Biblical Hermeneutics - National Open University of Nigeria

CTH 601 Biblical Hermeneutics
UNIT 2 PRINCIPLES OF BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS II
– HISTORICAL/GRAMMATICAL METHOD
CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 The Need for the Historical Method
3.1.1 The Life and Times of the Author
3.1.2 Knowledge of the Original Recipients
3.1.3 The Role of Historical Geography
3.1.4 The Need for the Grammatical Method
3.1.5 The Use of the Grammatical Method
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 References and Recommended Books
7.0 Tutor – Marked Assignments
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The sixty- six books of the Bible were written between over two
thousand to four thousand years ago. The three original languages were
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. There is a gap between the reader of the
Bible in the 21 st century in Africa and the authors of the Bible. This
point was explained under Rationale for Hermeneutics (Refer to and
revise Study Unit 1, Section 3.1.3). Since the authors wrote in certain
historical and linguistic contexts it is imperative for the contemporary
interpreter to know the history and grammar of the Bible. This is why
the historical/grammatical method of Bible interpretation is basic and
important as stated by Corley and Others (1996, p.217): “Without an
honest, careful, intelligent use of grammatical and historical knowledge,
there is little or no hope for a correct interpretation of documents written
in foreign languages within several different ancient historical contexts”.
This unit will elaborate on this point
2.0 OBJECTIVES
It is hoped that by the end of this unit, you should be able to:
i) State the need for the historical and grammatical methods of
Biblical Hermeneutics,
ii) Explain the importance of knowing the history of the author of a
Bible text,
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