Making a Case for Psychological Hermeneutics as a Method in New Testament Interpretation

Abstract

Abstract:Scholarly reading of the New Testament, as differing from the popular reading, or misreading as the case may be, demands and involves expertise. Such expertise is aware that certain settings and circumstances gave rise to the articulations that became scriptural texts. Making the age-old text understandable to today's audience is vitally important. Exegesis has become interdisciplinary, presenting itself in and through models of interpretation. One of such, as this work buttresses, is the place of psychology in New Testament hermeneutics. This article highlights the fact and responds to the realisation that psychological and psychic sensitivities influenced the expressions that became Scripture, and it argues that this awareness is a veritable aid to the interpretation of biblical texts. Termed psychological hermeneutics, it articulates the relationship between religious symbolisms, as expressed in biblical texts, and the pre-occupations of psychology. The article establishes that interpretation of New Testament texts through this prism affords a re-reading of the Christ event that enables positive cognitive restructuring. It gives rise to positive emotions and rational responses towards personal competence for the betterment of society.