Hermeneutical Questions Research Articles

“This Generation” from Mark to Judas: On the Hermeneutics of Intra-gospel Reception

Although the reception of Mark has a very long tradition within New Testament studies in discussions of the Synoptic problem or the relation of the Synoptics to John, nevertheless works on reception of the Gospel beyond the New Testament are few. Further, especially for the early period, these works focus primarily on the fact of Markan reception—who knew it and accepted it—rather than its hermeneutical potential. The present essay focuses on this hermeneutical question, tracing the Markan language of “this generation” through its reception, rejection, and adaptation in Gospel literature up to the Gospel of Judas. I argue that this intra-Gospel reception reflects back on Mark itself and illuminate aspects of its interpretive possibilities. Indeed, I aim to show here that Mark’s reception is intrinsic to its possibility for meaning at all and by attending to the ways in which early texts from Matthew to Judas interpret Mark enables one to appreciate the very different ways Mark’s potential meaning is actualized. This argument demonstrates the value of uniting exegetical and diachronic description with a dialogical hermeneutical framework, facilitating mutual interpretation without simple harmonization.

Prescriptive Theology for the Local Church: Tite Tiénou's Hermeneutical Contributions to African Evangelical Theology

This article analyses the hermeneutical contributions of Tite Tiénou, a leading figure in African evangelicalism. In the academic literature, African evangelical theology has often been characterised as a ‘biblicist’ form of theologising that does not account for the hermeneutical questions that arise from the encounter between the Christian message and African contexts. This negative perception seems to be based on the radical line of Byang Kato, the first African General Secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. This article argues that Tiénou, in his hermeneutical works, endeavours to develop what he calls a “third way” between academic and popular theologies. This third way honours Kato's theological legacy, yet moves beyond it to seriously addresses the challenges raised by African inculturation theologians. Characteristic of Tiénou's contribution is that he foregrounds the local Christian community, as both the source and the addressee of theology.

Literary and Sufi Analysis of Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s Poem “al-Tā’iyyat al-kubrā”: A Philosophical Educational Approach

The present paper offers a new approach to the poetry of the Egyptian Sufi poet ‛Umar Ibn al-Fāriḍ (576-632AH/ 1181-1235AD). This approach is based on the text of Ibn al- Fāriḍ’s Great Sufi Poem, al-Tā’iyyat al-kubrā, in which the poet expresses in full his spiritual experience. First, the basic hermeneutical question is discussed, e.g., what is the way of approaching a literary text in order to understand the experience of the poet? Also, it deals with a Sufi text, its context and the relationship between text and experience. To what extent does the author express his inner world verbally? In the end, there is a distance between the interior experience of a Sufi and his verbal expression. Eventually, this method is applied to the poetry of Ibn al-Fāriḍ. He describes his Sufi experience as a journey through three steps: from separation (farq) to unity (ittiḥād) to universal union (ǧam‛). On such a partition, ten basic units are highlighted, forming the structure of his Sufi poem.

Receiving Each Other's Gifts

Using the example of the Lord's Supper and the eucharist, this article seeks to show the conditions which make a common liturgical celebration a gift of God to the community of believers in Jesus Christ. The form chosen is a dialogue between two theologians, both members of the German “Ecumenical Study Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians”: Friederike Nüssel (Protestant, Heidelberg) and Dorothea Sattler (Roman Catholic, Münster). The focus is the group’s study “Together at the Lord's Table.” Based on extensive research the study group has formulated the vote to be invited to join in the celebration of the eucharist and the Lord's Supper, trusting in the self-giving presence of Jesus Christ. Ecumenical sensitivity in the shaping of liturgies is an obvious consequence. Individual confessional traditions have preserved an asset that others today can experience as a gift in the form of a reminder of the common origin: the celebration with shared bread and the chalice offered to all (in the background is the controversy over the lay chalice), the binding lectionaries and the remembrance of the dead. The criticism of the vote of the Ecumenical Study Group, especially from the Roman Catholic doctrinal side, primarily relates to the topics of ministry and understanding of the church. The Ecumenical Study Group advocates that eucharistic celebrations be led by duly ordained persons. The contribution is framed by introductory remarks on basic questions of ecumenical hermeneutics and by an outlook on the great importance of interdisciplinary theological study work from an ecumenical perspective.

