Desnitsky A. D-37 Introduction to Biblical Exegesis/ Andrei Desnitsky. Moscow, PSTGU Publ., 2011. - 413 p. ISBN 978-5-7429-0660-5

The book by the Russian philologist and biblical scholar A. Desnitsky is devoted to the science and art of interpreting the Bible. It covers the history of exegesis, its methodology and contains numerous examples. The book is intended for a wide reader and can be used as a textbook.

Organized within the framework of the scientific and publishing program of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University, the publishing project "Biblical and Patrological Studies", headed and edited by A. R. Fokin, Associate Professor of the Department of Patrology of the Faculty of Theology of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is designed to contribute to the revival and development of the tradition of biblical and patrological studies in Russia, which is the most important task of the modern Orthodox scientific community. The project is being carried out in close cooperation with the "Center for Biblical Pathrological Research" of the Department for Youth Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church.

CONTENT

CONTENT

PREFACE

The Institute for Bible Translation is pleased to present to the reader the book "Introduction to Biblical Exegesis", which has been prepared for several years.

This book is intended primarily for those who intend to engage in Bible translation. The author of the book has been working for the Institute for Bible Translation as a consultant for more than ten years; His task is to guide the work of the various translation teams and to advise them, monitoring the quality of the text at the various stages of translation, editing, approbation and, finally, preparation for publication. In addition, the duties of the consultant include the preparation of new theological editors and other members of the translation teams for their rather unique work. Each draft, verse by verse, must be carefully checked for compliance with the original – this work in our projects is performed by a theological editor. This is a person who has received sufficient education to, on the one hand, read and analyze the biblical text in the original with the help of all available manuals, and on the other hand, to check how accurately and clearly the meaning of the text is expressed in the target language, how adequately the equivalents in the culture of the people into whose language the translation is made are selected to biblical realities and concepts.

We did not have a suitable manual in Russian to teach future theological editors to analyze biblical texts, so our Institute willingly accepted Andrei Desnitsky's proposal to create such a manual, and here it lies before us. The publication will explain to readers the basics of exegesis, the art of understanding biblical texts, and, thus, will help us in preparing colleagues for our translation projects.

Но книга предназначена не только для богословских редакторов: с уверенностью можно сказать, что она будет интересна всем читателям, которые изучают Библию, а возможно и другие письменные памятники древности. Книга в своем роде уникальна, ведь это не просто еще одно русское издание по вопросам библеистики, а целостный и объемный труд, который может одновременно служить и учебным пособием. Отличается она и от современных западных изданий, посвященных экзегетике. Разумеется, в мире издано уже немало достойных книг на эту тему, но это издание ориентируетс а на русского читателя, оно учитывает русские культурные и религиозные традиции, а также современное состояние библеистики и других гуманитарных наук в России. При этом издание представляет отечественному читателю некоторые важнейшие достижения мировой науки в этой области, опираясь на сведения, которые уже должны быть ему известны.

Помимо этого, книга является также введением, которое поможет заинтересованным читателям сориентироваться в более специальной литературе по библейской экзегетике и найти свой собственный путь среди множества существующих методик и подходов.

Д-р Марианна Беерле-Моор, директор Института перевода Библии, Москва

Март 2011 г.

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