Quotes About Interpretation

The genius of Monte Carlo—and its search-engine descendants—lies in the ability to extract meaningful solutions, in the face of overwhelming information, by recognizing that meaning resides less in the data at the end points and more in the intervening paths.

We may conclude that a moderate futurist interpretation understands the seven letters to be addressed to seven historical churches that are representative of the entire church. The seals represent the forces in history, however long it lasts, by which God works out his redemptive and judicial purposes in history leading up to the end. The events beginning with chapter 7 lie in the future and will attend the final disposition of the divine will for human history.

But "it is almost universally agreed that the word justify (dikaio?) does not mean 'make righteous.'"21 Rather, it designates the status — the relationship of righteousness.

Biblical theology is that discipline which sets forth the message of the books of the Bible in their historical setting. Biblical theology is primarily a descriptive discipline.

Furthermore, unless Jesus had some interpretation for his own death, it is difficult to explain how the theology of atonement arose in the early church. Long ago, Schweitzer criticized Wrede's nonmessianic theory on the grounds that resurrection would never constitute Jesus as Messiah in the mind of the church,5 and the validity of this criticism still stands.

History always tries to understand the meaning of the events it reports; and the fact that a person has a viewpoint does not mean that person is a poor historian and distorts facts to support his or her interpretation.

We cannot therefore speak of a Pauline theology as an abstract, theoretical, speculative system; but we can recognize a Pauline theology as an interpretation of the meaning of the person and work of Christ in its practical relevance for Christian life, both individual and collective.

Cullmann interprets the binding of Satan by his quaint idiom that he is bound, but with a long rope.42 Satan is not powerless, but his power has been broken.

Revelation, then, is the totality of the historical event of Jesus Christ plus the apostolic interpretation of the divine meaning of the event — the apostolic interpretation being itself a part of the event.

we may say that whenever a statement in Scripture conflicts in its apparent meaning with a conclusion of demonstration, if Scripture is considered carefully, 5 and the rest of its contents searched page by page, there will invariably be found among the expressions of Scripture something which in its apparent meaning bears witness to that allegorical interpretation67 or comes close to bearing witness.

The truth is sometimes a poor competitor in the market place of ideas – complicated, unsatisfying, full of dilemmas, always vulnerable to misinterpretation and abuse.

A politician's words reveal less about what he thinks about his subject than what he thinks about his audience.

Who teaches young people to be so exquisitely sensitive to perceived slights, so ready to read affronts into routine events in everyday life? Their teachers no doubt.

Meaning comes from the capacity to see what is not in some simple, objective sense there on the printed page. And when the judges in 1954 read the record of enforced segregation it carried only one possible meaning: It expressed a judgment of inherent inferiority on the part of the minority race."65

one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter

Your definition of 'well' is troubling at best." He suddenly smiled and affected a slight accent. "'I do not think that word means what you think it means.'" He was obviously quoting something he and Jason seemed to know that she did not. Jason grinned. "Ha, she ain't a princess, and you wish you were that good a swordsman.

I couldn't see Jim's face from all the way up here, but I recognized his pose well enough. It was his "what the hell is this bullshit?" pose.

You always come up with such flattering metaphors. The last time we had one of our little talks, you compared me to a cactus.

People say that physics has laws, I told him, walking to the bedroom door. I prefer to view them as a set of flexible guidelines.

In all judgements by which we describe anything as beautiful, we allow no one to be of another opinion.

La belleza artística no consiste en representar una cosa bella, sino en la bella representación de una cosa.

Gustavo Solivellas dice: Vemos las cosas, no como son, sino como somos nosotros (Kant)

Tutto ciò che è stato scritto dagli uomini sulle donne deve essere ritenuto sospetto dal momento che essi sono ad un tempo giudici e parti in causa.

We know nothing but our manner of perceiving [objects], a manner which is peculiar to us, and not necessarily shared by every being, even though it must be shared by every human being.