Fishing for Jonah (anew)

Various approaches to Biblical

interpretation

Edited by
Louis Jonker
&
Douglas Lawrie

Study Guides in Religion and Theology 7

Publications of the University of the Western Cape
Fishing for Jonah (anew)

Published by SUN PReSS, a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA,

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Copyright © 2005 Louis Jonker & Douglas Lawrie

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 Study Guides in Religion and Theology

Publications of the University of the Western Cape

The development of this series of study guides is an initiative of the Department of Religion and
Theology at the University of the Western Cape. Its main purpose is to help produce affordable,
readily available and contextually relevant textbooks that can be used for teaching purposes in the
Southern African context. In addition, the series develops research tools that may be employed
for postgraduate research projects in the region. The following volumes have appeared in this
series thus far:

Conradie, EM et al 1995. Fishing for Jonah. Various approaches to Biblical interpretation. Study
Guides in Religion and Theology 1. Bellville: UWC Publications.
Conradie, EM 2001. Ecological theology: An indexed bibliography. Study Guides in Religion and
Theology 2. Second revised edition. Bellville: University of the Western Cape.
Conradie, EM 1998. Welcome to Christian theology! An introduction to its theory and practice.
Study Guides in Religion and Theology 3. Bellville: University of the Western Cape. (no longer
available)
Conradie, EM & Jonker, LC 2001. Angling for interpretation. A guide to understand the Bible
better. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 4. Bellville: University of the Western Cape.
Conradie, EM 2001. Ecological theology: A guide for further research. Study Guides in Religion
and Theology 5. Bellville: University of the Western Cape.
Conradie, EM & Fredericks, CE (eds) 2004. Mapping Systematic Theology in Africa: An indexed
bibliography. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 6. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.
Jonker, LC & Lawrie, DG (eds) 2005. Fishing for Jonah (anew): Various approaches to biblical
interpretation. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 7. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.

The following further volumes in this series are forthcoming:

Lawrie, DG 2005. Speaking to good effect: An introduction to the theory and practice of rhetoric.
Study Guides in Religion and Theology 8. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.
Conradie, EM 2005. Christian identity: An introduction. Study Guides in Religion and Theology
9. Stellenbosch: SUN Media.

The following further volumes in this series are envisaged:

Lawrie, DG. An introduction to the world of the Old Testament (2006).
Conradie, EM et al: An introduction to ethical theory (2006).
 Preface
Fishing for Jonah (anew) is the culmination of longstanding discussions between the authors of
this book on biblical interpretation that began with our first joint project in 1995, Fishing for
Jonah. That work was a response to our awareness that there is a scarcity of introductions to
exegetical methodology in the field of biblical studies, especially on the African continent. With
this volume we want to contribute to biblical scholarship in general, but especially to scholarship
in our own context.
This project was made possible by the co-operation of a number of our colleagues. We have
used, with or without changes, earlier contributions by Ernst Conradie and Roger Arendse, and
have also included new sections by Ernst Conradie, Elna Mouton, Franziska Andrag-Meyer and
Gerald West. We thank all these colleagues for making their scholarship available for this project.
The contributions of each of these colleagues are acknowledged in the Table of Contents below.
We, the editors, took responsibility for writing chapters 1 and 8, namely the introduction and
the conclusion to the book. In the conclusion we ask the question “Where does this leave us?”
after we have been introduced to the multitude of interpretation strategies. We argue that the
best interpretive practice involves a particular attitude towards reading, rather than a narrow
adherence to a single methodology. This attitude is one that is constantly alert to the difficulties
of interpretation, but is also aware of the full range of knowledge and interpretive approaches
that can be brought to bear on our understanding of a biblical text. For this reason, we regard
the diversity and complexity of approaches presented in this book as all being integral to the
development of a strong reading practice.
Because different authors contributed to this volume, the reader will encounter different styles
of writing. In order to preserve the uniqueness of each contribution we intentionally have not
ironed out all differences. The editors, however, take responsibility for the project as a whole. Our
intention was that the text should be fairly free-flowing, unburdened by footnotes and a host of
bibliographical references. We have, however, included a bibliography and reading list at the end
to provide the interested reader with the bibliographical details of authors that we refer to, as well
as further reading suggestions on the book of Jonah and the specific strategies discussed in the
different chapters.
A few practical exercises are included at the end of the book (although not on every strategy we
have discussed), to enable the reader to digest some of the content that is discussed in the various
chapters.
We want to express our gratitude towards our institutions, the University of Stellenbosch and
the University of the Western Cape, which supported us and made financial contributions to
this project. Lannie Birch and Fiona Moolla worked hard to correct our grammar and style.
They certainly made a huge contribution towards the quality of this book, and we want to thank
them for that. Justa Niemand and Wikus van Zyl of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, who were actively
involved in this project, provided us with a professional and efficient publishing service. They too
have earned our gratitude.

