Old Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors, by Douglas Stuart
3rd ed., 2001, 179 pages, published by Westminster John Knox.
This substantial revision of a highly successful textbook takes into
account the latest advances in methodology and resources. For more than
two decades, Stuart has been providing a step-by-step guide teaching
how to write an exegetical paper on the Old Testament. Now a new
generation of students has an indispensable tool for serious biblical
interpretation.
Douglas Stuart is Professor of Old Testament at
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts,
and senior pastor of First Church Congregational in Boxford,
Massachusetts.
New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors, by Gordon D. Fee
3rd ed., 2002, 195 pages, published by Westminster John Knox.
Building on the belief that the task of exegesis is to understand
the divine-human intention locked within the biblical text, Gordon Fee
provides a lucid step-by-step analysis of exegetical procedures that
has made New Teseatment Exegesis a standard textbook for
nearly two decades. Now more than ever, with an updated, newly
integrated bibliography and an appendix directly addressing
reader-response criticism, this essential, classic guide will assist
students, scholars, and clergy in coming to grips with the New
Testament.
Gordon D. Fee is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Tables of Contents
The Analytical Table of Contents from each book is reproduced below. These are lengthy, so please make sure to scroll down to see the Analytical Table of Contents for the New Testament Exegesis volume as well.
Old Testament Exegesis
Analytical Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1.
Guide for Full Exegesis
1. Text
1.1. Confirm the limits of the passage.
1.2. Compare the versions.
1.3. Reconstruct and annotate the text.
1.4. Present poetry in versified form.
2. Translation
2.1. Prepare a tentative translation of your reconstructed text.
2.2. Check the correspondence
2.4. Provide a finished translation.
3. Historical Context
3.1. Research the historical background.
3.2. Research the social setting.
3.3. Research the historical foreground.
3.4. Research the geographical setting.
3.5. Date the passage.
4. Literary Context
4.1. Examine the literary function.
4.2. Examine the placement.
4.3. Analyze the detail.
4.4. Analyze the authorship.
5. Form
5.1. Identify the general literary type (genre).
5.2. Identify the specific literary type (form).
5.3. Look for subcategories.
5.4. Suggest a life setting.
5.5. Analyze the completeness of the form.
5.6. Be alert to partial and broken forms.
6. Structure
6.1. Outline the passage.
6.2. Look for patterns.
6.3. Organize your discussion of structure according to descending units of size.
6.4. Evaluate the intentionality of the minor patterns.
6.5. If the passage is poetic, analyze accordingly.
7. Grammatical Data
7.1. Analyze the significant grammatical issues.
7.2. Analyze the orthography and morphology for date or other affinities.
8. Lexical Data
8.1. Explain all words and concepts that are not obvious.
8.2. Concentrate on the most important concepts, words, and wordings.
8.3. Do of the most crucial words or wordings.
8.4. Identify any special semantic features.
9. Biblical Context
9.1. Analyze the use of the passage elsewhere in Scripture.
9.2. Analyze the passage relation to the rest of Scripture.
9.3. Analyze the passage for understanding Scripture.
10. Theology
10.1. Locate the passage theologically.
10.2. Identify the specific issues raised or solved by the passage.
10.3. Analyze the theological contribution of the passage.
11. Secondary Literature
11.1. Investigate what others have said about the passage.
11.2. Compare and adjust.
11.3. Apply your discoveries throughout your paper.
12. Application
12.1. List the life issues.
12.2. Clarify the nature of the application (does it inform or direct?).
12.3. Clarify the possible areas of application (faith or action).
12.4. Identify the audience of the application.
12.5. Establish the categories of the application.
12.6. Determine the time focus of the application.
12.7. Fix the limits of the application.
Moving from Outline to Paper
Chapter 2.
