My favorite book for learning how to understand God’s Word “How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth”. This book changed how I read the Bible and understood it, as well as gave me a better appreciation for it, and the God of it.
Here’s an edited review of the book, by Terry Akers:
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth guides readers toward a better handling of Scripture by teaching them how to avoid misinterpretations through the proper use of context. Throughout the book, the importance of reading a passage holistically, according to the overall content of Scripture, is emphasized. Bad exegesis and quirky doctrines often result when a particular biblical statement or passage is taken out of cultural, historical or theological context and emphasized apart from the whole of revelation.
The book’s introduction explains: “The aim of good interpretation is not uniqueness; one is not trying to discover what no one else has ever seen before. Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to ‘out clever’ the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias).”
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth demonstrates how the Bible must be read theologically—through the lens of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ—rather than in overly literalistic or idealistic ways. By remaining safely within the “middle swath of orthodoxy” and learning to listen in humility to God’s revelation, Bible reading is shown to be not merely informative, but transformative.
Reprinted with permission granted. Copyright © 2005 Terry Akers (read all of it here)
To win, leave a comment telling which book of the bible you enjoy the most, and why. One entry will be chosen.