Hermeneutic Commentaries

ISSN: 1043-5735

"The question of “interpretation” of the text is at the center of this collection of monographs and commentaries on classical literatures. Interpretation starts with the realisation that at the outset, the sense of a text is an hypothesis to be gradually and constantly revised and ascertained. Grammar, syntax, and rhetoric are certainly the necessary part for this critical operation, but they fall short of giving full sense to the signification of the text. A philological commentary establishes the texts as close as possible to the author’s text, and provides the information necessary for modern readers to understand what the text meant to its contemporary users. But besides the impossibility of achieving this task fully, this sort of information does not provide the sense of the text as it opens itself to the questions of its individuality and universality, its historicity and its transhistorical iterability, as it hides the rules and game of its composition, its difference in order to show its identity. These opposite poles are constantly united and create a tension, a continuous oscillation that are the very domaine of the interpretative analysis, and the conditions of the text’s ever emerging sense . The hermeneutic circle, through which the critical hypothesis is constantly revised and made more precise, can be viewed also as a sort of deconstructive operation, a decomposing of the text in order to recompose it around its now discovered rules and games, of which the author is not necessarily always fully aware. Because of these conditions the sense of a text is more open to the critics than to its author; this point makes the critics conscious that as they are “reading”, they are in some way “writing” the text." "The question of “interpretation” of the text is at the center of this collection of monographs and commentaries on classical literatures. Interpretation starts with the realisation that at the outset, the sense of a text is an hypothesis to be gradually and constantly revised and ascertained. Grammar, syntax, and rhetoric are certainly the necessary part for this critical operation, but they fall short of giving full sense to the signification of the text. A philological commentary establishes the texts as close as possible to the author’s text, and provides the information necessary for modern readers to understand what the text meant to its contemporary users. But besides the impossibility of achieving this task fully, this sort of information does not provide the sense of the text as it opens itself to the questions of its individuality and universality, its historicity and its transhistorical iterability, as it hides the rules and game of its composition, its difference in order to show its identity. These opposite poles are constantly united and create a tension, a continuous oscillation that are the very domaine of the interpretative analysis, and the conditions of the text’s ever emerging sense . The hermeneutic circle, through which the critical hypothesis is constantly revised and made more precise, can be viewed also as a sort of deconstructive operation, a decomposing of the text in order to recompose it around its now discovered rules and games, of which the author is not necessarily always fully aware. Because of these conditions the sense of a text is more open to the critics than to its author; this point makes the critics conscious that as they are “reading”, they are in some way “writing” the text." "The question of “interpretation” of the text is at the center of this collection of monographs and commentaries on classical literatures. Interpretation starts with the realisation that at the outset, the sense of a text is an hypothesis to be gradually and constantly revised and ascertained. Grammar, syntax, and rhetoric are certainly the necessary part for this critical operation, but they fall short of giving full sense to the signification of the text. A philological commentary establishes the texts as close as possible to the author’s text, and provides the information necessary for modern readers to understand what the text meant to its contemporary users. But besides the impossibility of achieving this task fully, this sort of information does not provide the sense of the text as it opens itself to the questions of its individuality and universality, its historicity and its transhistorical iterability, as it hides the rules and game of its composition, its difference in order to show its identity. These opposite poles are constantly united and create a tension, a continuous oscillation that are the very domaine of the interpretative analysis, and the conditions of the text’s ever emerging sense . The hermeneutic circle, through which the critical hypothesis is constantly revised and made more precise, can be viewed also as a sort of deconstructive operation, a decomposing of the text in order to recompose it around its now discovered rules and games, of which the author is not necessarily always fully aware. Because of these conditions the sense of a text is more open to the critics than to its author; this point makes the critics conscious that as they are “reading”, they are in some way “writing” the text."

1 publications

Studies in Biblical Literature

This series invites manuscripts from scholars in any area of Biblical literature. Both established and innovative methodologies, covering general and particular areas in biblical study, are welcome. The series seeks to make available studies which will make a significant contribution to the ongoing biblical discourse. Scholars who have interests in gender and sociocultural hermeneutics are particularly encouraged to consider this series.