Louis Jonker Douglas Lawrie

University of Stellenbosch University of the Western Cape
November 2004

i
 Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 The purpose of this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The spiral of interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 The structure of Fishing for Jonah (anew) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CHAPTER 2: Classical strategies of interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1 Introduction (LJ/EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Allegorical interpretation (LJ/EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Typological interpretation (LJ/EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4 Rabbinical (midrash) interpretation (LJ/EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CHAPTER 3: A modern era emerges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3.1 Introduction (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Historical-grammatical approach (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Historical-rationalist interpretation (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Historical-literal interpretation (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

CHAPTER 4: Approaches focusing on the production of texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.1 Introduction (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2 Historical-critical approaches (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3 Canonical criticism (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.4 Cultural-anthropological approaches (LJ/RA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.5 Socio-rhetorical criticism (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

CHAPTER 5: Approaches focusing on the texts themselves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

5.1 Introduction (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.2 New Criticism and related approaches (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5.3 Structuralist approaches (DL/EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.4 Narrative approaches (LJ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

CHAPTER 6: Approaches focusing on the reception of texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

6.1 Introduction (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.2 The role of the reader (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
6.3 Rhetorical-critical studies (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.4 Deconstructionist approaches (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

CHAPTER 7: The hermeneutics of suspicion: The hidden worlds of ideology

and the unconscious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.1 Introduction (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
7.2 Psychoanalytical approaches (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.3 Marxist approaches (DL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.4 Feminist approaches (FAM/EM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.5 African hermeneutics (GW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
7.6 An ecological hermeneutics (EC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

CHAPTER 8: Where does this leave us? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
8.2 Towards multidimensional interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
8.3 Bridging the gap between academic and non-academic readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
8.4 Where this book meets its boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

EXERCISES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Works cited and suggestions for further reading on the book of Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Works cited and suggestions for further reading on the exegetical approaches . . . . . . . . . . 256
 Key to authors’ names
DL Douglas Lawrie, Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape,
Bellville
EC Ernst Conradie, Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape,
Bellville
EM Elna Mouton, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch
FAM Franziska Andrag-Meyer, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch,
Stellenbosch
GW Gerald West, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg
LJ Louis Jonker, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch
RA Roger Arendse, formerly involved in the Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the
Western Cape, Bellville
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 The purpose of this book