Popularization or occlusion of truth in the Platonic myths: Plutarch, Numenius, and Maximus of Tyre

Abstract Why does Plato critique traditional myth so vehemently in the Republic, yet compose his own imagistic narratives in the very same dialogue? In this chapter, I examine the responses of Plutarch, Numenius, and Maximus of Tyre. Plutarch defends the use of myth on the grounds that it opens up philosophy for a wider audience, if taught carefully, while Numenius argues that it piously hides the truth from the uninitiated. Maximus draws on both lines of argument. Defending Plato’s corpus, particularly against Epicureans, led the Platonists of the early Empire to speculate on questions of hermeneutics and literary theory.

Memory and Hermeneutics – Current Conversations

This article investigates the current state of the memory debate in biblical studies from a Roman-Catholic point of view. It differentiates four areas: hermeneutical questions about the memory approach and its relationship to history, methodological questions of how memory theory can be applied to reading biblical texts, special questions about the interpretation of particular biblical texts, and meta-reflexive questions about the impact of cultural studies. It argues for a step towards a kulturwissenschaftliche Exegese, in order to embrace social memory theory as a hermeneutics and methodology for reading biblical text on the microscopic (pericope), mesoscopic (book), and macroscopic (canon) level.

ПОНИМАНИЕ И ПРЕДПОНИМАНИЕ В ТЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ГЕРМЕНЕВТИКЕ

The article provides a comparative analysis for the interpretation of theological hermeneutics in the works of Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann. The author considers the specifics in their understanding of the purpose and tasks of theological hermeneutics, its relationship with philosophical hermeneutics, the issues of preunderstanding and the hermeneutic circle. Barth’s hermeneutics is part of dogmatics; the hermeneutic question is the question of how we can adequately speak of God’s revelation in history. God must never become the object of our interpretations, but must always remain the subject who interprets us. Barth’s hermeneutics is characterized by a preliminary comprehension of the theological meaning of the Bible, which for him is the “otherness” of God. Bultmann sought to develop an adequate description of the human situation in which biblical texts are able to speak to us, tried to clarify preunderstanding, the formal conditions for the process of biblical interpretation. Since all human knowledge of God is interpreted knowledge, the theologian who reflects on that process of interpretation needs to reflect on the conceptual framework in which he is interpreting. For Bultmann, unlike Barthes, an open discussion in the presuppositions of any approach to texts should not be seen as determination of our understanding of those texts

INTERDISCIPLINARY META-LEVEL UNIFICATION SCHEME-INTERPRETATIONISM AND SOME PROBLEMS OF SYSTEMS, MODELS AND INSTRUMENTAL HERMENEUTICS

Overall, the current reality and the scientifically represented world are much more than hitherto characterized by problems of cross-disciplinary or “inter-areal” connections of diverse topical research fields within complex and highly interconnected real, model, and quasi artificial systems. Here, we will address the respected problem of the humanities and social sciences somewhat by the rather old-fashioned contrast to the natural sciences. In the main part, I shall sketch my own approach that I call (scheme-) interpretations or methodological interpretative constructivism. This methodological concept seems to me to make possible a bridge between the disciplines – at least by going higher level in one’s methodology. The next part will turn to the historical and methodological questions of text-interpretations or methodological hermeneutics thus amounting to a prominent special case of the scheme-interpretations approach. Finally, the last part draws some methodological conclusions regarding abstract interpretations of “reunification” between the different scientific disciplines and everyday understanding.

Maometto a Roma e crociate in piazza: La facciata di Polidoro da Caravaggio e Maturino da Firenze in piazza Capranica

