Yes, More on Hermeneutics and Exegesis and a Side Helping of Fundamentalism

I know how I write. I write and even speak bluntly and it may be construed as if I stating things as fact. I know I come off strongly or passionately but that doesn't mean I'm rigid or think I am absolutely right. In reality, I am stating things as I currently understand them which is ever changing. I also write and speak to help process the information. So I may speak or write as if I know it 100% but in reality I'm still reasoning through it. My thoughts are always evolving, at least I hope they are. Further, theology and history of religion is a huge interest for me. I love it. My undergrad is religious studies and I read a ton still, though not as much as I'd like to. That being said, my advanced degree and training is in chiropractic, nutrition, and natural and holistic medicine. I have my own particular lens through which I filter things. I also don't have the academic training in biblical scholarship. But I love studying it, so I do my best to understand and then disseminate what I understand. So I may write something that later I see as wrong or not quite right. Even while writing it or speaking it, I get a sense that it isn't quite there yet. Hermeneutics and exegesis is one of those areas. It helps to write and talk about it for me to better grasp it. 

That's key for learning anything else too. I often listen to a speaker talking about the same thing multiple times because my understanding is further refined. That's why we read the scriptures multiple times. It gives clarity and deepens understanding. The more we study the more we are refined. The more we understand the better we are able to apply that understanding and ultimately be transformed because of it. That's why I advocate studying so hard! We have to. We are shaped by what we do and if we study God's word and about God's word we can be fundamentally changed for the better. We all have the time, no matter who we are. I cannot advocate for this enough. My understanding has developed so much because of what I have read. My understanding of God has changed, developed, and evolved. It has deepened. It would have never done that without studying about scripture or theology. Or it would have taken much longer because I was unknowingly damming it. 

I say study about scripture because there is so much we don't understand and so many good authors and scholars that are tremendously helpful. For instance, I have been learning lately about God's love and mercy. In doing so I now more fully understand what the early Christians believed, how it changed and became corrupted, what we inherited, and what the Restoration restored. I have cast off assumptions I knew I had but couldn't fully reconcile. I was developing a dichotomy that was causing cognitive dissonance. On one hand was "in the hands of an angry God," in the other hand was the God of love I have come to know and understand. And reading books about scripture and theology helped me understand that. It helped me to push past the falsehood of the fire and brimstone God that still is alive and well today. 

So I believe it is paramount to read books about scripture not only just the scriptures. What are these books? Well it is a library of books that we have to sift through. Some are better than others. But there books that are commentaries on scripture, explain language, culture, history, archaeology and anthropology, textual criticism, theology and philosophy, etc. They dive into what scripture means and why it means that. They dive into who God is and different doctrines. They may be written by Latter-day Saints or Evangelicals, Catholics or even a scholar from another religion altogether. They may be books by the Brethren or maybe a monk from centuries ago. There is truth to be had everywhere. And it is our duty to seek it, find it, and incorporate it. I heard it said that Joseph Smith was an inspired syncretizer. I like that. Joseph Smith stated, "We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true 'Mormons.'" Is there truth in science? Undoubtedly. Is there truth in Buddhism? Islam? Judaism? Catholicism? Philosophy? Classical literature? Absolutely. It surrounds us.

So now let me turn back to an old friend I'm constantly refining. Because it is important to this conversation. For whatever reason I have a hard time wrapping my head around hermeneutics and exegesis. Most likely haven't given enough time to it. I know awhile back I did this with principles versus doctrines. It may be the way we define it or how we may confuse the two, sometimes confusing them with application too. Either way, I wanted to wrap my head around the ideas and understand them. Same thing here. 

Hermeneutics is the theory, exegesis is the practice. You use hermeneutics to build the "machine" and the use of the "machine" is exegesis. The machine is ready to process the information we put into it. The act of putting the information in is exegesis. So it matters how the machine is made, a lot. All the assumptions, understandings, ideas, and concepts go into building the machine. So it will produce a particular outcome. As we modify our assumptions and concepts the machine is modified and changed. 