Exegesis and the Original Text
1. Text
1.1. Confirming the limits of the passage
1.2. Comparing the versions
1.3. Reconstructing and annotating the text
- Reconstructing two Hebrew names: Joshua 7:1
- Reconstructing a common term: 1 Samuel 8:16
1.4. Putting your passage in versified form
2. Translation
2.1. A translation that clarifies a prophet's behavior: Jonah 1:2
2.2. A modest, noninterpretive translation: Proverbs 22:6
3. Historical Context
3.1. Context clarifies a prophecy: Hosea 5:8
4. Literary Context
4.1. Examining literary function: How a chapter fits a book: Lamentations 5
4.2. Examining placement
4.3. Analyzing detail
4.4. Analyzing authorship
5. Form
5.1. Form as a key to function: Jonah 2:3-10 [Eng. 2-9]
6. Structure
6.1. Analyzing structure and unity: Amos 5:1
7. Grammatical Data
7.1. Identifying grammatical ambiguity: Judges 19:25
7.2. Identifying grammatical specificity: Hosea 1:2
7.3. Analyzing orthography and morphology
- Orthographic analysis removes an oddity: Genesis 49:10
8. Lexical Data
8.1. The value of looking at key words: 2 Chronicles 13
9. Biblical Context
9.1. Seeing the broader context: Jeremiah 31:31-34
10. Theology
10.1. A special perspective on the doctrine of God: Hosea 6:1-3
11. Secondary Literature
12. Application
12.1. Samplings of an upright life: Job 31
Chapter 3.
Short Guide for Sermon Exegesis
Comment
1. Text and Translation
1.1. Read the passage repeatedly.
1.2. Check for significant textual issues.
1.3. Make your own translation.
1.4. Compile a list of alternatives.
1.5. Start a sermon use list.
2. Literary-Historical Context
2.1. Examine the background of the passage.
2.2. Describe the literary-historical setting.
2.3. Examine the foreground of the passage.
3. Form and Structure
3.2. Identify the genre and the form.
3.2. Investigate the life setting of forms where appropriate.
3.3. Look for structural patterns.
3.4. Isolate unique features and evaluate their significance.
4. Grammatical and Lexical Data
4.1. Note any grammar that is unusual, ambiguous, or otherwise important.
4.2. Make a list of the key terms.
4.3. Pare down the list to manageable size.
4.4. Do a mini word study of at least one word or term.
5. Biblical and Theological Context
5.1. Analyze use of the passage elsewhere in Scripture.
5.2. Analyze the passage to the rest of Scripture.
5.3. Analyze the passage and relation to theology.
6. Application
6.1. List the life issues in the passage.
6.2. Clarify the possible nature and area of application.
6.3. Identify the audience and categories of application.
6.4. Establish the time focus and limits of the application.
7. Moving from Exegesis to Sermon
7.1. Work from your sermon use list.
7.2. Do not use the exegesis outline as the sermon outline.
7.3. Differentiate between the speculative and the certain.
7.4. Differentiate between the central and the peripheral.
7.5. Trust the homiletical commentaries only so far.
7.6. Remember that application is the ultimate concern of a sermon.
Chapter 4.
Exegesis Aids and Resources
1. Textual Criticism
1.1. The need for textual criticism
1.2. Explanations
1.3. The versions
1.4. Critical text editions
1.5. The footnotes and other helps in BH3 and BHS
1.6. The Hebrew University Bible Project and Biblia Hebraica Quinta
1.7. The Masora
1.8. Other Masoretic indicators
2. Translation
2.1. Translation theory
2.2. Translation aids
3. History
3.1. General chronology
3.2. Israelite history
3.3. Israelite and ancient Near Eastern culture
3.4. Other parts of the ancient Near East
3.5. Archaeology
3.6. Geographies and atlases
3.7. Historical criticism
3.8. Tradition criticism
4. Literary Analysis
4.1. Parallel literature
4.2. Genre criticism
4.3. Redaction criticism
4.4. Literary criticism
4.5. Source criticism
4.6. Dating
5. Form
5.1. Form criticism
5.2. The relationship of form to structure
6. Structure
6.1. Definitions
6.2. Rhetorical criticism
6.3. Formula criticism
6.4. Poetry analysis (poetics)
7. Grammar
7.1. Reference grammars
7.2. Other technical sources
8. Lexical Analysis
8.1. Lexicons
8.2. Concordances
8.3. Word studies
8.4. Theological dictionaries
8.5. Inscriptions
9. Biblical Context
9.1. Chain reference lists
9.2. Topical concordances
9.3. Commentaries and biblical context
9.4. Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
9.5. The Old Testament in the New
10. Theology
10.1. Old Testament theologies
10.2. Christian theologies
11. Secondary Literature
11.1. Special reference sources
11.2. The journals
11.3. Old Testament introductions
11.4. Commentaries
11.5. Bible dictionaries and Bible encyclopedias
11.6. Other aids
11.7. Computer Bibles
12. Application
12.1. Hermeneutics
12.2. Some do
A List of Common Old Testament Exegesis Terms
A List of Frequent Hermeneutical Errors
New Testament Exegesis
Analytical Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter I.
