I'm still processing everything I've learned this week. The class was on Biblical Interpretation and it was very good. Apparently historical criticism has moved down a notch or two on the biblical interpretation scale. The approach that was taught was a heuristic approach. The methodology is to read, re-read, re-read and read again while generating questions, observations and insights into the text. It is amazing how such a process can open up a new understanding.

We have been focusing on bits and pieces of the biblical text for too long. This just caused us to pull things out of context. While studying bits and pieces we lost all sense of themes and big picture issues. Yes, there is still a place to drill down, but we keep the full context (book level) in mind as we read and we allow the book to help us interpret the passage.

Needless to say, it will take me a while to process all this. One of the assignments is to update my library (the prof said, in order to do good work, one needs good tools). Our final assignment this week was to come up with a plan on how we would get these tools and then use them to write our final paper (that is due in 2 months). I've added some of the books to my doctoral wish list.

I hope to write more after I have time to start practicing, daily, what I've learned this week.