A process where one leads into study by reading a text on the basis of pre-conceived ideas of its meanings. It is rare for someone to be called an ‘eisegete’, because eisegesis has a well-earned negative reputation.

Eisegesis was later implicitly embraced in critical theory, perspectivism, postmodernism, and related schools, that assert that biased perspectives are inevitable. The ‘correct’ perspective in modern textual analysis tends to be a historical lens that reveals hidden political power dynamics between oppressor and oppressed groups. This teleological approach originated with Hegel (although one can find traces of it as far back as Martin Luther).

Contrast with exegesis.