Mohammed in Rome and Crusades in the Square: Palace Facade in Piazza Capranica in Rome by Polidoro da Caravaggio and Maturino da Firenze This text examines the possible meanings of the facade painted by Polidoro da Caravaggio and Maturino da Firenze in Piazza Capranica in Rome. Considering some philological and hermeneutical questions still open, the essay highlights the links between the work and the topoi circulating in the cultural production in the pontificate of Leo X that support, more or less directly, the crusade promoted by the pope. To explain the iconographic choices of the artists, characterized by a clear anti-Ottoman connotation, some narrative schemes deriving from the tradition of eschatological thought and well documented in the textual network linked to the reign of Giovanni de’ Medici are analyzed. These schemes thematize the Western victory over the Turkish enemy and the universal conversion to Christianity, considered as necessary precursors for the fulfillment of the prophecy enunciated in the Gospel of John (10, 16: “fiet unum ovile et unus pastor”) and quoted in an inscription that stood out on the prospectus. The last part of the text is dedicated to the images of Polidoro and Maturino that were aimed at a very large audience. The levels of comprehensibility and semiotic efficiency are therefore discussed also in the light of the ‘street’ communication network, made up by professionals of ‘popular’ information such as errant preachers and storytellers, capable of disseminating the knowledge necessary to understand the sophisticated contents represented, creating proto-modern forms of public opinion available for war against the Islamic adversary.

ON THE POLYPHONY OF MEANINGS IN “EUGENE ONEGIN”

The questions of the higher hermeneutics of “Eugene Onegin” have been repeatedly considered by literary critics and philosophers, leaving a wide range of mostly subjective opinions about the meaning of the novel. We propose a new approach to isolating the main semantic series and an analysis of their development and interweaving in the text. We single out a number of main categories of meanings, and for each stanza of the novel, one or more of the most appropriate categories have been marked. The resulting graphic structures made it possible to trace the development and interweaving of meanings in the text. It was found that three-quarters of the stanzas of “Eugene Onegin” are polyphonic, in which, in addition to one semantic dominant, there is clearly another, and often a third and even a fourth one. The most frequently occurring bundles of meanings in individual stanzas or in the transition from one stanza to the next stanza are also analyzed. Our approach also make it possible to suggest a possible semantic load of the missing stanzas, marked in the text with dots, and to trace the numerous episodes of the novel when what is happening goes beyond the literary work and enters the real world, for example, through the involvement of the reader. Comparison of “Eugene Onegin” with the works of other contemporary writers and with other masterpieces of Pushkin himself shows a fundamental difference in breadth and excellent perfection of Pushkin’s creation in terms of semantic polyphony. Although the mere presence or absence of semantic polyphony, of course, is not a sufficient condition for literary piece to become a work of genius — it depends more on the realization: a combination of polished style, purity and clarity of language, the ability to evoke a reader’s emotional response etc., but the polyphony meanings of “Eugene Onegin” which we reveal does help to understand the highest meaning and extraordinary, “vital” harmony of the work, making it a unique phenomenon in world literature.

Conservation Practice and the Future of Doctrinal Texts

2021 marks the 90th anniversary of the adoption of the Athens Charter. This, the first international conservation charter, now forms part of the rapidly expanding collection of ‘doctrinal texts’ which undergirds modern conservation. Whatever its strengths and weaknesses, this collection provides a marker of collective identity and is crucial to the self-definition of our discipline.
 While they are rightly held in great affection, this paper argues that to approach this collection of texts uncritically risks producing unintended consequences, potentially including the destruction of important heritage. Precisely because of their enduring influence, it is essential that as a discipline conservation engages in knowledgeable criticism of its doctrinal texts, through an appropriate and hermeneutically literate reading. 
 This paper first considers the nature of doctrinal texts, before using the notion of ‘doctrine’ to explore some of the parallels and differences between doctrinal texts of a religious nature and those of conservation, and so to introduce the question of hermeneutics. This then leads to a discussion of the relation between theory and practice, and the notion, from Aristotle, of phronesis or practical wisdom. The paper then concludes with consideration of some of the implications conservation of adopting this approach.

Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters

Defending Shame: Its Formative Power in Paul’s Letters

‘Caste’ and ‘Descent’: A Curious Case of an International Legal Interpretation

Abstract The reconceptualisation of caste discrimination as racial discrimination through the term ‘descent’ in Article 1 of icerd enabled the international community to take cognisance of caste discrimination, which it had ignored for a long time. However, the government of India, opposing such reconceptualisation, maintains that ‘descent’ in icerd refers only to race and not caste, contrary to the position of UN human rights bodies. Hence, whether ‘descent’ includes ‘caste’ is an important hermeneutical question addressed in this article. Based on the distinction between interpretation and application of a treaty, this article argues that India has accepted the application of icerd to caste discrimination through its conduct and it cannot deny it now according to the principle of estoppel. This article then demonstrates the dynamic interpretation of ‘descent’, justifying it through the consensus analysis methodology of the ECtHR. Moreover, it is found that ‘descent’ was associated with ‘caste’ in British India.

