“Text without context is pretext”
“A text without a context is a pretext” has been popularized by Rev. Jesse Jackson and theologian D.A. Carson, but the saying dates to at least 1912 and has long been popular with scholars and interpreters of the Bible. The saying has been used in other fields besides Bible study, such as journalism and government.
Wikipedia: D. A. Carson
Donald Arthur Carson (born December 21, 1946) is a Canadian-born evangelical theologian and professor of New Testament.
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Carson has quoted this adage in his lectures for several decades, before it gained popularity as a result of being quoted out of context by Jesse Jackson: “Text, without context, is pretext.” (Sheldon R. Gawiser & G. Evans Witt, A Journalist’s Guide to Public Opinion Polls, Praeger, 1994, p. 111.)
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14 June 1912, Spartanburg (SC) Herald, “Conference of Epworth League Well Attended,” pg. 5, col. 2:
Text, Context, Pretext.
“John Hutten, of Manchester, in the quaint manner characteristic of him, was given to saying that a text without a context is a pretext.”
23 November 1924, Atlanta (GA) Constitution, “Things New and Old About the Bible: Literary Method of Interpretation,” pg. E3:
The literary method reads every passage in the light of its context. Some one has wittily said, “A text without the context is a pretext.”
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Exploring the Bible;
A study of background and principles
By Frank Ely Gaebelein
London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott
1929
Pg. 181:
Someone has remarked with a good deal of wit and much truth that “a text without a context is a pretext.”
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Man’s Way:
A first book in philosophy
By Henry Van Zandt Cobb
London: Longman’s, Green and Co.
1942
Pg. 190:
“Text without context is pretext.” In using language as a means of communication, it is fundamental to keep this in mind, for we can communicate only when the living contexts of our human experience enable us to find a common meaning in the language which we employ.
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Capers of the Clergy:
The human side of the ministry
By DeWitt Matthews
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House
1976
Pg. 126:
Who has not heard the ancient witticism, “A text without context is a pretext”?
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23 May 1982, Gainesville (FL) Sun, “Voting Eights Act Weakened” by Jesse Jackson, pg. 5A, col. 2:
In preaching, a text without a context is a pretext. The same is true in the law.
18 March 1984, Miami (FL) Herald, “Snafus stir fuss among reporters with (Jesse—ed.) Jackson,” pg. 20A:
Text without context is pretext.
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My soul looks back, ‘less I forget:
A collection of quotations by people of color
By D. Winbush Riley
New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers
1993
Pg. 443:
Text without context is pretext.
HOWARD THURMAN, Disciplines of the Spirit, 1965
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21 April 1993, Milwaukee (WI) Journal, “Pro-lifers’ goal is to prevent violence caused by abortion” by Monica Migliorino Miller,
“TEXT WITHOUT context is pretext.” Thus spoke the Rev. Jessie Jackson when some sought to slander him by distorting his statements.” pg. A12, col. 3:
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Teaching Dance as Art in Education
By Brenda Pugh MacCutchen
Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
2006
Pg. 15:
“Content without context is pretext,” said Warren Bennis (lecture at Wilson Learning Client Conference, 1982, Minneapolis, MM).