Simple Definitions for Not So Simple Words

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Simple Definitions for Not so Simple Words

Exegesis- The original intent of the words as they were written.  Who the words were written to and what they meant to them in their time and culture.

Eisegesis- Reading into a text one’s own ideas, making it mean something it was not intended to mean.

Hermeneutics- The contemporary relevance of ancient text.  What the words written then mean to us here and now.

Literal translation-(aka Formal equivalence)- translation of the Bible where the translators did their best to go word for word, maintaining word order and grammar as closely as possible to the original language.

Dynamic equivalence- (aka Functional equivalence)- translation of the Bible where the translators worked thought by thought in an attempt to keep the meaning of the original language but to put their words and idioms into what would be the normal way of saying the same thing in English.

Paraphrase- (aka Free translation)- this is less of a translation and more of an interpretation. These “translations” attempt to maintain the original meaning but pay little concern to the original words.  

Transliteration- the practice of spelling out in English a word from another language instead of actually translating it into English...for example ἀγάπη is transliterated agape.

Scripture- a scholarly term to refer to the text of the Bible.

Narrative- a story, whether written or spoken. Often several of the details are not there to prescribe a truth but simply to help tell the story.

Didactic- a phrase used to reference a passage or verse that is clearly giving an intended teaching principle or directive.

Meta-narrative- the over arching story that is being told by all the smaller stories.

Falsifiable- able to be proven false, and therefore testable.

Inerrancy- freedom from error or untruths.

Pericope- a set of verses that forms one coherent unit or thought, thus forming a short passage suitable for public reading from a text