Corpus Coranicum From Philology to Literary Analysis: Critical Vision

أهداف البحث: في عام ۲۰۰۷ أطلقت أكاديمية برلين-براندنبرج للعلوم مشروع الموسوعة القرآنية أو (Corpus Coranicum). وقد أعقب انطلاق هذا المشروع قراءات مختلفة لأهدافه وسياقه الزماني. إذ تلقاه البعض باعتباره فتحا علميا منتظرًا سينتهي بالخروج بنسخة نقدية للقرآن، بينما لم ير فيه آخرون أصالة على مستوى المنهج أو الرؤية، اللهم إلا شمول العمل وسعة مراميه. ترمي هذه الدراسة إلى تقديم مراجعة نقدية لبعض جوانب المشروع، وخصوصا ما يتصل بالجانب التوثيقي منه، ومناقشة بعض العناصر المنهجية والأسس المعرفية التي يستند إليها؛ من أجل الوصول إلى تقييم أدق للمشروع ومخرجاته. منهج الدراسة: تعتمد الدراسة في ذلك منهج المقارنة والنقد النصي للقراءات القرآنية في مصادرها، وتحليل الأسس التأويلية للفهم التاريخي للقرآن ونقدها. النتائج: تخلص الدراسة إلى أن المادة التي تقدمها الموسوعة في قاعدة بياناتها الرقمية لا تصلح أساسا لنقد نصي يكشف التشكل التاريخي لنص القرآن وقراءاته، وذلك لخلل منهجي وإجرائي في التعامل مع المصادر التاريخية. كما تبين الدراسة الإشكاليات المنهجية والتأويلية التي تقوم عليها عملية جمع النصوص الدينية والثقافية القديمة وربطها بالنص القرآني، وأن هذه على فائدتها في إثراء فهمنا للمحيط الثقافي والتاريخي للقرآن، إلا أنها لا بد أن تكون واعية بقيودها المتمثلة بحاجز الترجمة، والتأويل المزدوج (القرآن والنص الموازي). أصالة البحث: وهي بذلك أول دراسة نقدية مفصلة حول هذا المشروع، تتجاوز السجالات السائدة بين الشرق والغرب، وتفتح آفاقا للحوار والنقد العلمي البناء.

Material hermeneutics and Heelan’s philosophy of technoscience

This essay raises the question of material hermeneutics in Heelan’s philosophy of techno-science. For Heelan, a continental philosophy of technoscience, referring to Husserl and Heidegger and especially to Merleau-Ponty, features hermeneutic contexts of mathematics and measurement as well as laboratory observation, including what the later Heelan spoke of as “portable laboratories,” for the sake of objectivity and “meaning making.” For Paul Feyerabend, this material practice corresponded to the use of both techniques of observation and instrumentation, and not less “propaganda” in the case of Galileo which practice for Heelan included the ontological status of measures and numbers as well as apprenticeship in what Heelan called “contingent local practical cultural milieus.” The essay includes a discussion of Heidegger on mathematics and Bruno Latour on pasteurization.

Quo Vadis Ecumenical Hermeneutics: Challenges of the New Ecumenical Situation

Abstract This article deals with the development of hermeneutics in the dialogue between confessions within the ecumenical movement, from its beginnings in 1927 until the current time. As an overview of historical circumstances, it critically presents the main document of ecumenical hermeneutics, including its contemporary tendencies and challenges. Special attention is given to the various models of ecumenical hermeneutics, the influence of philosophical hermeneutics, as well the role of hermeneutical questions in the contemporary ecumenical dialogue.

Who Can Read Wisdom? The Implied Virtues of the Readers of Wisdom’s Narratives

This article contributes to the attempt to reformulate hermeneutical questions about ‘how to read the Bible’ in terms of theological characterisations of the kind of reader best placed to read the Bible well. It is thus situated amidst renewed interest in the intersection of character ethics and biblical interpretation. It addresses two related issues, before pointing in the direction of a substantive third concern. First, it explores what is at stake in reading wisdom texts as narratives, finding it persuasive to construe wisdom in narrative terms. Secondly, it considers what virtues are presupposed in these narrative constructions. The reading of Job draws us to consider patience; from Proverbs we consider the virtue of perceptiveness; and from Ecclesiastes a virtue of honesty. Thirdly, the larger question of how one might begin to characterise the implied reader of these texts is considered, building on a canonically constructed portrait of the reader informed by the virtues considered.

