Abstract
A Student Guide to the Bible
Don Thorsen & Keith H. Reeves, What Christians Believe about the Bible: A Concise Guide for Students (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012. $19.99. pp. xiii + 209. ISBN: 978-0-8010-4831-9).
Thorson and Reeves, both active lecturers at a Christian institution, have written this book with their students in mind. The book introduces basic issues related to Biblical interpretation and theology of the Bible, and is suitable for students at the beginning stages of undergraduate study, or for community members starting to investigate the Bible in depth. The book will appeal most to readers who share the authors’ traditional Christian commitment and who view the Bible as in some sense divinely inspired. The authors encourage their readers not to be afraid to engage in historical study of the Bible.
After an introduction, the book begins by describing how the Bible as we know it came to be. The next three chapters provide a brief introduction to basic principles of Biblical interpretation from the perspective of authorial intent. Chapter 3 highlights the need to take the genres of Biblical books into account. Chapter 4 introduces the importance of learning about historical context. Chapter 5 discusses literary context, cautioning against proof-texting and urging readers to determine precisely what an author means when he uses words such as agapē or sarx.
The second half of the book relates to theology of the Bible. Chapter 6 describes typical views of religious authority held by Christians in a number of historical periods. Readers are invited to reflect on their own theory of authority and how they make theological decisions. Chapter 7 introduces a range of contemporary theories as to the nature of Biblical inspiration, with helpful historical background as to how these theories developed. Chapter 8 describes several different theories as to what ‘truth’ entails, noting that a person’s idea of ‘truth’ will affect how he or she views the Bible’s trustworthiness. The chapter then discusses what might constitute an ‘error’—and what might not—using the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy as a starting point. Chapter 9 discusses different views of the Bible’s trustworthiness. Varieties of inerrancy and infallibility are described, as well as perspectives that prioritize an encounter with Jesus, or God’s revelation in the Church, over theological statements about the Bible. The book closes by urging readers to make at least a tentative decision about their own view of the Bible, and to let their study of the Bible further their spiritual formation.
This book is concise and readable, and raises important issues in an accessible, engaging way. Its only real weaknesses are the lack of footnotes, especially in the first half of the book, and the fact that some claims made would not receive wide scholarly support. It is suggested, for instance, that ‘first-century Jews most likely used the Masoretic Hebrew text’ (p. 21). The interpretive and theological questions raised are insightful, however, and will be helpful to students beginning academic study of the Bible.