Guide for Full Exegesis
A. Initial Steps for All Genres
Step 1. Survey the historical context in general.
1.1. Read the entire document through in English in one sitting.
1.2. Check your observations against the secondary literature.
Step 2. Confirm the limits of the passage.
Step 3. Become thoroughly acquainted with your paragraph/pericope.
3.1. Make a provisional translation.
3.2. Make a provisional list of exegetical difficulties.
3.3. Read the paragraph through in several translations.
Step 4. Analyze sentence structures and syntactical relationships.
4.1. Make a sentence flow.
4.2. Make a sentence diagram.
Step 5. Establish the text.
Step 6. Analyze the grammar.
Step 7. Analyze significant words.
Step 8. Research the historical-cultural background.
B. Special Considerations for Different Genres
B (E). Exegeting the Epistles
Step 9 (E). Determine the formal character of the epistle.
9.1 (E). Differences in Character
9.2 (E). Epistolary Aspects
9.3 (E). Rhetorical Features
Step 10 (E). Examine the historical context in particular.
10.1 (E). Reading for Details
10.2 (E). Audience
10.3 (E). Key Words
10.4 (E). Summary Description
Step 11 (E). Determine the literary context.
11.1 (E). Logic and Content
11.2 (E). Content and Argument
B (G). Exegeting the Gospels
a. The Nature of the Gospels
b. Some Working Hypotheses
c. The Task of Exegesis
Step 9 (G). Determine the formal character of the pericope or saying.
9.1 (G). Identify the general literary type.
9.2 (G). Identify the specific literary form.
Step 10 (G). Analyze the pericope in a Gospel synopsis.
10.1 (G). Selectivity
10.2 (G). Adaptation
10.3 (G). Arrangement
10.4 (G). Consider possible life settings in the ministry of Jesus.
Step 11 (G). Analyze the pericope in its narrative context.
B (A). Exegeting the Acts of the Apostles
Step 10 (A). Research the historical questions.
Step 11 (A). Determine the literary context.
B (R). Exegeting the Book of Revelation
Step 9 (R). Understand the formal character of the Revelation.
9.1 (R). Determine the source or background of the image.
9.2 (R). Determine the present use of the image.
9.3 (R). See the visions as wholes.
Step 10 (R). Determine the historical context.
Step 11 (R). Determine the literary context.
C. Further Steps Common to All
Step 12. Consider the broader biblical and theological contexts.
Step 13. Accumulate a bibliography of secondary sources and read widely.
13.1. Investigate what others have said about the passage.
13.2. Compare and adjust.
13.3. Apply your discoveries throughout your paper.
13.4. Know when to quote.
13.5. Know the uses of annotation.
Step 14. Provide a finished translation.
Step 15. Write the paper.
For the Epistles
15.1 (E). Problems
15.2 (E). Contexts
15.3 (E). Overview
15.4 (E). Argument
15.5 (E). Conclusion
For the Gospels
15.1 (G). Opening
15.2 (G). Context
15.3 (G). Sitz im Leben Jesu
15.4 (G). Meaning
D. The Application
Chapter II.
Exegesis and the Original Text
1. The Structural Analysis
1.1. Make a sentence flow.
1.2. Make a sentence diagram.
2. Establishing the Text
2.1. Learn well some basic concepts about NT textual criticism.
2.2. Set out each of the textual variants along with its supporting evidence.
2.3. Evaluate each of the variants by the criteria for judging external evidence.
2.4. Evaluate each of the variants on the basis of the author’s style and vocabulary (the criterion of intrinsic probability).
