Book Review: Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind

I think many Christians recognize the importance of reading the Bible, but many times, they have a hard time making heads or tails of what the Bible is all about. There are a number of great resources that help people to navigate like How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, Dig Deeper by Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach, or 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer and Benjamin Merkle. Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind (1997) by Tremper Longman III is another great addition to the genre.

Longman divided the book into four parts--the Bible's transforming power, the receptive heart, the understanding mind, and the literary cornucopia. One of the best things about this book is that Longman addresses the whole perhaps, just as the Bible does. He reminds the reader that Scripture is not to be read just in the abstract, but in the real ruddiness of life.

Chapter 7 is an important chapter. Longman presented the reader with several application principles:

• Look for the author's intended meaning. 
• Read the passage in context. 
• Identify the genre of the passage. 
• Consider the historical and cultural background of the Bible. 
• Pay attention to the grammar and structure within the passage. 
• Interpret experience in the light of Scripture, not vice versa. 
• Always seek the full counsel of Scripture. 

The final section, comprising the majority of the book, explores the major genres of the Bible: History, Law, Poetry, Wisdom, The Prophets, The Gospels, The Epistles, and Apocalypse.  Understanding the difference between each of these literary types will go a long way to making sense of what the Bible means. 

Having read each of the books above, I think this is the one I am most likely to recommend now. It is accessible and wise.

An Ethical Paedia, Not an Ethics Manual

Peter Leithart writing at First Things writes, "Treating Scripture as a directory of moral lessons or compendium of moral rules assumes a constricted view of moral practice and reasoning. We don’t pursue virtue simply by applying general principles to particular situations, and true morality is never simply obedience to commandments. Practical morality requires the ability to assess situations accurately, memory of our own past patterns of action and of others’ inspiring examples, and enough moral imagination to see how a potential tragedy might become the birthplace of unforeseen comedy.

"Scripture is ethical paedeia, not an ethics manual. All Scripture is practical because God breathed all of it to form people, both individuals and community. God tells stories to stock our memory with a common moral past that projects his people into the future. God’s word expands our imagination to grasp more of what’s really there and to envision what might be there in the future. The Bible is useful because it opens our eyes, and because it’s highly impractical to walk through life with our eyes closed."

May we all learn to understand Scripture from a historical-redemptive viewpoint, rather than a series of unrelated tales of adventure teaching us how to be better people.

Read the rest here. 

Book Review: Scripture as Communication

I am currently taking my third class through CCEF, Biblical Interpretation.  For this class, Jeannine Brown's Scripture as Communication (2007) was required reading. I must first confess that this was a difficult read for me.  I did learn a great deal about principles of hermeneutics of which I was largely unaware. For example, she discussed in great detail the importance of authorial intent, the response of the hearer, and so forth. I admit that I settled in a bit more when she started discussing language, genre, and so forth. This is a good book and the author asks good questions, but for most people who are interested in learning more about hermeneutics, there are some other more basic texts that would be appropriate. 3 stars

Let yourself be changed by it

Jared Wilson, citing Don Carson, talks about the tendency among some Christians to interpret the Bible based upon their own biases, rather than reading scripture for what it actually says. Wilson quotes Carson's book, Exegetical Fallacies, about an experience Carson had, "Genuinely intrigued, I asked this brother what he would say if I put forward my interpretation, not on the basis of grammar and text, but on the basis that the Lord himself had given me the interpretation I was advancing. He was silent a long time, and then concluded, 'I guess that would mean the Spirit says the Bible means different things to different people.'"

The Bible is not a relativistic document. It is the unvarnished truth.

Book Review: The Symphony of Scripture

The Symphony of scripture: Making sense of the Bible's many themes by Mark Strom (1990) was required reading for the next class CCEF biblical counseling class I am taking, this one focused on biblical interpretation.  It had to be read before the class begins, so I tackled it over this Christmas break. The author provides a survey overview of the Bible, looking for the university in diversity. It is certainly Christocentric in its focus, a major strength of the book. The author cautions against our tendency to interpret details without considering the overall theme of scripture. As Christians, I believe we have the tendency to do this with first things and last things. We try to make sense of the many details grounded in Genesis and Revelation, without realizing the centrality of Christ. For example, Strom rightly points out the central theme of Revelation is not whether people will be literally marked with a 666, or whether it is a literal 1000 years, but that Christ will win and will be restored in the end. Believers are called to persevere, knowing that Jesus has accomplished all, and that God is sovereign.  That is the point of Revelation. When we move from that, we end up with things like Left Behind or even worse, Harold Camping. 

I admit this book was a hard slog for me. The print was hard on the eyes and Strom was more academic than I (yes, even I) like. He does know his stuff, however.  3.0 stars. 

Brief Reflection on Psalm 8:5 use of Elohiym

Yesterday, one of our pastors shared an extended reflection on Psalm 8. I really enjoy walking through a passage in this way as it can really deepen our learning of Scripture. We came upon verse 5, and I was left with some questions.  In the ESV, the first part of Psalm 8:5 reads, "Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings."  Heavenly beings is from the Hebrew word Elohiym. Here's where the rub comes in, however. Although NIV sides with ESV in interpreting this as "heavenly beings", NASB (traditionally the most literal interpretation) and NLT translate this word as "God." KJV renders it as "angels", which is closer to the ESV/NIV.

In the Old Testament, the word Elohiym is nearly always translated as "God", though there is precedence for other renderings as well, including "heavenly beings." I have two reasons, one scriptural and one philosophical, to favor interpreting this as "heavenly beings" or "angels" rather than "God."

First, with regard to Scripture, Psalm 8 is cited in Hebrews 2 and the writer of Hebrews interprets this as "angels" (ἀγγέλους). The interpreters of the NLT and NASB also render this "angels". Furthermore, in the Greek Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, Elohiym is translated as "angels" (also ἀγγέλους).  So it would seem that the precedent, even for the inspired biblical author of Hebrews, was to interpret this as "angels."

Second, with regard to philosophy. It is a clear and consistent teaching of the Christian church that God is infinite in a number of divine attributes. A complete understanding of infinity would suggest that one cannot be made a "little lower than" something infinite. Because there is no point at which God becomes limited, it is meaningless to say we were made a little lower than Him.

For these reasons, I favor the interpretations made by ESV, KJV, and NIV.