Four Models Of Understanding The Bible

What are the four models four understanding the Bible? This is a simple enough question to consider, but the truth is these four models are extremely important to understand. Now, the way to understand these four steps is by being aware of what they are. First, is the proof-text method, next comes the historical-critical method, after this is the reader-response method, and finally the syntactical theological method. Each of these methods is unique in their own way, and the best way to learn about them is by diving right in. The first model to focus on is the proof-text method. The main focus of this approach is to understand the Bible from both a practical, as well as, pastoral perspective. What is interesting about this perspective is that …show more content…
This method is almost like an odd mix of the two previous methods in the sense that it relies heavily on both the historical-critical method, as well as, allowing a person to interpret into a modern day meaning. Now, the issue becomes that in allowing an individual person or interpreter to decide what a text means now, there has and will continue to be conflicting meanings which arise. After all, when it comes down to it, in using this method of understanding the meaning of the Bible it leaves it up to an individual basis. And, though groups of people may come together and agree on certain translations, meanings, and anything else, the fact of the matter is each individual person has gone through life differently, meaning his or her own concept of the text might still be different in the end. So, sadly by using the reader-response method there is still confusion because, “…the church has continued to lose any sense of derived authority from the text, since no one can rank, much less determine, which is the correct or preferred meaning from the large number of competing meanings,” (Kaiser and …show more content…
This method focuses on first on a historical study of the text and then a study of its meaning through theological relevance. This means that this method heavily focuses on taking a text and looking at everything from the syntax of phrases, clauses, and how the sentence contributes to entire paragraphs. Syntactical theological method states that, “because the Bible purports to be a word from God, the task of locating meaning is not finished until one apprehends the purpose, scope, or reason (indeed, the theology) for which that text was written,” (Kaiser and Silva). Essentially, this method is similar to each of the previous methods, but it seeks to balance out each of these methods in a more manageable