Hermeneutical Outlines

Steps from Professor Espinoza's Hermeneutics I course

1. Survey
a. Quote & introduce your passage. Tell why you chose it.
b. Indicate how elements of one's distanciation from the text might affect one's
reading of the text.
c. Indicate how your distanciation from the text might bias your research, and
indicate what you will do to try and mitigate such bias.
d. Tell the reader what you are going to say, and how you are going to say it. (Write
this section, "d.", last, since you don't know where your research may lead you.)

2. Socio-Historical Context
a. Discuss multiple elements of the socio-historical context as they are relevant to
the cultural environment in which your Biblical book was composed.
b. Discuss multiple element of the socio-historical context as they are relevant to
your specific pericope.

3. Literary Context
a. Describe the beginning and end of the pericope, and give reasons for why you
would draw the lines for the beginning & ending where you do.
b. Describe how your pericope contributes to the larger unit of thought, (paragraph,
chapter, etc.), to which it belongs. (i.e., Near Context)
i. Include both what comes before your pericope, and what follows your
pericope.
c. Describe how that larger unit of thought contributes to the book as a whole. (i.e.,
Far Context)

4. Formal Analysis
a. Describe the genre of the book to which your pericope belongs.
i. Include a discussion of what usually constitutes that genre, and how your
book conforms & how the book resists the conventions of the genre.
b. Describe the genre of the pericope itself.
i. Include a discussion of what usually constitutes that genre, and how your
book conforms & how the book resists the conventions of the genre.

5. Detailed Analysis
a. Discuss any rhetorical elements that contribute to one's understanding of the
pericope.
b. Discuss how a clause analysis contributes to one's understanding of the pericope.
(Main Clause vs. Subordinate Clause, Simple vs. Compound vs. Complex Clause)
c. Discuss key vocabulary words and how they contribute to one's understanding of
the pericope.
i. Make sure you keep in mind the differences between the Diachronic vs.
Synchronic meaning of the word/s.

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ii. Also keep in mind that authors & usage, not dictionaries, determine what
words mean.

6. Synthesis of what it meant back then

a. In light of everything you have discussed do far, describe what you think the
pericope meant in its original context.
i. You will probably have to refer to evidence that you discussed earlier in
the essay.
b. This is where you "boil it all down" to a concise, dense summary of the main
points of your research.

7. Reflection on what it means today

a. In light of what the text meant, discuss how the text could inform a believer's life
today.
b. You could pick one or two key ideas that the text conveys, you could let the text
speak in its entirety, or pick another interpretive strategy.
c. Be creative, while respecting the limits of what the text does and does not say &
imply.

8. Conclusion
a. In one or two paragraphs, summarize the entire essay. In your summary, include
both what it meant and what it means. Yes, this will feel redundant. But it is a
necessary component to the exercise.

Steps from Michael Gorman’s Elements of Biblical Exegesis.1

(The Page & Word requirements are suggestions from his book.
They're preserved just to give you a sense of proportion.)

1. Survey (1 page / c.250 words)

a. Introduction or Overview of the paper.

2. Contextual Analysis (2 pages / c. 500 words)

a. Historical Context
i. Discuss “Everything that affects how a person experiences life,” in terms
of the ancient environment of the text, (e.g., political structure, legal
system, social relationships, religious background, resource distribution,
family organization, food, entertainment, etc.)
ii. Focus on items that are specific to your text.

b. Literary Context. (Outline, Far Context, Near Context)

i. Outline the book in which your text is found.

1
Gorman, Michael, Elements of Biblical Exegesis: A Basic Guide for Students and Ministers. Peabody, Mass.:
Hendrickson, 2001

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ii. Far Context: Summarize what came before your passage, what comes after
the passage, and how your passage contributes to the book as a whole
iii. Near Context: Discuss the specific section of the book in which your
passage occurs, and how your passage contributes specifically to this
section.
iv. This whole section focuses more on what the text says.
v. You can read the passage yourself and do this step on your own.

3. Formal Analysis (1-2 pages / c. 250-500 words) (Form, Structure, Movement)

a. This is a more detailed discussion of the Literary Context (above).
b. Discuss the implications of:
i. Genre
ii. Technical “form/s” that comprise your passage,
iii. Literary techniques &/or Rhetorical devices employed in your passage.
1. Cicero & Quintilian are 2 important ancient authors who wrote
about rhetoric.
iv. This whole section focuses more on how the text says it. Not content, but
the structures or patterns it employs.
v. At first, you will need to rely on your sources to alert you to the different
forms present in your passage.

4. Detailed Analysis (2-6 pages / c.500-1,500 words)

a. Use the outline, (above), to structure your discussion (below).
b. Discuss, in detail, the key ideas germane to your passage.
c. Often a verse by verse analysis.
i. Carefully consider the following: Words (Vocabulary) – Sentence
Segments (Clauses) – Sentences – Text Segments (Units of Thought,
Chapters or Sub-headings) – Major text divisions (Groups of Chapters,
Sections) – Text as whole.

5. Synthesis (1 page / c.250 words)

a. Bring all the ideas together to discuss the impact of the text as a whole.

6. Reflection (0-3 pages / c. 0-750 words)

a. On what the text may say to us today.

7. Expansion and Refinement

a. Refine the essay, in light of everything you’ve researched and reconsidered.
b. This will produce your second, third, or final draft of the paper.

Steps from Gordon Fee's New Testament Exegesis2

2
Fee, Gordon D. New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors. Revised Edition. Louisville, KY:
Westminster/John Knox Press, 1983, 1993.

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A. The Exegetical Task

1. Getting Started
a. Read the larger context
b. Read the passage repeatedly
c. Make your own translation
d. Compile a list of alternative translations
e. Analyze the structure
f. Start a sermon short list.
2. Matters of Content
a. Check for significant textual issues
b. Note any grammar that is unusual, ambiguous, or otherwise important
c. Make a list of key terms
d. Do a mini word study for any crucial terms
e. Investigate important historical-cultural matters
3. Contextual Context
a. Epistles, Acts, Revelation
i. Historical context
ii. Literary Context
b. Gospels
i. Identify the form
ii. Use a synopsis
iii. Investigate Sitz em Leben Jesu et Euangelion
iv. Describe the present arrangement or adaptation of material in that Gospel.
4. Secondary Literature
a. Commentaries
b. Other literature
5. Biblical-Theological Context
a. Analyze the passage’s relation to the rest of scripture
b. Analyze the passage’s use in, and reltion to, theology.
6. Application
a. List the life issues in the passage
b. Clarify the possible nature and area of application
c. Identify the audience and categories of application

B. Moving from Exegesis to Sermon

7. Spend time in Reflection on the Text and in Prayer
8. Begin with a sense of Purpose
a. Determine the main points
b. What is the goal/purpose of the sermon?
c. Response: What response do you want to effect in the audience?
9. Introduciton and Conclusion
10. Construct an Outline
11. Construct the Sermon

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