Type of Mistake | Wilful? | Serious? |
Little misunderstandings or misreadings | No | Not usually |
Wrong world view, leading to major misunderstandings | No | Yes, though not seen as such at the time; effects are hidden, indirect and long term. |
Wilful distortion, e.g. by those with narrow minds or academics and others intent on supporting their own views (Note: wilful even if unwitting) | Yes. | Yes. Though sometimes the immediate effect may not be serious, wilful distortion sets the agenda of thinking and the 'rules of play' that subsequent people follow. |
Copyright (c) Andrew Basden 2000. Comments and queries are very welcome.
Page last updated: 15 February 2000 added counter. 10 December 2000 new comments pointer. 7 April 2001 correction. 17 February 2002 moved Principles of Interpretation here from site.html, added section Methods of Interpretation; reworded some of principles. 23 April 2002 mended broken link found by Roy Bryant's SEVENTwentyFour Inc. 22 January 2003 repl 'obvious' by taken-for-granted; added re. Saul. 2 May 2004 interp conflicting passages; writers basically honest. 26 March 2006 a bit more added. 8 May 2008 added two more conditions for interp.