This book builds on the introduction to biblical interpretation offered in Angling for Interpretation
(Conradie & Jonker 2001). The aim of the first book was to offer a basic introduction to biblical
interpretation. Its argument runs as follows:
When we read the Bible, we often feel that we do not understand what the text says or that we
are not sure whether we have understood the text fully and correctly. Among the problems that
give rise to this are the following: 1) our lack of background information, 2) the possibility that
the text may contain various layers of meaning, 3) the existence of diverse, mutually exclusive
interpretations, and 4) the possibility that pervasive ideologies (either our own or those in the
text) may colour our interpretation. In our effort to understand the Bible better, we then start to
reflect on the complex process of interpretation, thereby engaging in hermeneutics (the systematic
study of interpretation).
Angling for Interpretation identifies seven factors that may influence biblical interpretations: 1)
the literary features of the text, 2) knowledge of the historical and social background of the text,
3) the tradition of interpretation, 4) the contemporary context, 5) the interpretative strategies
chosen by the reader, 6) the rhetorical context, and 7) hidden ideologies that may operate in
the text or the reader. It also offers a model of the interpretation process itself. According to
this model, the search for the most satisfactory interpretation of a biblical text involves three
steps: 1) the articulation of the understanding of the text we already have, 2) the critical testing
and revision of this existing interpretation, and 3) the articulation of new, revised interpretation,
which also includes the appropriation of the text as meaningful for us.
The aim of this book, Fishing for Jonah (anew), is to explore in more detail the ways in which
we may “test and revise” our existing biblical interpretations, drawing on the insights developed
in various schools of biblical hermeneutics. Over the centuries, the seven factors identified in
Angling for Interpretation have been scrutinized in various schools of biblical hermeneutics,
leading to distinct approaches to biblical interpretation that often stand in opposition to one
another. The different chapters in this book investigate these schools and approaches in more
detail. The theoretical assumptions of each approach are briefly discussed (referring to the work
of leading scholars in the particular field) and in most cases the theories are illustrated by means
of examples taken from the book of Jonah. Since this book deals with approaches developed
by specialists, it is aimed primarily at trained readers of the Bible, those who are studying or
have studied theology at a tertiary level or who have acquired some background in theological
studies.
An envisaged third volume, Hooked on Hermeneutics (to appear in 2005), will focus more
specifically on theological hermeneutics. The Bible is not read and studied by specialists only;
it is read and used all over the world by Christian communities and by individual Christians in
their everyday lives. Hooked on Hermeneutics asks how such people may read and understand the
Bible in a responsible way that draws on the insights of biblical scholarship and that is relevant
to Christian praxis. Or, to rephrase the question, what is distinctly Christian about biblical
interpretation?

1
Fishing for Jonah (Anew)

1.2 The spiral of interpretation

Unless we recognize that various specialist approaches to biblical hermeneutics are rooted in the
practice of interpreting the Bible in everyday life, “ordinary” readers and “trained” or “specialist”
readers of the Bible will increasingly be alienated from one another. Unfortunately, such alienation
has already become quite widespread. Christians who are introduced to the work of (critical)
Biblical scholarship often find it difficult to recognize the Bible that they are familiar with and
therefore experience critical scholarship as a threat to their faith. Biblical scholars, on the other
hand, are sometimes scornful of the “unsophisticated” way in which the Bible is read by pastors
and “ordinary” believers.
Nevertheless, the totally untrained “ordinary reader” uses, usually unconsciously, certain
strategies of interpretation, and the highly learned scholar enters the interpretative process as an
“ordinary reader”. The well-known notion of a “spiral of interpretation” illustrates this. The spiral
of interpretation may be represented as follows:

��� ���������������������������� ��� ��������������������������������

� ����������������� � �����������������������������������

��� ��������������������������
� �����������������������

Simple as this model is, it represents a complex process.

1.2.1 We are always already interpreting

It may be possible for a person to say when she picked up a Bible for the first time and started
reading it, but it is not possible to say when she started interpreting. Every new interpretation
is always based on a prior interpretation; therefore we never approach any text “with a clean
slate”. We make sense of a “new” text because it is in some ways similar to that of which we have
already made sense. For instance, words in the text convey meaning to us because we have already
assimilated their meaning in previous acts of interpretation. We have, in brief, a framework of
interpretations that enables us to make new interpretations.
When we begin reading the Bible “for the first time”, we have in some senses already read it.
Perhaps we were told Bible stories by our parents; perhaps we went to Sunday school. At the very
least we were socialized in a society permeated with biblical language, imagery and values. Our
reading will therefore always bear traces of the tradition of biblical interpretation to which we are
heirs.
Although the negative influence of mere tradition on biblical interpretation is often emphasized,
the tradition also plays a positive role by providing us with interpretative tools and a framework
of meanings. Tradition provides the spectacles without which we would simply not make sense