Two Basic Questions? Chapter 5 Theological Analysis pg 121

• Two Basic Questions?

• 1. How does this passage fit into the total pattern of God's revelation that was revealed prior to its writing?
• 2. How does this passage fit into the total pattern of God's revelation that has been revealed at any time?
• NOTE “If we believe that each individual writing found in the Bible has a common divine author, then our exegetical exploration expands beyond the relationship between a text and the single biblical writing in which it is found to include questions about its relationship to the entire biblical canon.”
• 3. What is the pattern of God's revelation?
• Which question to answer first forms a 'hermeneutical circle.'
• The danger: 'Sometimes we make the fact fit our preconceptions and thus distort them.'
• The best solution: Be conscious of your and others theological bias that temper your hermeneutical process.