Alexander Campbell, from The Christian System:
V. We have written frequently and largely upon the principles and rules of interpretation, as of essential importance and utility in this generation of remaining mysticising and allegorizing. From our former writings, we shall here only extract the naked rules of interpretation, deduced from extensive and well digested premises; fully sustained, too, by the leading translators and most distinguished critics and commentators of the last and present century.
VI. Rule 1. On opening any book in the sacred Scriptures, consider first the historical circumstances of the book. These are the order, the title, the author, the date, the place, and the occasion of it.
The order in historical compositions is of much importance; as, for instance,--whether the first, second, or third, of the five books of Moses, or any other series of narrative, or even epistolary communication.
The title is also of importance, as it sometimes expresses the design of the book. As Exodus--the departure of Israel from Egypt; Acts of Apostles, &c.
The peculiarities of the author--the age in which he lived--his style--mode of expression, illustrate his writings. The date, place, and occasion of it, are obviously necessary to a right application of any thing in the book.
Rule 2. In examining the contents of any book, as respects precepts, promises, exhortations, &c., observe who it is that speaks, and under what dispensation he officiates. Is he a Patriarch, a Jew, or a Christian? Consider also the persons addressed; their prejudices, characters, and religious relations. Are they Jews or Christians--believers or unbelievers--approved or disapproved? This rule is essential to the proper application of every command, promise, threatening, admonition, or exhortation, in Old Testament or New.
Rule 3. To understand the meaning of what is commanded, promised, taught, &c., the same philological principles, deduced from the nature of language; or the same laws of [16] interpretation which are applied to the language of other books, are to be applied to the language of the Bible.
Rule 4. Common usage, which can only be ascertained by testimony, must always decide the meaning of any word which has but one signification;--but when words have according to testimony (i. e. the dictionary,) more meanings than one, whether literal or figurative, the scope, the context, or parallel passages must decide the meaning: for if common usage, the design of the writer, the context, and parallel passage fail, there can be no certainty in the interpretation of language.
Rule 5. In all tropical language, ascertain the point of resemblance, and judge of the nature of the trope, and its kind, from the point of resemblance.
Rule 6. In the interpretation of symbols, types, allegories, and parables, this rule is supreme: ascertain the point to be illustrated; for comparison is never to be extended beyond that point--to all the attributes, qualities, or circumstances of the symbol, type, allegory, or parable.
Rule 7. For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of the Oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable--
We must come within the understanding distance.
There is a distance which is properly called the speaking distance, or the hearing distance; beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ear hears not. To hear another, we must come within that circle which the voice audibly fills.
So the rules are, basically:
(1) Consider the historical circumstances, which are (a) the order of composition; (b) the title; (c) the author (era, style, mode of expression); (d) the date and place of the work, and what occasioned it.
(2) Consider to whom the words are being attributed, and the dispensation or stage in which they are put forward.
(3) Use the same philological principles and rules of interpretation as used for other works.
(4) Prefer the common usage, but where words have more than one usage, consider scope, context, and parallels.
(5) For figurative language, determine in what way it is figurative.
(6) For symbols, etc., determine what point is being illustrated.
(7) Come within understanding distance through humility and teachableness.
Campbell chiefly has the Bible in mind, of course, but those are pretty good rules for interpreting any work.
Alexander Campbell was a major figure in the Restoration Movement, also called the 'Stone-Campbell Movement', a nineteenth-century religious movement in the United States that was characterized by an appeal to return to 'primitive Christianity'; this led to the founding of the Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ. In practice, of course, this 'primitive Christianity' was an attempt to remove anything that seemed vaguely reminiscent of "the haughty and tyrannical See of Rome" in favor of a Bible-only approach. Needless to say, such an approach mandates a considerable interest in good interpretation of texts.
