Kan forskning og formidling adskilles?

Resumé

What is going on when you try to understand a text? The hermeneutic problem is a favourite subject in systematic theology. But paradoxically the exegetic disciplines seem to ignore it. Here the text is still considered an object, which can be studied without any reference to the exegete’s personal experience of life. The author’s thesis, borrowed from Heidegger and those influenced by him such as Bultmann and Gadamer, is that the understanding of the past (and documents related to the past) is only possible if you are engaged in the problems of your own time. The understanding moves in a circle. You understand the present if you see it in the light of the past, and the past becomes meaningful if you interpret it in relation to your present situation.