The impact of prior background knowledge on approaching a literary piece of work.
In discussing the various approaches to read a text, we are actually questioning the nature of those very texts. Questions such as how can we differentiate a religious text from a literary one? What similarities these two may share together? And what differences may set the boundaries to our reading of both of them? Does our approach to the world in general and to their respective domains one being religious and the other being literary in particular affect our views as to how we can make meaning of what we read? What about our own personal experiences, don’t they interact with the way we read texts and therefore make us hold subjective views instead of objective
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So how can we define a religious text or again a literal interpretation of the same text? Another issue of a paramount importance to our analysis here is what is the difference between a religious text and a sacred one? For not all religious texts are sacred ones. An instance of these can be “The Gospel Of Jesus” which can be regarded as a sacred text whereas “Thomas Aquinas” is considered religious.
It is important to remember that as we read those religious manifestations of divine revelation we feel there is a kind of invitation to commune with a particular religion of the Cosmos giving us insights about how the world truly is. Therefore making us believe in something we have no prior knowledge about, something we have to adhere to unquestionably. This, indeed gives us very little margin to our interpretation of the world where we exist and consequently ties our hands as to whether we can act on this material we are reading so that we can go beyond the text and provide persuasive evidences that can either go in line with or contradicts with what we are actually reading. This sacredness of those religious texts in fact might be considered as a call or a request to pray or to be obedient since it is offering us a kind of revelation. Additionally, as we read these texts, we get the feeling that
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Those features might relate to gender, ethnicity, or social class.
Most scholars would put forward the view that reading literary works of art provides us with a pragmatic and objective answers to our questions about the meaning conveyed through the language of these texts. Unlike readers who might consider faith as the essence of mind over matter and therefore would not accept or at least question any meaning communicated beyond the literal interpretation of the religious texts. Thus, proponents of this trend tend to be doubtful as to the relevance and validity those methods of verification although you might get a sense of inspiration as you read religious texts.
As can be seen from the above comparative study explaining the existing differences between reading religious as well as literary works, we can state that there is certainly room for some debates and perspectives as to the specificity and uniqueness in the way each approach deals with features related to the nature of texts in order to get to
Saint Thomas of Aquainas may have been one of the greatest thinkers who attempted to bridge the proverbial gap between faith and reason. His Sacred Doctrine which was the initial part of his Summa Theologica was the basis for his conclusion about the existence of God. Aquinas tended to align his beliefs close with Aristotle's supposition that there must be an eternal and imputrescible creator. In comparison, Anselm's impressions were influenced largely by Plato. In his text Proslogion he outlined his Ontological argument that regarding the existence of God. It was simply that God was the ultimate and most perfect being conceivable, and that his state of existing is greater than not existing therefore god, being perfect in every way, must exist. This is where their paths divide, and although they essentially reach the same determination they paint the picture quite differently.
According to David M. Carr, the history of Scriptural interpretation indicates that religious texts are popular candidates for reinterpretation and, as such, are spaces wherein the personal identity of the reader frequently inscribes itself at length:
When reading someone else's work you need to be certain that you read between the lines. Author's, at times, will attempt to distort information in order to make their beliefs more prominent. In order to avoid this disinformation, you have to learn the difference between denotations and connotations and facts from opinions. Furthermore, you'll have to recognize figurative language, such as similes and metaphors, which can incite specific feelings onto readers.
At the beginning of this semester we focused on hermeneutics and the reader’s personal interpretations and biases when reading a text. The Protestant bias is one bias that anyone who grows up in a western culture is likely to have. A protestant bias is a bias one can have regardless if they are actually a protestant. A protestant bias is a bias comes from the fact that the majority of westerners are most familiar with and base their assumptions about scripture on one particular scripture -- the Christian Bible.
So it can be said that gnosis is secret knowledge revealed to man hat only get by someone or a
For years, religion has played a role in the lives of many, after all, there are hundreds of religions being practiced around the world. From the celebrations of special birthdays by the Jewish or Hispanic cultures or the celebration of holidays by Christians and many other religions. There is a great amount of differences when it comes to religion, whether it be beliefs or religious traditions, but contemporary society has become more aware the impact that religion can have on numerous different things. Additionally, religion has been a vast role when it comes to literature. In countless stories, readers will find the topic of religion being influential aspect. For example, in Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales there were influences from the
Over the course of his life, Erasmus established himself as one of the most impactful Christian humanists of his time. His writings challenged many of the traditions and beliefs established by the medieval church. In his work, The Handbook for the Militant Christian, one of the topics Erasmus discusses is the importance of Classical texts. According to him, “a sensible reading of the pagan poets and philosophers is a good preparation for the Christian life” (Erasmus, 36). He believed that the Classical authors taught the reader how to think well and speak well, which in turn helped them to behave well.
God’s written law is something that is and should be continuously turned, to not only when Christians find themselves in need, but also throughout in one’s daily life. The four gospels tell to story of Jesus’ life and his teachings he gave while on the earth making it possible for there to be a true example of Christ-like faith. The proposition that there are differences in the story of Jesus and in his teachings seems to question the basis upon which the Christian faith is found upon. Rather than proclaiming the gospels as falsehoods because on the differences they possess, by analyzing the differences in the context of the particular gospel it can be understood that the differences are not made by mistake, rather as a literary device. While
Oswalt applies a suitable classification for the Bible. In particular, he discusses whether the Bible should be viewed as myth. Keeping in mind the end goal to appropriately answer the inquiry, one needs to consider the many definitions posed by scholars today. Oswalt records these definitions and clarifies why he feels that they are
Discuss this statement and show how your critical understanding of the text has been strengthened by at least two different readings.
The “hermeneutic activity –the practice of close reading” (373) is what Love evaluates next. The practice of close reading became the framework of hermeneutics in the early 20th century and has been the foundation of text evaluation since then, no matter what different literary approaches and cultural changes were present, since “the richness of texts continues to serve as a carrier for an allegedly superannuated humanism”(373). Her own assertion regarding the interpretation of texts can be interpreted in sev...
For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging
Finally we can say that the discussion in the class and the differences in the interpretations showed us clearly the differences between the perceptions of the readers on the same work. In the lights of the reader-oriented theories one can claim that there is no single truth or meaning derived from the text, the responses will change as the readers change.
There is considerable debate about the extent to which Humankind has received the Revelation of God. The term revelation deals with how God has revealed himself to humanity or in other words, how he made himself known to that which he has created. Theologians generally distinguish God’s revelation in two ways General, and Special revelation. Many theologians agree that something can be learned from the study of human nature. However, most evident is the moral and spiritual qualities found within humankind that reflect the character of God. One could argue the point that the nature of revelation depends on whether revelation is given or understood through experience, proposition, culture, scripture or all four. Numerous studies show that revelation has been received by humankind through scripture. The influence of scripture has allowed humankind to find out not only about God, but themselves as well. Therefore many people believe that scripture is the one and true way that God have made himself known. Research indicates that through scripture God has inspired, communicate, and revealed himself to humankind through the elements of the world. Through these studies humankind has come to believe and understand that there is a greater source that can give and take away that which he has created. R.C.Sproul states “for whoever or whatever God may be he is altogether beyond our knowledge. Being limited in our ability to think as God does, one must believe and trust through the faith which has be built through the very word that has been written. With that being said, the writer Timothy share with his readers that all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (Ti...
Hermeneutics is the study of these questions and whether we can bridge the gap between these different contexts? The significance of each context is crucial for readers to have balanced perspective and balanced reading of historical texts. And context is important in hermeneutics because while the Bible was written ‘for us’ it wasn’t written ‘to us’ .