The Wikipedia page on Exegesis.
This post is a little different. This is a less political post (though everything ultimately touches on politics). This is more about my personal theological views, in order to make sure that people reading my work know where I’m coming from.
I am not a biblicist. I do not study the Bible in anything resembling an academically rigorous way. I take biblicists seriously and study their work when I can. However, I do not think that biblicism is necessary for reading the Bible and forming opinions on it. In this way, I think of myself as a good Protestant.
I am a relatively orthodox Lutheran. I have positions that put me at odds with the Lutheran orthodoxy (purgatorial universalism, for example). However, in general, my answer to what I believe about a theological topic at least begins with, “Well, let’s look at the Book of Concord.” As a Lutheran, I take seriously the idea that Scripture interprets itself — we use aspects or themes of Scripture to understand other aspects. However, I also believe that Scripture must be understood in a broader way than the words on the page alone. Without context, we cannot understand ideas or motives in anything like a full sense. We must use history to understand what a given Scriptural text means. Sometimes, the historical context can entirely change the meaning of the passage, making this a difficult and ongoing process.
