Cool word: Eisegesis [View all]

Recently I had occasion to use the word "exegesis" which I have been using for years, but realized I was probably misspelling it as "exergesis."

The days when one would pull out a bound dictionary to correct oneself are, for better or worse, over. Google rules.

Exegesis is the process of discussing the meaning of text, usually attributed to religious text, but also applicable to academic or general text.

Eisegesis by contrast is the process of projecting one's own view of text on to the text, irrespective of the "real" or intended meaning of that text.

The latter, of course, is widely practiced these days, which accounts for the disaster through which we currently move.