Feb
09
2010
Seven Common Fallacies in Bible Interpretation
Yesterday, I offered a few words about reading the Scripture while avoiding to common problem of “what it means to me”. Today, Parchment and Pen offers seven fallacies commonly encountered in interpreting Scripture. Here’s his list:
1. Preunderstanding fallacy: Believing you can interpret with complete objectivity, not recognizing that you have preunderstandings that influence your interpretation.
2. Incidental fallacy: Reading incidental historical texts as prescriptive rather than descriptive.
3. Obscurity fallacy: Building theology from obscure material.
4. Etymological root fallacy: Looking to the root etymology of a word to discover its meaning.
5. Illegitimate totality transfer: Bringing the full meaning of a word with all its nuances to the present usage.
6. Selective use of meaning: Selecting the meaning you like best.
7. Maverick fallacy: Believing that you don’t need anyone but the Holy Spirit to interpret the text.
Read the entire post for more explanation and examples.