Book Review on "Bible for All Its Worth"

Book Review 6 pages (2213 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Bible for all its Worth

For a book that many people think should be self-explanatory, the Bible can be an incredibly complex work. First, as a historical record, the Bible contains an incredible amount of information, which can make it a useful tool for a historian. However, because the Bible is a religious book, many people dismiss its historical usefulness, and suggest that people using it in a historical fashion need to take extraordinary steps to verify its contents, which may not be required if it was not a religious text. Second, as a piece of lasting literature, the Bible contains so many repeated themes and characterizations, that it difficult to digest, much less synthesize the various stories. Even for one who does not believe a single story presented in the Bible, it provides hundreds of allegorical tales. It would be easy to reduce these stories to the role of morality tale, except that, in the Bible, many times the victors are not those who have displayed the most moral behavior, but instead the greatest faith. In other instances, it is through displays of moral behavior that people can demonstrate their faith. Finally, as a religious text, the Bible can be baffling. An immense text with a variety of different authors, the various subgroups of Christians have not even been able to agree upon which books should be included as part of the Christian Bible. Moral lessons in the Bible can directly contradict one another. Moreover, behavior that was acceptable in the historic times in which the Bible was written, such as slavery and the virtual ownership of wives, is no longer considered humane, which can complicate understanding for the modern reader. Therefore, many people need guidance in

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how they should approach the Bible.

Intentions

In How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, Douglas Stuart and Gordon D. Fee attempt to provide readers with the tools necessary to become active readers of the Bible. While their tips and hints would be useful for any biblical scholar, it is clear that are gearing their book towards Christians who are reading the Bible with the goal of having a better understanding of Christian history, religious tradition, and religious requirements. Stuart and Fee acknowledge that the Bible is not an obscure text, and that part of its beauty is that it is accessible by most men and women.

In fact, they stress that the goal of biblical interpretation is not to find something new or unique, but to better understand the text.

However, they do not agree with those who dismiss the need to interpret the Bible. Instead, they acknowledge that there are several barriers to a complete understanding of the entire Bible if someone simply sits down with a Bible and begins reading. They believe that the challenges in doing so come from the innate nature of the reader, which are exacerbated by the nature of Scripture.

The reader is going to interpret, because that is what people do when they receive and process information. Interpretation is not something a person can consciously or unconsciously avoid when receiving new information.

People use their own experiences to fill in the connotation and denotation of words, and draw upon their knowledge of centuries of art and culture that have interpreted the Bible, much of it erroneously, when approaching the Bible. In order to understand the Bible, people must first perform an exegesis, which is "the careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning."

Then, people must perform hermeneutics, which is to seek the "contemporary relevance of ancient texts."

One cannot engage in hermeneutics without exegesis, which demands a historical understanding of the text. Stuart and Fee aim to provide their readers with the tools necessary to do so.

Summary and Analysis

Stuart and Fee begin their guide by telling people that Biblical interpretation requires a good translation.

This cautionary statement is of critical importance, because many modern Christians seem to ignore the fact that the Bible was not written in English. Instead, the original books were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, and have been extensively translated. As the authors point out, one need only look through one of the several available editions of the Bible to understand that the different versions say different things. In some instances, focusing on this type of word choice can appear overly pedantic, but when one considers that the Bible has been translated so many times, seeing the differences that can appear in the translations from a single generation make it clear that translation invites interpretive differences. The authors give the example of 1 Corinthians 7:36, and how the different translations of that passage lead to very different conclusions.

In one translation, the virgin in question is a man's daughter, while, in another, she is his fiancee. One would expect very different behavior towards a daughter than a fiancee. Therefore, Stuart and Fee suggest that people need to read more than a single translation of the Bible in order to truly be able to interpret it.

Next, the authors tackle the issue of contextual thinking, and do so by examining the Epistles. They state that their reason for beginning with the Epistles is because they are deceptively simple; while they seem easy to interpret, in a modern context they are not as easy to understand as they first appear.

What they attempt to do is provide readers with a means of determining what information in the Epistles is relevant for the modern Christian. They suggest looking for matters of indifference, which are those elements that are based on culture, even religious aspects of culture, rather than morals.

They do acknowledge that some people may not consider these issues matters of indifference. However, they acknowledge that some people may disagree with them, but caution that "the free person is not to flaunt his or her freedom; the person for whom such matters are a deep personal conviction is not to condemn someone else."

This area of the book is problematic. Yes, there are some norms that are consistent from culture to culture, and they suggest that these cultural norms are what should form the basis for moral rules, and shape interpretation of the Bible. However, that argument seems weak when one considers what kind of behavior was culturally normative in that historical context. During Biblical times, especially Old Testament times, it was normal in most cultures for men to have child brides. Does the fact that that was culturally normative behavior mean that it was moral behavior? In addition, the authors specifically address the issue of consuming intoxicants, suggesting that is a cultural consideration. However, given what dramatic impact intoxicants can have on people, to dismiss that as a cultural rather than moral concern, without further consideration of the issue, seems dismissive.

After examining the Epistles, the authors turn to an examination of Acts and the issue of historical precedent. They consider Acts an important area for discussion, because, unlike the tales of the Old Testament, modern Christians look to Acts for guidance on how to live a modern life.

According to them, "It not only tells us the history of the early church, but it also serves as the normative model for the church at all times" (Stuart & Fee, 2003). Rather than that making Acts easier to interpret, it actually adds to the difficulty of interpreting the book. Stuart and Fee believe that "it is our lack of hermeneutical precision as to what Acts is trying to teach that has led to a lot of the division that one finds in the church."

