Once An Exegete...

As mentioned previously, I am a professional student...not in the sense that I get paid for it, but in the sense that I just can't give it up. I know it sounds cliche, but cliches are cliche for a reason.

In any case, I have for a few years now been in a rotation of biblical Greek classes. While I cannot say I adore the Perfect Passive Participle (except for the elegance of its alliteration), nor do I swoon at the thought of an Aorist of any kind, I love being able to read the Bible in it's original language, even if it does take me five times longer than reading it in English.

But language learning comes easy to me. I have studied a number of languages and am fluent in a couple. There is a comfortable routine to learning languages in which I have been safely cocooned for the past few years. With the completion of my final Greek final last week, the cocoon has fallen away and it's time to fly again into the realm of biblical exegesis.

I have studied, taught, learned, retaught, etc., the Bible for over 2 decades now. In other words, I have been an exegete for more than half my life. But in a mere 3 short weeks I will be jumping back into the scholarly world of exegesis with both feet (or should I say flying in with both wings?) which I have been largely out of for 3 years. I must confess I do so with a tad more than a bit of trepidation.

You see, I know the boys and girls I will be studying with. I have been part of their world for 13+ years now since Mark and I moved to Memphis. Not only do I take classes with them, but I have them in my home, I get to know them, I minister to them, and I learn a lot from them, especially about what the young folks are doing these days. For instance, only last week a few were teaching me what "Emo" and "Scene" are and that Hello Kitty is not just for little girls anymore.

One of the things I know about these wonderful people is that they like to toss around their special theology words (even "exegesis" is just a fancy word for good, in-depth Bible study) and speak in sentences three times longer than they need to in order to say what they want to say. Don't misunderstand, I love them tremendously! They are brilliant, godly, big-word-users (and I do love big words). But they can be a bit intimidating.

"You? Intimidated?" I know that is what many of you are thinking (along with the thought that it's probably good for Christine to be a bit intimidated). But think with me for a moment...what would be most intimidating to me? Yes, that's right. You've got it. Sounding stupid. I don't want to go to class and not know the language.

So I went to a professor recently and asked him to suggest a book for me to read over the winter break that would refresh my memory of the language of exegesis. He recommended a book by Michael J. Gorman called Elements of Biblical Exegesis. While it sounds rather dry and dull, I confess I have enjoyed the book more than I expected to.

And while I am confessing, I might as well say, the reason I am enjoying the book so much is because in the very first chapter, the wise Dr. Gorman said the following:

An exegete needs not only principles, rules, hard work, and research skills, but also intuition, imagination, sensitivity, and even a bit of serendipity on occasion.

Intuition, imagination, sensitivity, serendipity...now those are things I know intimately. Such things I bring to the exegetical table along with the rest.

So, thank you, Dr. Gorman, for reminding me that exegesis is much bigger than rules and a bunch of big words, which, interestingly, I find I am recalling quickly as I read the book. Perhaps in the end I can safely say, once an exegete, always an exegete!