Interpretation of Cultural Artifacts

A Hermeneutical Square

• The Artifact and the World[s] of the Artifact

• The Fabricator[s] and the World[s] of the Fabricator[s]

• The Engager[s] and the World[s] of the Engager[s]

• The Referent[s] of the Artifact and the World[s] of the Referent[s]

Analyzing the Artifact:Neutral Level Analysis

• Bracket the processes by which the artifact came into being

• Bracket the processes by which the artifact is received and interpreted

• Generate categories to account for the distinctive features of the artifact

Neutral Level Analysis: Music

• Analysis of “notes”– Pitch– Volume– Duration– Timbre

• Analysis of combination of “notes”– Scale/Mode– Texture– Form

Neutral Level Analysis: Visual Art• Analysis of 2-dimensional art

– Medium/Media– Size– Color– Imagery (Contour Lines / Forms)– Compositional Structures and Design

• Analysis of 3-dimensional art– Medium/Media– Size– Color– Imagery (Edges / Shapes)– Compositional Structures and Design

Neutral Level Analysis: Literature

• Fiction– Plot– Character– Foreshadowing– Setting/Atmosphere– Symbolism– Point of View

Neutral Level Analysis: Literature

• Poetry– Speaker/Poet– Figurative Language (metaphor/simile/symbol)– Structure– Rhythm and Versification

Neutral Level Analysis: Literature

• Sermon– [Implied] Speaker– [Implied] Audience– “Teaching”: Information– “Delighting”: Literary Figures/Structure– “Moving”: Argumentation

Basic Neutral-Level Analysis of a Text

• Language

• Vocabulary

• Grammar

• Syntax

• Progress of Thought

Example of a Neutral-Level Analysis of a Text

Psalm 1:1

• ’ašerē ha’îš ’ašer• blessedness-of the-man who• lō’ hālēk bhē‘atsēt rešā‘îm• not he-walks in-counsel-of wicked-ones• Ûbederek tottā’îm lō’ ‘āmad• or-in-way-of sinners not he-stands• Ûbemôšab lētsîm lō’ yāšab• Or-in-seat-of ones-mocking not he-sits

Vocabulary and Grammar

• Nouns: blessedness / man / counsel / wicked ones / way / sinners / seat / ones mocking

• Verbs: N.B. [no verb copula] / walks [not] / stands [not] / sits [not]

• Article: the [man] // N.B. not applied to any other nouns

• Relative Pronoun: who

Syntax

• Declarative sentence OR Exclamation?

• 3 parallel clauses in content, but only two in form:– Doesn’t walk [progressive] in counsel of

wicked ones– Doesn’t stand [progressive] in way of sinners– Doesn’t sit [progressive] in seat of ones

mocking

Progress of Thought

• Verbs of motion: walk / stand / sit

• Nouns of place (?): counsel / way / seat

• Nouns of persons: wicked / sinners / mockers

Example of a Neutral-Level Analysis of a Visual Art Object

Basic Neutral-Level Analysis of a Visual Art Work

• Medium

• Size

• Color

• Imagery

• Composition and Design

Medium

• As reproduced: .jpeg digitized photo

• As fabricated: egg tempera on wood panel

Size

• As reproduced: adjustable for computer screen or LCD projection

• As fabricated: 43.4 x 28 cm

Color• Orange: rectangular frame / upper and lower

geometrical vegetation effect secondary frame / writing of title / writing in nimbus / ground for writing of the divine name / pages of the book

• Gold: upper, sides, and lower geometrical vegetation effect secondary frame / tertiary rectangular frame and ground for image / clavus on the figure’s robe / book cover

• Lighter Green: L and reverse L shapes of geometrical vegetation effect corners of secondary frame

• Darker Green: Overdrape of figure

• Lighter Brown: Face, neck, hands of figure

• Darker Brown: Hair, flesh surrounding eyes, mustache, beard, underdrape of figure

• Black: eyes

Imagery• Single male figure, occupying more than half of the

available space, depicted from the waist up on a gold ground, wearing a tunic with a clavus and a dark blue himation.

• Presented frontally, gazing directly at the viewer. • Eyes symmetrically placed on either side of the top of

an elongated nose placed above a small shut mouth; lower ear lobes appear on the same crossline as the nostrils. His upper hair falls in symmetrical waves, but his lower hair falls over his left shoulder.

• Male figure gives a blessing with his right hand (thumb touching fourth and fifth fingers, second and third fingers crossed).

• Male figure holds a closed book fastened with at least three bands in his left hand.

• The light source comes from behind the figure (no shadows depicted).

• On the arms of the cross on his halo are the Greek letters [H]O ŌN, and above his shoulders: [H]O PANTOKRATŌR. In the upper corners of the icon two red medallions with gold ornamentation and lettering contain the abbreviated forms I[ESOU]S CH[RISTO]S.

