Quotes About Interpretation

Where more is meant than meets the ear.

Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamp-post what it feels about dogs." [ Time Magazine , October 31, 1977]

Christians are called to be Bible interpreters, but our interpretations must not be based simply on "what I want the Bible to say." We need God's Spirit to discipline our reading of Scripture.

the historical Jesus is neither the real Jesus nor the easy way to him. The real Jesus is not available and never will be. This is true not because Jesus did not exist -he certainly did- but rather because the sources that have survived do not and never intended to record all or even most of the words and deeds of his public ministry-to say nothing of the rest of his life.

The emphasis of interpretation was rooted in their understanding that their endeavour would take a long time and that outside intervention too often comes wrapped in agendas and time frames that offer help but which demand outcomes related to foreign understandings of purpose and results.

Defining consultancy is a bit like defining the upper class every possible candidate draws the line just below himself.

One great function of Bible verses: To keep us from drawing false inferences from other Bible verses.

We must train our people that it is not irreverent to see difficulties in the biblical text and to think hard about how they can be resolved.

Puns are at their core defined by multiplicity of meaning, not necessarily humor. The common expectation that puns should always be funny, or die in the attempt, is a relatively modern development.

Em música há imensas questões técnicas. Se estivermos a escrever para instrumentos que nós próprios não tocamos, precisamos de aprender imenso acerca deles se queremos que a música seja interpretável.

The NIV version of Daniel 10:14, translates achariyth as the "future," not the 'least.' Translating acariyth as 'least' is not only contrary to other interpretations of achariyth, it is also inconsistent with the other Daughter of Babylon verses, which tell us that the nation is the world's preeminent superpower, not the 'least' nation.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times." (Matthew 16:1-3)

In the years since the 17th century authors interpreted the verses, primarily those from Revelation, as referring to the Roman Catholic Church. The clash of interpretations is quite stark; do these end times verses, yet unfulfilled on their face, refer to modern day Iraq, do they describe modern day America, or is there another possible nation to which they could refer?

Interpreting the verses as referring to the Catholic Church or, as one writer conjectured – to "corrupt Christianity" in the last days, is fraught with problems, as there is no "mother" of the Church in the world today who would be distressed by its fall.

I have a theory of statistics: if you can double them or halve them and they still work, they are really good statistics.

there is a radical underdetermination of what is said by the literal meaning of the sentence. There is nothing in the literal meaning of the sentence "She gave him her key and he opened the door" to block the interpretation, He opened the door with her key by bashing the door down with the key; the key weighed two hundred pounds and was in the shape of an axe. Or, He swallowed both the door and the key and he inserted the key in the lock by the peristaltic contraction of his gut.

The best objects to think with are words, because that is part of what words are for. Indeed, it is a condition for something to be a word that it be thinkable. But

nothing in the literal meaning of those sentences blocks those wrong interpretations. In each case we understand the verb differently, even though its literal meaning is constant, because in each case our interpretation depends on our Background abilities.

It is in this power of saying everything, and yet saying nothing too plainly, that the perfection of art consists.

Be sure that you go to the author to get at his meaning, not to find yours.

All art is but dirtying the paper delicately.

Hamlet could not possibly have been written by Hamlet.

John Morris says the Lepchas are obsessed with sex. (The Lepchas say John Morris is obsessed with sex.)

It was obvious to early Jewish interpreters that the word "land" in the Jeremiah passage meant "the land" which was promised to Israel and which was also inhabited by Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon ( Jeremiah 27:3). It was also clear to them, as it is to most modern scholars, that the Jeremiah passage was reading off the pages of Genesis