, if it is sufficiently absorbing. Learning will do this no more than any calling which
will elicit the mind and direct the energy of the man. But instead of learning standing in the way of faith
and piety, it greatly aide it. The man of knowledge may lose his respect for many of the traditions of the
fathers, but his faith in God and His word will not be injured thereby, but greatly aided.
(3.) There is a mental drill in the attainment of knowledge that will greatly assist in preparing for that
effort necessary to a full and complete investigation of the Scriptures.
(4.) I would begin my recommendations respecting the necessary features of education, with the
knowledge [27] of one's own vernacular. With us the English language is the great medium of
knowledge. If our knowledge of that medium is defective, the benefits derived from its use will be
greatly lessened. Most readers of the Bible, as before stated, are entirely dependent upon the English
Bible, and all are more or less dependent upon it: Not only so, but the commentaries, lesson helps, and
all the valuable suggestions. by way of essays, sermons, etc., come to us through the English language.
Hence it is of great importance that we should have an accurate knowledge of our own language.
(5.) A knowledge of the original languages in which the Scriptures were written, would be of great
assistance in getting an accurate and intimate acquaintance with the Bible.
There are many thoughts in the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures that can not be so clearly presented in
any other language than that in which they were indited. In translating any boot; from one language into
another, much of the beauty and strength is lost. The translator may be learned and faithful, but there are
not the words to express those peculiar shades of meaning that belonged to the original. The peoples
using these tongues have differed both in their thoughts and in their modes of expression, and it is
therefore almost impossible to translate a book from one of these into the other, and retain the beauty and
vigor of the composition. Other things being equal, the scholar in Hebrew and Greek is the better
interpreter.
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