The act of using the machine is the act of using these assumptions and concepts to produce something. In reading and interpreting scripture, we come to the table with these assumptions and ideas, hermeneutics, and when we start to interpret or pass the scriptures through the hermeneutics, the machine, it is exegesis. Exegesis is the actual process of interpretation. But hermeneutics is the theory used for interpreting, all the assumptions, culture, knowledge, concepts, and ideas we have incorporated and are now using for the exegesis. It is the machine we built through which we process or interpret scripture. I know I am being redundant but nonetheless important to understand.

That machine is constantly changing and being modified as we learn knew things. Sometimes it becomes static as in the case of fundamentalism. It's obsolete but we stubbornly continue to use it. Grinding out the same material and holding firm despite evidence to the contrary. Often we don't even realize this because of the assumptions we hold. An assumption Latter-day Saints hold is inerrancy of prophets. We inherited that from Evangelical Protestants who hold the Bible as inerrant.

Fundamentalists filter scripture through a machine that holds to certain ideals. Inerrancy being one. They assume Genesis is talking about material creation therefore evolution is false. This is due to plain reading of the text. KJV being the most correct English translation is another ideal or assumption. They may believe there is a scientific conspiracy to destroy religion. These assumptions create a lens through which they interpret which causes them to dig their heels in and defend it at all costs. Even when the evidence is against them. Otherwise, in their view the entire house will come down. No doubt it will since it is based on false assumptions. They built a house on a sandy foundation that cannot stand up to scrutiny. But because of inerrancy, because of the assumptions they hold to, they continue to dig their heels in. However, the inevitable will happen, the house of cards will tumble to the ground.

A little more on inerrancy of scripture. It is likely they may also believe scripture is plain or as they use it literal. It's straight forward and interpretation is not needed. The text is plain. But they don't realize that assumption is the lens through which they are interpreting scripture. They don't realize they are interpreting. President Joseph Fielding Smith is one in the Church who did this. He state he didn't interpret because the text was plain.

We often bring assumptions to the table we are totally unaware of and then we interpret scripture through that lens. Curse of Cain is one of them. Predates the Church by a long period but converts brought in that assumption and it was seemingly supported by revelation, even new revelation, and that assumption then supports a priesthood and temple ban on black members. We think that due to modern revelation and prophets that we are shielded from these assumptions. That God merely passes the revelation across the desk to the prophet and the prophet speaks verbatim what the Lord has for us. But that is not so. 

Now all this arose in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Not to say the seeds of it can't be tracked earlier, but this is when it was manifest. It was a reaction to the rise of secularism and atheism. They felt under attack and in many ways they were. This was a legitimate response. Nevertheless, it produced a way of thinking that has been damaging.

As Latter-day Saints, we are more prone to inerrancy of prophets. It is assumed and becomes a big issue when we have prolific writers like Elder McConkie and President Joseph Fielding Smith. Both were well-versed in the scriptures. President Smith was the church historian for decades. Both are relied on for their scriptural knowledge. They were often relied on to answer doctrinal questions in their time. This is all before the internet and their word became the basis of our doctrinal foundation. However, it is not that simple. It was not monolithic. Others disagreed with them. Our history is rich with varying opinions and thoughts. It is by no means monolithic. One thing is for sure and we can stand on it, that is, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who lived, died, and was resurrected. That is not say there is not others that sure, but the Jesus Christ is our foundation.

So as evidence mounts, our machine begins to strain. Some will dig their heels in and hold to the old ideas, others will modify the machine for the better, realizing their error. Some, sadly, will walk away, throwing the baby out with the bath water. In the end, it is the machine that is faulty, not the truth. It takes study and effort in order to know that your machine is faulty, how it is faulty, and how to modify it. That is why we must study, not just the scriptures, but books about scripture, and the great authors and scholars of the ages.