‘Method’ is of fundamental importance when it comes to any subject of inquiry including the Bible and Theology. While the terms ‘method’ and ‘methodology’ may sound daunting, they simply concern how we go about doing something and why we go about doing it in a particular way.
A method is a procedure, a technique, a way of doing something and as such involves concrete practices. Methodology is the rationale or theory behind a method; it concerns the theoretical underpinnings to these practices that establishes their suitability for a given task.
Every time we engage in study of the Bible or in theology we employ particular methods and assume particular methodologies. This is simply unavoidable, we do not proceed at random but are driven by particular goals and ask particular questions to these ends. And this is nothing to be concerned about, but it does indicate one thing: we cannot assume that the particular way we go about the task is the right way; we need to look into the matter.
Hermeneutica 