Cognitive bias in biblical interpretation

In the last 2016 issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research, Aaron Chalmers has an interesting essay on “the influence of cognitive biases on biblical interpretation” (467–80). Chalmers approaches the question from the perspective of cognitive psychology and focuses on “five key cognitive biases”—namely, “confirmation bias, false consensus effect, in-group bias, functional fixedness, and the illusory truth effect” (467).

For Chalmers, bias is almost exclusively a roadblock to proper biblical interpretation that needs to be overcome. Consequently, the latter part of the essay provides five suggestions for “debiasing” oneself. These are understanding cognitive bias, considering opposite views, pausing for adequate reflection, engaging with other interpreters, and avoiding time pressure for completing interpretive tasks (477–80).

In at least one case that I noted, Chalmers explicitly recognizes the possibility of a positive element within the “functional fixedness” type of bias. If biases are not always detrimental but in some ways enabling for our engagement with the world (including, in some respects, its ability to push back on those biases), it might be interesting to consider whether there might be also positive applications for the other four bias types, how to identify these, and how to understand their relations to more negative applications. That being said, Chalmers’s essay certainly provides a concise, helpful rubric for the kind of awareness biblical interpreters should cultivate to avoid simply being “driven along from behind” to where it might not actually be that helpful to go.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 24, no. 4

The Bulletin for Biblical Research 24, no. 4 contains:

  • John C. Poirier, “An Ontological Definition of ‘Canon’?”
  • Jason S. DeRouchie, “The Heart of YHWH and His Chosen One in 1 Samuel 13:14”
  • Richard Whitekettle, “Like a Fish and Shrimp Out of Water: Identifying the Dāg and Remeś Animals of Habakkuk 1:14″
  • E. Ray Clendenen, “Salvation by Faith or by Faithfulness in the Book of Habakkuk?”
  • Preston M. Sprinkle, “Romans 1 and Homosexuality: A Critical Review of James Brownson’s Bible, Gender, Sexuality

Bulletin for Biblical Research 23, no. 2

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

  • Joseph Kelly, “The Ethics of Inclusion: The גר and the אזרח in the Passover to Yhwh”
  • Rahel Schafer, “Rest for the Animals?: Nonhuman Sabbath Repose in Pentateuchal Law”
  • Amy Peeler, “Desiring God: The Blood of the Covenant in Exodus 24”
  • Ray Clendenen, “A Passionate Prophet: Reading Emotions in the Book of Malachi”
  • Maria Pascuzzi, “Reconsidering the Authorship of Colossians”

Bulletin for Biblical Research 23, no. 1

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

  • Joshua Philpot, “Exodus 34:29–35 and Moses’ Shining Face”
  • Edward Bridge, “The Metaphoric Use of Slave Terms in the Hebrew Bible”
  • Gregory Goswell, “Joshua and Kingship”
  • Gregory Wong, “A Farewell to Arms: Goliath’s Death as Rhetoric against Faith in Arms”
  • David DeSilva, “The Human Ideal, the Problem of Evil, and Moral Responsibility in 4 Maccabees”

Bulletin for Biblical Research 22, no. 2

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research arrived in yesterday’s mail and includes:

  • Beat Weber, “Toward a Theory of the Poetry of the Hebrew Bible: The Poetry of the Psalms as a Test Case”
  • Grant LeMarquand, “The Bible as Specimen, Talisman, and Dragoman in Africa: A Look at Some African Uses of the Psalms and 1 Corinthians 12–14”
  • Craig Keener, “Paul and Sedition: Pauline Apologetic in Acts”
  • David Stark, “Rewriting Prophets in the Corinthian Correspondence: A Window on Paul’s Hermeneutic”
  • Ayodeji Adewuya, “The Spiritual Powers of Ephesians 6:10–18 in the Light of African Pentecostal Spirituality”

Adewuya’s article is a revision of his engaging lecture at this past November’s Institute for Biblical Research meeting in San Francisco. My own essay discusses “rewritten Bible,” or “rewritten scripture,” particularly with a view toward using this literature as an aide in discussions of Pauline hermeneutics.

Bulletin for Biblical Research 22.1

The latest issue of the Bulletin for Biblical Research includes:

  • Edward Glenny, “The Septuagint and Apostolic Hermeneutics: Amos 9 and Acts 15”
  • Joel Willitts, “Matthew and Psalms of Solomon‘s Messianism: A Comparative Study in First-Century Messianology”
  • Preston Massey, “Disagreement in the Greco-Roman Literary Tradition and the Implications for Gospel Research”
  • Nijay Gupta, “What ‘Mercies of God’?: Oiktirmos in Romans 12:1 against Its Septuagintal Background”
  • Aaron Sherwood, “Paul’s Imprisonment as the Glory of the Ethnē: A Discourse Analysis of Ephesians 3:1–13″