Biblical exegesis examines the origin of contents, especially the way they are shaped and processed within specific texts:
- Literary Criticism: reconstruction of different layers within a text based on breaks or tensions
- Redaction Criticism / Redaction History: identification and dating of the various stages of transmission of a text; reconstruction of the growth of a text
- Tradition History: reconstruction of oral pre-stages of texts, especially within ancient Israelite culture
- History of Traditions / History of Religions Approach: origin of cultural concepts and narrative motifs found in a text (older term: History-of-Religions School = „Religionsgeschichtliche Schule“), focusing on influences from outside ancient Israel
→ Transfer and adaptation of exegetical methods and research questions to the analysis of Homeric epics.
Distinction of Hylistics from Tradition History and the History-of-Religions School:
- Biblical exegesis does not provide a methodology for the (inductive) reconstruction and stratification of narrative materials, but rather a methodology primarily aimed at reconstructing and explaining the process of textual formation (textual genesis).
- When reconstructing contents, the focus is not primarily on narratives and their structures or units, but especially on underlying religious concepts.
Especially in the older History-of-Religions School:
- Highly speculative, source-distant, deductive construction of entire conglomerates of myths (“the” Marduk myth; “the” redeemer myth).
- Hypothetical attribution of such constructed myth-complexes to specific ancient “schools.”
- Speculative assumptions regarding the existence and characteristics of such “schools” (lack of sources).
- Often a value-laden contrast is drawn: chaotic polytheistic mythology versus purified monotheistic theology.
More objective hylistic approach: Analysis of interhylistic relations, without value judgements and without speculative attributions to specific „schools“ or authors.
| Exegesis | Hylistics | |
| Subject | analysis of texts (media-bound) | analysis of narratives (transmedial) |
| Tasks | reconstruction of texts and text layers and assumed oral or written precursors of texts or general intellectual-historical influences | reconstruction, demarcation and stratification of narratives and narrative layers on the basis of various media-specific concretions |
| Methods | reconstruction of texts with the help of textual criticism reconstruction of layers in texts (of a ‚text history‘) based on various observations deductive reconstructions of ideas and concepts comparison of ideas and concepts in form of essays | reconstruction of narratives with the help of hyleme analysis reconstruction of layers in narrative variants with the help of stratification analysis inductive reconstruction of narratives and their variants comparison of narratives with the help of comparative analysis |
| Goals | Reconstruction and interpretation of texts and their layers | Reconstruction and interpretation of mythical narratives, their variants and layers |