Hermeneutics In Religion

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Arguably one of the most integral aspects of a religion is its scriptural text. It assumes the role as an identifier to the followers of that particular practice as well as provides a sort of guide book of traditions and values. The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam find their own respective ‘guide books’ in the form of the Tanakh, the Bible, and the Qur’an. Although these three scriptural canons share the similar belief of dedicating oneself to one true God (names may vary) and sometimes in doctrinal values, their origins, meanings, interpretations, and execution of interpretation through tradition often strongly vary as a result of the lengths of time over which they were written, the identity and number of contributors …show more content…
This has been come to be known as hermeneutics, or principles and theory of interpretation. However hermeneutics may come under scrutiny and controversy in the form of hermeneutic of suspicion. Hermeneutic suspicion, as it is otherwise known, assumes that text or meaning is historically conditioned and has been used to oppress certain groups of people through the tradition interpreted from the scriptural canon, despite never having intended to do so. One controversial topic of hermeneutic suspicion may be seen in the role of women in the Abrahamic religions. In Jewish and Christian religions, men are viewed as above women seeing as man (Adam) was created first and woman (Eve) was the one that fell sin to temptation. However, man’s superiority to women was never explicitly stated in Genesis. It just came to be interpreted that way. “In the sermon that Moses preaches, God says, I set before you blessing and curse, good and evil, and it tells us to choose. So the responsibility is on us to choose… It [the Bible] doesn’t make the choice for us” (Trible, “Wrestling with Scripture 6). God doesn’t dictate the action of his word, man does. Interpretation of scripture is entirely subjective to the thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of the followers interpreting it; and, once they have, that interpretation solidifies into tradition. This thus creates controversy over what the scripture actually does mean in the eyes of

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