Inductive Bible Study Method » Interpretation

Robert Traina defines Interpretation

Ron — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:12:27 +0000

What is Bible interpretation?Â Train answers, “It means recapturing the attitudes, motives, thoughts, and emotions of its writers and of those concerning whom they wrote.” [p.94, Methodical Bible Study]

Interpretation and concluding too quickly

Ron — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 20:52:39 +0000

Robert Traina mentions practicing suspended judgment as we approach passages using inductive Bible Study methods.Â In other words, don’t jump too quickly to conclusions we may later have to correct.Â I think we have all done this at times, not only in Bible study but in other decisions calling for interpretation.

Interpretation and learning in small children

Ron — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:31:38 +0000

According to one education scholar, children [between the ages of 2 and 5 years old] learn 25 times as fast as adults. That is the time when kids are always pulling on their mother’s apron strings and asking “Why mom, but why?” The question “Why?” bridges the observation and and interpretation processes. We can learn something about Bible study from the 2 to 5 year olds.

Interpretation

Ron — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 20:30:03 +0000

Interpretation re-creates the original circumstance, atmosphere, setting and life of a Bible passage. Interpretation takes the raw facts from observation and attempts to re-create the original event or statement. This re-creation allows us to better understand the Bible.
The question is: “OK, how do I begin to re-create?”

The answer is to ask as many “Why?” questions of a passage as we can possibly come up with. Literally, the first and primary important step for re-creation/interpretation of a Bible passage is to ask the question “Why?”– after doing several other steps of observation first. Those steps at a minimum would include asking five other questions of a text: “Who, where, when, what and how?”
“Why?” is like a bridge to take us into the realm of truly interpreting what a passage meant to the first readers, hearers, experiencers of a Bible passage or event.