Open Book Bible Exegesis Examination

The Presbyterian Church [USA] requires of those who wish to be ordained to pass five tests: Bible Content, Open Book Bible Exegesis, Theological Competence, Worship and Sacraments, and Church Polity. There have been some recent changes to the Open Book Bible Exegesis Examination. The following has been quoted directly from http://www.pcusa.org/exams/explanation.htm

During the course of the self-study and additional conversations with the deans and some faculty members of our PC(USA) seminaries, it became clear that there were serious concerns over the format and grading of the Biblical Exegesis examinations. These concerns included:

• The perception that the exegesis exam is simply a repetition of an academic exercise already completed in seminary;
• The difficulty of assessing a candidate’s overall facility in Greek or Hebrew given the examination’s structure and the limits of some readers’ own facility with the language;
• The fairness and wisdom of having readers without formal training in biblical languages make a decision on a working knowledge of Greek or Hebrew;
• Recent developments in biblical studies that have moved away from the idea that there is a single meaning of a passage of Scripture.

In response to these concerns two changes were made. Specifically, in wording posted on the Ordination Examinations website, “the demonstration of a working knowledge of Greek and/or Hebrew will no longer be a requirement in order to complete the examination successfully,” and “inquirers/candidates will be asked to offer ‘a faithful interpretation’ of the assigned text, rather than ‘the principal meaning’ of the text.” Commentary offered on these changes suggests that some clarification may be helpful.

Explanation of recent changes to the Open Book Bible Exegesis examination

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During the course of the self-study and additional conversations with the deans and some faculty members of our PC(USA) seminaries, it became clear that there were serious concerns over the format and grading of the Biblical Exegesis examinations. These concerns included:

• The perception that the exegesis exam is simply a repetition of an academic exercise already completed in seminary;
• The difficulty of assessing a candidate’s overall facility in Greek or Hebrew given the examination’s structure and the limits of some readers’ own facility with the language;
• The fairness and wisdom of having readers without formal training in biblical languages make a decision on a working knowledge of Greek or Hebrew;
• Recent developments in biblical studies that have moved away from the idea that there is a single meaning of a passage of Scripture.

In response to these concerns two changes were made. Specifically, in wording posted on the Ordination Examinations website, “the demonstration of a working knowledge of Greek and/or Hebrew will no longer be a requirement in order to complete the examination successfully,” and “inquirers/candidates will be asked to offer ‘a faithful interpretation’ of the assigned text, rather than ‘the principal meaning’ of the text.” Commentary offered on these changes suggests that some clarification may be helpful.

It must be emphasized that all candidates continue to be required to answer questions dealing with the assigned texts in the original Greek or Hebrew languages. However, under previous guidelines, readers were instructed to evaluate an examination as “unsatisfactory” if it did not “demonstrate a working knowledge” of the appropriate biblical language, even if in every other respect the paper exceeded expectations. What has changed is that a paper will no longer receive an “unsatisfactory” evaluation solely for that reason. Readers will continue to assess the facility demonstrated in dealing with these languages and applying them to interpretations for the work of ministry. Those assessments will factor into the overall evaluation of the examination, but they will not determine alone that overall evaluation. Additionally, CPMs will continue to assess candidates’ proficiency in Hebrew and Greek on the basis of grades received for seminary language and exegetical courses, where students are asked to demonstrate a working knowledge of these languages through a variety of different linguistic tasks.

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Another definition of the word “faithful” (again from Webster’s) is “consistent with truth or fact, ‘a faithful reproduction of the document.’” Used in this way, it is possible to determine whether or not an interpretation is “faithful” to the text. Is it “consistent with the facts” about the text’s wording, the facts concerning the text’s historical, social, canonical, and theological contexts, and so forth? It is in this sense that the examination has always assessed candidates’ interpretations of the assigned passages and will continue to do so in the future.

Recent trends in biblical scholarship have drawn attention to the fact that texts can have more than one meaning, or principal message, whether identified with the author’s intention or another standard. Texts yield different meanings depending on the questions being put to them. The church has long understood this quality of its scriptures as demonstrated by the fourfold allegorical interpretation practiced through much of its history. Even the Reformers and subsequent scholars who objected to excesses in the allegorical interpretation of the medieval church did not suggest a text had only one meaning.

Moreover, members of the PCCEC do not believe that this trend undermines the authority of Scripture; rather, it points to the working of the Spirit, who can open human minds and hearts to different nuances in a single text in different times and in different places.

http://www.pcusa.org/exams/explanation.htm