Pagan hermeneutics


 I have been mulling over the issue of religious writings within ancient paganism for a while now, and finally have the time to get some thoughts down in the hope of starting a conversation that others will chip in on. Whilst it was going on in Judaism well before, Christianity has become prominently associated with the practice of hermeneutics - the study of sacred scripture. Originally it was essentially the same thing as exegesis, but since the concept has secularised hermeneutics includes communications outside of the written text (spoken conversations, political speeches etc.) whilst the term exegesis is retained in the Church for the study of the written word. I want to keep the focus here on the books, poems, and other writings of significance to ancient polytheist cultures more so than modern writings or non-textual sources. That said, there are some works (such as the Havamal) which I strongly believe are best thought of as lyrics or scripts - that is to say, they were performance pieces intended to be heard sung or spoken aloud more so than read quietly.

I am sure the polytheists of the ancient world had discussions about the works of Hesiod, Homer etc. so this is an exercise in reinventing the wheel. As per the podcast, this is just exploring the initial thoughts and how we can move towards community discussions of relevant texts. Initially I am drawing on Christian techniques (though some of these may have been around prior to that era) but the distinct theologies will lead to alternative techniques in time, I am sure.

My hope is to have discussions of sections of specific texts, hopefully via a virtual group discussion with whoever would like to join - failing that my solipsistic waffling.



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