ABSTRACT
This chapter details the design, development, and implementation of three interconnected coding systems that operationalize intercultural Bible reading within an empirical hermeneutical framework. It begins by presenting the first coding system, which was applied to the initial questionnaires and ten first-session discussions. The system was integrated by five main analytical dimensions: background information, meeting dynamics, group dynamics, hermeneutical process, and actualization, which allowed to analyse how readers’ attitudes, contextual experiences, theological assumptions, and interpretive strategies shape their understanding of the Acts 15 text. The chapter then turns to the second coding system, used for ten second-session and five third-session encounters. The system studied how the discussions referred to the background of the participant groups, the different dynamics during conversation, how inter-group confrontation occurred, and the perceived effects of such intercultural encounters. This system illuminates the manner in which groups negotiate difference, manage conflict, identify hermeneutical similarities and differences, and navigate hermeneutical ruptures or horizon-broadening moments. Finally, the chapter presents the third coding system, applied to final evaluative questionnaires. The system refers to possible changes in textual understanding, ecumenical conceptions, Bible reading methods, transformations in personal or group self-perception, and learning outcomes. It also explores the personal assessment of the exchanges and its possible future praxeological effects. By mapping more than 1,500 codes across 11,500 codifications, the chapter presents how empirical coding engages with the multilayered processes through which ordinary readers construct, contest, and reconfigure meaning in intercultural biblical encounters.
