06-09-2011, 12:00 AM
exegesis |ˌeksiˈjēsis|
noun ( pl. -ses |-sēz|)
critical explanation or interpretation of a text, esp. of scripture : the task of biblical exegesis | an exegesis of Marx.
The terms exegesis and hermeneutics are sometimes used interchangeably because exegesis focuses primarily on the written text. Hermeneutics however is a more widely defined discipline of interpretation theory including the entire framework of the interpretive process and, encompassing all forms of communication and expression; written, verbal, artistic, geo-political, physiological, sociological etc.
When examining a text such as those found in Castaneda’s work I focus more on the exegesis. This is a discipline. I try to understand the author’s meaning and the audience for which it is intended, while bearing in mind that I cannot be purely objective in this and bring to this my own bias. It is my own bias that I try to minimize at least until I think I have understood what the author intended to communicate.
We have heard it said in the bible that Jesus said to his disciples, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Now Christians today usually insist on interpreting this through the lens of Christianity today. The cross is seen as symbolic, usually a symbol of transformation of death and rebirth.
But when we look at the context, times etc in which Jesus supposedly uttered these words, they had a narrower meaning. Everyone hearing these words as they were spoken knew what cross Jesus was referring to. It was not symbolic. It was the Roman form of capital punishment and the means by which Rome expressed its dominion and neatly disposed of any that might challenge of even seem to challenge that dominion by publicly humiliating them and putting them to death for all to see. The implication is not mystical but more like, “Take up your electric chair and follow me!” Totally different meaning. The symbolic meaning preferred by Christianity today has little if anything to do with Jesus’s original intent.
It is not easy, trying to recover the context of a conversation between DJ and CC. But that is what I have been trying to do. It takes time.
noun ( pl. -ses |-sēz|)
critical explanation or interpretation of a text, esp. of scripture : the task of biblical exegesis | an exegesis of Marx.
The terms exegesis and hermeneutics are sometimes used interchangeably because exegesis focuses primarily on the written text. Hermeneutics however is a more widely defined discipline of interpretation theory including the entire framework of the interpretive process and, encompassing all forms of communication and expression; written, verbal, artistic, geo-political, physiological, sociological etc.
When examining a text such as those found in Castaneda’s work I focus more on the exegesis. This is a discipline. I try to understand the author’s meaning and the audience for which it is intended, while bearing in mind that I cannot be purely objective in this and bring to this my own bias. It is my own bias that I try to minimize at least until I think I have understood what the author intended to communicate.
We have heard it said in the bible that Jesus said to his disciples, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Now Christians today usually insist on interpreting this through the lens of Christianity today. The cross is seen as symbolic, usually a symbol of transformation of death and rebirth.
But when we look at the context, times etc in which Jesus supposedly uttered these words, they had a narrower meaning. Everyone hearing these words as they were spoken knew what cross Jesus was referring to. It was not symbolic. It was the Roman form of capital punishment and the means by which Rome expressed its dominion and neatly disposed of any that might challenge of even seem to challenge that dominion by publicly humiliating them and putting them to death for all to see. The implication is not mystical but more like, “Take up your electric chair and follow me!” Totally different meaning. The symbolic meaning preferred by Christianity today has little if anything to do with Jesus’s original intent.
It is not easy, trying to recover the context of a conversation between DJ and CC. But that is what I have been trying to do. It takes time.