183 publications

Studies in Biblical Greek

This occasional series of monographs is designed to promote and publish the latest research into biblical Greek (Old and New Testaments). The series does not assume that biblical Greek is a distinct dialect within the larger world of koine, but focuses on these corpora because it recognizes the particular interest they generate. Research into the broader evidence of the period, including epigraphical and inscriptional materials, is welcome in the series, provided the results are cast in terms of their bearing on biblical Greek. Primarily, however, the series is devoted to fresh philological, syntactical, text-critical, and linguistic study of the Greek of the biblical books, with the subsidiary aim of displaying the contribution of such study to accurate exegesis.

20 publications

Studies in Biblical Hebrew

Studies in Biblical Hebrew is series of monographs designed to promote and publish topical research into the Hebrew of the Old Testament. The series does not assume that Biblical Hebrew is a form of the Aramaic languages (Canaanite) spoken from c. 1200 B.C. to c. 200 B.C., given standardized form only later and then perpetuated as a fixed literary medium. The focus of the series is specifically the corpus of the Old Testament, since the composition and compilation of these writings continue to generate major interest worldwide for reasons historical and academic, as well as religious. The series is devoted to fresh philological, syntactical, and linguistic study of the language of the Hebrew canon, with the subsidiary aim of displaying the contribution of such study to informed and accurate exegesis. Research into the broader evidence of the period, including inscriptional materials, is welcome, provided the results are cast in terms of their particular bearing upon Biblical (classical) Hebrew. Studies in Biblical Hebrew is series of monographs designed to promote and publish topical research into the Hebrew of the Old Testament. The series does not assume that Biblical Hebrew is a form of the Aramaic languages (Canaanite) spoken from c. 1200 B.C. to c. 200 B.C., given standardized form only later and then perpetuated as a fixed literary medium. The focus of the series is specifically the corpus of the Old Testament, since the composition and compilation of these writings continue to generate major interest worldwide for reasons historical and academic, as well as religious. The series is devoted to fresh philological, syntactical, and linguistic study of the language of the Hebrew canon, with the subsidiary aim of displaying the contribution of such study to informed and accurate exegesis. Research into the broader evidence of the period, including inscriptional materials, is welcome, provided the results are cast in terms of their particular bearing upon Biblical (classical) Hebrew. Studies in Biblical Hebrew is series of monographs designed to promote and publish topical research into the Hebrew of the Old Testament. The series does not assume that Biblical Hebrew is a form of the Aramaic languages (Canaanite) spoken from c. 1200 B.C. to c. 200 B.C., given standardized form only later and then perpetuated as a fixed literary medium. The focus of the series is specifically the corpus of the Old Testament, since the composition and compilation of these writings continue to generate major interest worldwide for reasons historical and academic, as well as religious. The series is devoted to fresh philological, syntactical, and linguistic study of the language of the Hebrew canon, with the subsidiary aim of displaying the contribution of such study to informed and accurate exegesis. Research into the broader evidence of the period, including inscriptional materials, is welcome, provided the results are cast in terms of their particular bearing upon Biblical (classical) Hebrew.

1 publications

The Westminster College Library of Biblical Symbolism

"This series encourages works of scholarship that explore the artistic and theological depths of biblical symbols. "Symbol" here means any well-known reality that is used to illuminate a more mysterious reality by means of the analogy between the two. The symbols can be objects, qualities, actions, roles, events, stories, or systems. "Exploring" symbols entails: painting a full picture of the well-known reality as the original writers and readers would have known it; establishing what the subject of the symbol was in particular instances; and seeing through the symbol to the depths of the subject. The books in this series may focus on a particular symbol (e.g. light, or shepherd, or the Exodus), on a particular type of symbolism (e.g. Paul's legal symbolism, or Flosea's personal symbolism), or on particular themes (e.g. the variety of symbols used to illuminate the mystery of human sinfulness and how those symbols are used to interpret each other). Still others may focus on particular books, such as Ezekiel or Revelation, exploring their main symbols. "

1 publications