Biblical Exegesis

In Christianity, the actual theological interpretation of Biblical passages is known as biblical exegesis. Other divisions of Bible study purpose rather at elucidating the sources, authorship, and chronological classification of Biblical texts.

This is a department associated with philology much more than theology, and occasionally comes in to conflict with theology. ``Higher criticism'' and its conclusions, including the well identified documentary hypothesis which indicates that the Bible has been compiled from the writings of several different scribes, and also the work associated with the Jesus Seminar, that attempted to be able to cull ``inauthentic'' sayings of Jesus from the actual ``genuine'' ones included in the Gospels, are good examples of Biblical studies whose results have been especially questionable within theology.