2.5. Evaluate each of the variants by the criteria of transcriptional probability.
3. The Analysis of Grammar
3.1. Display the grammatical information for the words in your text on a grammatical information sheet.
3.2. Become acquainted with some basic grammars and other grammatical aids.
3.3. Isolate the words and clauses that require grammatical decisions between two or more options.
3.4. Determine which grammatical decisions need discussion in your paper.
4. The Analysis of Words
4.1. Isolate the significant words in your passage that need special study.
4.2. Establish the range of meanings for a significant word in its present context.
4.3. Analyze the context carefully to determine which of the range of meanings is the most likely in the passage you are exegeting.
5. Historical-Cultural Background
5.1. Be aware of various sources that give you access to the "world" of the New Testament.
5.2. Be alert to specialized sociological-cultural studies.
5.3. Be alert to the New Testament use of the Old (including intertextuality).
5.4. Some guidelines for application to your specific passage.
5.5. Evaluate the significance of the background data for the understanding of your text.
6. The Analysis of a Pericope
6.1. Select a synopsis.
6.2. Locate your passage in the synopsis.
6.3. Isolate the correspondences and differences in wording between your pericope and its Synoptic parallel(s).
6.4. Determine the kind of tradition(s) your pericope appears in.
6.5. Analyze the sequence of the pericope in the Gospel you are exegeting.
6.6. Determine whether your evangelist’s adaptation of the pericope is significant for your interpretation of the text.
6.7. Rethink the location of your pericope in its present literary context in your Gospel.
Chapter III.
Short Guide for Sermon Exegesis
A. The Exegetical Task
1. Getting Started
1.1. Read the larger context.
1.2. Read the passage repeatedly.
1.3. Make your own translation.
1.4. Compile a list of alternatives.
1.5. Analyze the structure.
1.6. Start a sermon use list.
2. Matters of Content
2.1. Check for significant textual issues.
2.2. Note any grammar that is unusual, ambiguous, or otherwise important.
2.3. Make a list of key terms.
2.4. Do a mini-word study for any crucial terms.
2.5. Investigate important historical-cultural matters.
3. Contextual Questions
3 (E). Epistles (Acts, Revelation)
3.1 (E). Examine the historical context.
3.2 (E). Examine the literary context.
3 (G). Gospels
3.1 (G). Identify the form.
3.2 (G). Use a synopsis.
3.3 (G). Investigate possible life settings where appropriate.
3.4 (G). Describe the present arrangement or adaptation.
4. Secondary Literature
4.1. Consult commentaries.
4.2. Read other literature.
5. Biblical-Theological Context
5.1. Analyze the passage’s relation to the rest of Scripture.
5.2. Analyze the passage’s use in and relation to theology.
6. Application
6.1. List the life issues in the passage.
6.2. Clarify the possible nature and area of application.
6.3. Identify the audience and categories of application.
B. Moving from Exegesis to Sermon
7. Spend time in reflection on the text and in prayer.
8. Begin with a sense of purpose.
8.1. Main Points
8.2. Purpose
8.3. Response
9. Decide on the introduction and conclusion.
10. Construct an outline.
11. Construct the sermon.
Chapter IV.
Aids and Resources for the Steps in Exegesis
Step 1. Historical Context in General
Step 2. Limits of the Passage
Step 3. Paragraph Overview/Provisional
Step 4. Sentence Flow or Diagram
Step 5. Textual Criticism
Step 6. Grammar
Step 7. Lexical Aids
Step 8. Historical-Cultural Background
Step 9 (E). Epistolary Forms
9.1. About Ancient Letters
9.2. Rhetorical Analysis
Step 10 (E). Historical Context in Particular
Step 11 (E). Literary Context
Step 9 (G). Gospel Forms
Step 10 (G). Pericope Analysis
Step 11 (G). The Narrative Context
Step 10 (A). Historical Questions
Step 11 (A). Literary Context
Step 9 (R). Apocalyptic Form
Step 12. Biblical Theology
Step 13. Secondary Literature
13.1. Bibliographic Aids
13.2. Periodicals
13.3. Commentaries
Step 14. Translation
Step 15. Application
Appendix:
The Task of Theological Exegesis and Reader-Response Criticism
