Biblical exegesis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biblical exegesis (from the Greek ἐξηγεῖσθαι 'to lead out') is an extensive and critical interpretation of the Bible.

An exegete is a person skilled in the art of exegesis.

The word exegesis means to draw the meaning out of a given text. It is sometimes contrasted with eisegesis, which means to read one's own interpretation into a given text. In general, exegesis presumes an attempt to view the text objectively, while eisegesis is more subjective.

A common published form of a biblical exegesis is known as a 'bible commentary' and typically takes the form of an encyclopedia-like set of books each of which are devoted to the exposition of one or two books of the bible, in the order they appear in the Protestant Bible (almost always excluding the Apocrypha). Long books such as Psalms may be split over 2 or 3 volumes while short books such as 1, 2 and 3 John may be conflated into one volume. The form of each book is identical, consisting of a background and introductory section, following by detailed commentary of the book in a verse-by-verse basis (split up either into chapters or smaller units of text). Before the 20th Century, a commentary would be written by a sole author, but today a publishing board will commission a team of scholars to write a commentary, with each volume being divided out among them. A single commentary will generally attempt to give a coherent and unified view on the bible as a whole, for example, from a Catholic or Reformed perspective, or a commentary that focuses on Textual or Historical considerations. However, each volume will inevitably lean toward the personal emphasis of its author, and within any commentaries there may be great variety in the depth, accuracy and critical strength of each volume.

With the rise of the Internet, many Public Domain Bible commentaries have become available online. Here is a list of some of the commentaries:

Additionally, the Christian Classics Ethereal Library has presented a unified reference tool to access many commentaries from different traditions in their World Wide Study Bible.

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