The Reformation and the Irrepressible Word of God: Interpretation, Theology, and Practice ed. by Scott M. Manetsch

Reviewed by: The Reformation and the Irrepressible Word of God: Interpretation, Theology, and Practice ed. by Scott M. Manetsch John T. Pless The Reformation and the Irrepressible Word of God: Interpretation, Theology, and Practice. Edited by Scott M. Manetsch. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019. 244 pp. The title is a bit misleading as the reader is led to think that the volume focuses on questions of biblical authority and hermeneutics in the Reformation. While these topics are addressed in the two chapters in Part One, the remaining three parts of the book touch on a range of topics. The nine chapters were originally given as lectures(?) at a 2017 conference, "The Reformation and the Ministry of the Word" held at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. The two chapters that deal most explicitly with biblical interpretation are by the editor, Scott Manetsch, and David S. Dockery. Examining Jean Crespin's history of Reformation martyrs, Manetsch demonstrates how the scriptures were employed to interpret martyrdom in the context of the larger narrative of salvation history thus [End Page 370] providing consolation for those who faced imprisonment and death on account of their confession. Dockery treats Luther's understanding of biblical authority in light of Luther's Christology. A chapter by Michael A.G. Haykin takes up Hugh Latimer's approach to biblical preaching in the English Reformation. Perhaps the most interesting chapter is Ronald K. Rittgers' "Scripture as 'Sacrament' in Protestant Pastoral and Devotional Literature." Rittgers, the author of several major Reformation studies including The Reformation of Suffering (Oxford, 2012), masterfully develops his thesis that the scriptures functioned sacramentally in the pastoral and devotional literature of this era to give ordinary lay Christians a tangible connection with the divine without "superstitious" practices associated with late medieval Christianity: "Wherever it was found, Scripture was a Spirit-inspired and Spirit-enabled means of grace for those who had faith, especially for those who suffered in body or soul. God did not simply inform the afflicted of His will in Scripture; God also poured out divine grace to them through Scripture. God was present to them via the Word" (101). In advancing his thesis, Rittigers challenges the so-called "disenchantment" thesis that asserts that the Reformation de-mystified the world thus opening the way for the Enlightenment and modern secularism. Michael Horton's chapter looks at Luther's reading of the biblical texts on justification by faith in light of patristic exegesis, pointing out what he sees as similarities between Luther's opponents and positions taken by advocates of the New Perspective on Paul. Kevin DeYoung reflects on implications of the doctrine of justification for preaching and pastoral care in an age of "victimization." The final section, "The Christian Life in the Reformation," contains chapters by Thomas H. McCall on "The Sainthood of All Believers" and David Luy on "Luther on the General Priesthood: An Embedded Account." McCall, critical of Gerhard Forde's often repeated assertion that sanctification is "the art of getting used to justification" (148), does not so much seek to engage Forde as he does to point out positive references in Luther and the Formula of Concord to the renovating work of the Spirit and the presence of good works in the lives of those who have the status of sainthood. Luy takes a fresh look at "the doctrine of the general priesthood" [End Page 371] which he calls a "signature theme of Luther's reformation theology" (168). After critiquing "unembedded" readings of Luther's teaching on the priesthood of all believers, Luy draws connections with the Reformer's understanding of vocation as priests speak the Word to one another so that Christ is mediated to the neighbor. An Afterword, "What Evangelicals Can Learn from the Reformation," by Timothy George concludes the volume. George notes the increased interest in Luther and the Reformation among American Evangelicals over the last forty years, echoes Bonhoeffer's concern that America has experienced a Protestantism without a Reformation, and emphasizes the dangers implicit in such Protestantism also for Evangelicals. Overall, this helpful book signals a thoughtful engagement with the Reformation in light of contemporary challenges. [End Page 372] John T. Pless Concordia Theological Seminary...

