Why is the Bible subject to a high level of interpretation?
score:18
The Bible is subject to several different types of interpretation and criticism. This is for various reasons:
It was originally written in languages that are no longer spoken. The ancient Greek and Hebrew that it was written in are similar but dramatically different than the current forms of those languages (languages morph and change over time).
Translation from one language into another is not a lossless conversion process. You can lose some of the meaning and significance in the translation from the source material. You can also introduce noise into the new copy through lingual nuance. This is why so many different English translations of the Bible exist; reading several translations will often give a clearer picture, but sometimes you just have to go back to the original language.
It was written for and by ancient cultures that we share very little cultural reference with.
- It was written over a great deal of time by a variety of people in a variety of places on a changing cultural landscape.
It's a piece of historical literature and thus subject to the same interpretation and criticism as all historical literature is subject to. Pages and volumes of ink has been spilled on Chaucer and Shakespeare, in more recent times, and Plato, Aristotle and Josephus in more ancient ones.
It is considered to be the word of God. If God spoke it then it should be examined carefully to see what it says.
Finally, it is considered to be "living" meaning that it is constantly applicable to our daily lives, even though it was written ages ago. To emphasize this Hebrews 4:12-13(NIV)
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Upvote:4
The most common Christian viewpoint is that the Bible is the infallible word of God.
If a particular part of it seems to contradict reality or another part of the Bible it must be the interpretation that is incorrect ergo there has to be an interpretation that makes sense (regardless of how obvious that interpretation is).
Upvote:6
Every text is subject to interpretation at some level. The deeper the subject matter, the more this is true. The Constitution of the United States has been interpreted many different ways, and people argue about its meaning even today.
The other answers regarding language, culture, and time all contribute to the problem. The fact that the text is considered by many interpreters to be infallible adds another dynamic: an interpretation of one part of the Bible cannot contradict the meaning of another part. Actually, I find this to be a help in interpretation. A difficult passage may be explained by other parts of the Bible.
Upvote:8
The Bible consists of many books from different times, in different languages. Every one of these books is very old, and comes from a culture very different from ours. Thus there are many reasons why the communication could fail -- i.e. we might misunderstand what a given passage was meant to communicate.
Compare to the U.S. legislation, written in plain English quite recently. How many people make a living off of interpreting it?
What's more, Christians consider the Bible the Word of God. That makes it very interesting and gives a strong motivation for trying to understand it. That alone is enough for someone to commit their life to studying the Bible. Moreover, like CiscoIPPhone's answer explains, those considering the Bible infallible don't believe there are any contradictions in the Bible -- so some will work really hard to explain any claimed contradictions.
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