Composition and Design• Verticals: three frames, nimbus [omega], book,

bottom part of clavus• Horizontals: three frames [N.B. non-symmetrical

left secondary frame addition], nimbus [omicron / nu], book, eyes, ears, writing of [H]O PANTOKRATŌR, belt of himation

• Diagonals: top of clavus, blessing hand, edges of book

• Circles: medallions with I[ESOU]S CH[RISTO]S, nimbus, hair, eyes

• Oval: head

Analyzing the Fabricator[s]: Poietic Analysis

• Exploration of the processes by which a cultural artifact comes into existence

• Artifact = “window into the past”• Material processes

– Fabrication of the artifact

• Non-material processes– Intention of the creator (inductive/deductive)

– Role(s) of patron(s)

– Cultural milieu (social class/economic group/gender)

Methods of Poietic Analysis

• Historical-critical methods:– Textual/Foundational Criticism: determining the

original form of the artifact

– Literary/Genre Criticism: determining the extent and composite character of the artifact

– [Text: History of Oral Transmission: orality of text]

– [Text: Redaction/Editing Criticism: citation of or allusion to other written texts]

– Form/Setting Criticism: Sitz-im-Leben

– Historical Criticism: relevant contexts

• Historical psychology: Freudian source

• Historical sociology: Marxian source

• New archeology: Reconstructing material culture

Example of Poietic Analysis of a Text: Matthew 1:22-23

• Textual Criticism: Matthew 1:22• Stephens 1550 Textus Receptus

• Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus

• Byzantine Majority

• Alexandrian

• Hort and Westcott

• Textual Criticism: Matthew 1:23• Stephens 1550 Textus Receptus

• Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus

• Byzantine Majority

• Alexandrian

• Hort and Westcott

• “Literal” Translation of Matthew 1:22-23

• All this took place in order to fulfill the word concerning [the] Lord through the prophet spoken:

• “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they will call the name of him ‘Emmanuel’ that is, having been interpreted, ‘With us [is] God’.”

Genre Criticism

• Although attached to narrative of Matthew 1:18[b]-21, these verses belong to a literary genre characteristic of this gospel [used 10 times] which might be called “Old Testament oracle citations”.

Citation / Allusion

• Isaiah 7:14• Hebrew: Therefore he-will-give Lord himself to-

you sign See! the-young-woman (hā ‘almāh) with-child and-one-bearing son and-she-will-call name-of-him Immanu El

• Greek (LXX): Behold the virgin (parthenos) in the womb will conceive, and will bring forth a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel.

• N.B. Original context:– doesn’t predict a miraculous birth from a virgin

nor the birth of a Messiah centuries in the future

– is an assurance to King Ahaz that there is negligible danger from an invasion from the north in the late 8th C CE.

Orality

• The etymology of the name “Jesus” (Iesous in Greek) does not work in either Greek or Aramaic, but only works in Hebrew (Joshua = “YHWH saves”). This strongly suggests that underlying this etymology is Hebrew language oral version of the story.

• The author feels the need to translate the term “Emmanuel” into Greek for his readers; this suggests that they are Greek-speakers unfamiliar with Hebrew

Form/Setting Criticism

• What life-setting might have generated the need for Old Testament oracle citations to be attached to gospel narratives?

• Catechetical or apologetic settings to convince Greek-speaking Jews of the congruence between Jewish history and Christian claims [N.B. Not aimed at Hebrew-speaking Jews since not based on Hebrew text; not aimed at Gentiles since presumably they would not be interested in Jewish prophetic oracles]

Historical Criticism

• Triangulate with Luke 1:26ff• Mother: named Mary, engaged to Joseph [N.B. 1st

C CE Jewish marriage customs], virgin• Father: named Joseph, Davidic lineage • Son: named Jesus [N.B. After Moses’ assistant]• Bracket conception by the Holy Spirit [but parallel

other divine conceptions in Greco-Roman religion]; bracket angelic visitations and sayings [but parallel other divine messengers in Jewish and Greco-Roman religion]

Example of Poietic Analysis of an Architectural Object

• Rome: S. Maria ad Martyres (The Pantheon)• 27 BCE: originally constructed by Marcus

Vipsanius Agrippa [see the inscription on the façade] / dedicated to Mars, Venus, Julius Caesar

• 118-128 CE: rebuilt by Hadrian / dedicated to Nature or all the divine powers

• 202 CE: restored by Septimius Severus and Caracalla

• 609 CE: Boniface IV, given the building by the Emperor Phocas, dedicates it to Our Lady and All the Martyrs

• 663 CE: Constans II strips it of bronze• 735 CE: Gregory III replaces the bronze

with lead• 14th C CE: used as fortress and poultry

market / restored after Avignon papacy• 1623-1644 CE: Urban VIII replaces granite

columns and has bell-towers built by Bernini

• 1857: taken over by Italian state

Analyzing the Engager[s]: Esthesic Analysis

• Exploration of the processes by which a cultural artifact is “received”

• Artifact as “mirror for the observer”• Material processes

– Preservation, reproduction, distribution of the artifact

• Non-material processes– Meaning(s) co-created by receptor(s)– Role(s) of patron(s)– Cultural milieu (social class/economic group/gender)

Methods of Esthesic Analysis

• History of the Effect of the Artifact

• Psychological Exegesis

• Symbolic Exegesis

• Dramatization

• Liberation Theology and Exegesis

• Feminist Theology and Exegesis

Example of Esthesic Analysis of a Text

• Matthew 5-7 (“The Sermon on the Mount”)– Elitist ethics for those who strive for perfection

(monks/nuns)

– Interim ethics intended only for the short time until the Reign of God was disclosed

– Private ethics intended only for family and circle of close friends, NOT as a guide for political responsibility

– Reveals each person’s deep sinfulness and thus need for grace

– Utopian ethics which break through the cycle of violence and enable peace by rigorous demands and strict basic principles

– Regression into Jewish legalism characteristic of the Gospel of Matthew’s presentation/distortion of Jesus’ message

Example of Esthesic Analysis of a Musical Composition

• Bach: “Gloria Patri” from Magnificat in D

• Gloria,

• Gloria Patri,

• Gloria Filio,

• Gloria et Spiritui Sancto!

• Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.