Moral Hope: Aquinas and Cajetan on Magnanimity

Moral Hope:Aquinas and Cajetan on Magnanimity1 Nicholas Austin S.J. It is lamentable that the concept of magnanimity has largely retired from active service in our moral discourse. Anodyne labels such as "self-esteem," and even old expressions for vices, like "ambition" and "pride," often act as quasi-virtue terms; "magnanimity," with its deep genealogy, languishes. Yet one may well hesitate to recall magnanimity to active duty. Today we are unclear what magnanimity is, and the vague idea we have of it leaves us unsure of its ethical credentials. Aristotle's classic portrayal of this virtue of greatness gives the impression of an elitist, aristocratic ideal.2 The magnanimous man has a high opinion of his greatness. He is conscious of the rewards, especially those of status and wealth, that are due to him. From his perch of isolated independence, he looks down on his many inferiors. John Casey opines, "it goes without saying that [Aristotle's magnanimous man] is directly opposed to Christian humility."3 Even Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the best-known advocates for the retrieval of Aristotelian virtue, consistently complains that Aristotle's magnanimous man is guilty of "an illusion of self-sufficiency … all too characteristic of [End Page 817] the rich and powerful in many times and places."4 Magnanimity's few champions today often turn to Thomas Aquinas to answer the charge of moral elitism.5 Aquinas brilliantly places the apparently opposed virtues of magnanimity and humility in mutually interpretive dialectic.6 These two habits work in contrariwise directions: humility tempers the will for an arduous good; magnanimity fosters it. Yet they meet in the rational mean, since both rest on self-knowledge, whether of weakness or worth.7 The marriage of this unlikely couple corrects both the self-effacement that masquerades as humility and the presumptuous pride with which magnanimity is easily confused. "Humble magnanimity," therefore, names a dynamic tension between contrasting moral qualities that cannot rightly be conceived without each other. To ready magnanimity for a return to vigorous duty, however, requires more than its reconciliation with humility. Still required is a cogent account of what exactly magnanimity is, and why today we should acknowledge it as a virtue. In this essay, I seek to show that magnanimity is both intelligible and attractive when understood as a quality of moral hope. To analyze magnanimity, I work from the principle that Aquinas lays down when he defines virtue in the Summa theologiae [ST]: "The complete concept of [End Page 818] anything is gathered from all its causes."8 I have argued elsewhere that this principle entails a fruitful "causal" approach to delineating the contours of a specific virtue by identifying its causal principles (material, formal, final, and efficient).9 I therefore offer a definition by identifying what the virtue is about (matter), what work the virtue does in this sphere (mode), which persons bear it (subject), what target it is directed toward (object), and what brings it about (efficient cause). At its core, I argue, is the well-ordered hope for excellent moral agency. In my argument I draw generously, and perhaps controversially, from significant figures in the Thomist tradition, especially Thomas de Vio Cajetan († 1534).10 I find the turn to tradition necessary because of an especially intractable problem I encountered in my attempt to causally analyze the virtue of great-heartedness. The aporia concerns magnanimity's very object: to what great things does the virtue of greatness tend? The classical sources are marked by a disconcerting ambivalence on this question.11 Even in Aquinas, magnanimity can seem shockingly Janus-faced, appearing first as an Aristotelian orientation to great honor and then as a Ciceronian aspiration to great moral achievement.12 It is unclear which of these two dispositions is more essential, how they are related, and even whether they are mutually compatible. A promising resolution, both to the theoretical problem about magnanimity's nature and to the hermeneutical question of how to read the text, lies in Cajetan's "very luminous commentary"13 on Aquinas's first article on magnanimity in ST. My own account of magnanimity's twofold object follows Cajetan's analysis but also raises—and attempts...

A BUDDHIST CANONICAL TEXT WITH A COMMENTARY AS A TRADITIONAL HYPERTEXT. THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE BRAHMAJĀLASUTTANTA WITH CORRESPONDING COM MENTARY FROM THE SUMAṅGALAVILĀSINĪ

The publication presents the initial passages of the famious Pali Brahmajālasuttanta with the corresponding parts of its traditional commentary Sumaṅgalavilāsinī as a sample of the ancient hypertext. It is meant as a valuable source to such fundamental philological and hermeneutical questions as what is commented ans what is disregarded by the commentator; how, why and whatfore is in commented.