The authors of this book view exegesis as the most important task of the study of the New Testament. In general terms they describe exegesis as a process in which we explain, interpret, tell, report, or describe a text. Traditionally it referred to the discovery of a text's meaning as the original author intended his contemporary audience to understand it. This kind of exegesis is called grammatical-historical exegesis. The authors discuss this method, as well as alternative methods of exegesis. Porter and Clarke also discuss various difficulties that arise from the exegetical task.