As a result, they caution people to examine Acts carefully. When one looks at the state of modern Christianity, where so many diverse microreligions exist under the same basic umbrella, it is difficult to argue with their assessment. Therefore, they give guidelines for the reading and studying of Acts, which they believe will help one use it to help understand how the modern church should be. To explain this, the authors examine the text to try to determine Luke's intentions in writing Acts. The conclusion they come to is that Luke was not trying to write a history of the church, but, instead, was trying to provide a model for the how the church should work.

The authors provide similar examples for how one should approach interpreting certain parts of the Bible, as well as cautions for the particular problems one faces with each book of the Bible. After discussing the individual parts of the Bible, the authors include some very interesting information in the Appendix. They discuss the fact that they suggest readers consult commentaries.

This is an important suggestion because many Christians, especially members of more fundamentalist Protestant sects, reject the idea that a commentary can be useful in helping one understand the Bible. Stuart and Fee assert that a "good commentary is every bit as much a gift to the church as is… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Bible for All Its Worth" Assignment:

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PLEASE OPEN WITH AN INTRODUCTION

Writing Assignment #1

At the end of module 3 you will be required to submit a critical review of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Fee and Stuart. Guidelines for writing a good critique are provided on-line. This critique should include a summary and analysis of the book and should be between 5 to 10 pages long. The paper should be double-spaced, use a 10 or 12 point font, and contain one inch margins. This paper should follow the basic style guidelines for papers in the seminary. Be sure to read the guidelines for written work on Blackboard BEFORE doing this assignment. This critical review is worth 15% of your final grade, and the grade will be assessed as follows:

Words and Sentences (15%)

1. Is the paper without spelling and grammatical errors?

2. Does the paper reflect a graduate level of vocabulary?

3. Is the paper without syntax errors?

4. Is there a variety of sentence structures?

5. Does the style follow the basic guidelines for the seminary?

Structure (15%)

1. Do the majority of paragraphs deal directly with the assigned topic?

2. Is every paragraph important with limited tangents?

3. Does each paragraph logically follow the preceding one?

4. Are paragraphs properly grouped together in sections, with proper transitions?

5. Does the paper have a proper introduction and conclusion?

Analysis (35%)

1. Are illustrations/examples used to explain difficult material?

2. Is critical thinking employed?

3. Does the student present his/her own opinions and thoughts in a clear and substantial manner?

4. Are strengths and weaknesses addressed?

5. What audience is best suited for this book and why?

Summary (35%)

1. Is the purpose of the book stated clearly?

2. Are the chapters of the book adequately covered?

3. Does the student do more than merely retell the books contents?

4. Is there evidence of critical interaction with the contents of the book?

5. Are the most important items covered?

The Book Review or Article Critique

Written by Margaret Procter, Writing Support

An analytic or critical review of a book or article is not primarily a summary; rather, it comments on and evaluates the work in the light of specific issues and theoretical concerns in a course. (To help sharpen your analytical reading skills, see our file on Critical Reading.) The literature review puts together a set of such commentaries to map out the current range of positions on a topic; then the ***** can define his or her own position in the rest of the paper. Keep questions like these in mind as you read, make notes, and write the review

1. What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have? For what readership is it written? (The preface, acknowledgements, bibliography and index can be helpful in answering these questions. Don*****'t overlook facts about the author*****'s background and the circumstances of the book*****'s creation and publication.)

2. Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)

3. What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?

4. What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material, literary analysis, personal observation, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?

5. How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the overall structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific passages to show the characteristics of the author*****'s presentation, including writing style and tone.)

6. Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the author show awareness of them? In what respects does the author agree or disagree?

7. What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise?

8. What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?

Browse in published scholarly book reviews to get a sense of the ways reviews function in intellectual discourse. Look at journals in your discipline or general publications such as the London Review of Books or the New York Review of Books

Some reviews summarize the book*****'s content and then evaluate it; others integrate these functions, commenting on the book and using summary only to give examples. Choose the method that seems most suitable according to your professor*****'s directions

To keep your focus, remind yourself that your assignment is primarily to discuss the book*****'s treatment of its topic, not the topic itself. Your key sentences should therefore say *****"This book shows...the author argues*****" rather than *****"This happened...this is the case.

ELEMENTS OF A CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW

A critique is more than a summary of the book, article, and/or chapter being reviewed. The emphasis is on a discussion and evaluation of the topic, not just a description. Further, it should be remembered that critical is not necessarily synonymous with bad or unfavorable. Critical reviews may be positive, negative, or a combination of both. A critique usually consists of three elements: 1) summary; 2) analysis; 3) conclusion.

Summary

ï¶ Summarize the issue/topic addressed. Explained why the author(s) think the issue/topic is important.

ï¶ BRIEFLY highlight the major themes (or sub-topics) being explored.

Analysis

This section should critically analyze and evaluate the work being reviewed. Some of the questions you may want to consider in this part are:

ï¶ What is the point of view of the author(s)? What perspective (ideological, philosophical) do they bring to the work? Is her perspective implicit (gleaned from reading *****between the lines*****) or explicit (openly stated)?

ï¶ What kind of evidence to they bring to support their viewpoint? Is it adequate?

ï¶ How clear is the argument? Does it flow logically? Are there gaps, inconsistencies, or contradictions in the discussion or argument?

Support your response with examples from the work itself and from your knowledge of the issue/topic. Be sure to go beyond stating your opinion; it is not enough to say you agree or disagree with the author*****s point of view, substantiate your claims!

Conclusion

ï¶ Of what value is the article/book/chapter? What does it add (if anything) to the discourse?

ï¶ Who would find the piece helpful and why?

Mechanics

You need not divide your review into three sections unless you choose to do so. You may weave the components into a narrative. Avoid *****majoring on the minors.***** For format questions, see guidelines posted for this class on Blackboard or contact your instructor.

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