Understanding Scripture: An Overview of the Bibles Origin, Reliability, and Meaning by Wayne Grudem

Understanding Scripture: An Overview of the Bibles Origin, Reliability, and Meaning Reviews

• 
  Philip Brown

  Good refresher.
• 
  Glenn Crouch

  This is an excellent introduction / overview for anyone to understand how Christians view and use Scripture. Being an Anthology from a variety of Authors, of course, has its strengths and weaknesses - for example: the former offers a brief exposure that may encourage a reader to read more from this author; the latter means that there isn't any real continuity.
  
  The major "downside" of the book, I believe, is the lack of "for further reading" at the end of each chapter. I think if there were at least 3 other books were listed so that the Reader can go and read more on a particular topic then this would be a superb book!
  
  
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  Nathan Albright

  Reading this book was a fascinating sort of experience, in part because the authors themselves sought to define a place for evangelical understanding of the Bible that remained simultaneously distinct from both Catholic thought (which led to some skepticism about the role of tradition) as well as from biblical thought (which led to some inconsistency about the role of biblical understanding from the Hebrew scriptures as well as the Jews in determining the legitimacy of certain practices).  This is not a new perspective as far as my reading goes [1], but it did provide an interesting look at the way in which many evangelical scholars attempt to deal with competing claims that put them between a strict biblical and a strict tradition standard, and I personally find attempts such as that found in this book to mediate between those positions to be immensely fascinating, even if it probably contributes a great deal to the stress of those who hold to such opinions.  If this book is not necessarily a reliable guide to understanding scripture, it is at least useful in understanding evangelicals, and that is something.
  
  This book is relatively short at about 200 pages and made up of various short essays by various authors, some of them well known, that seek to provide insight in some area or another of the Bible and its context.  The first part of the book contains two short essays on interpreting the Bible, after which there are five essays on reading the Bible in various aspects (theologically, as literature, in prayer and communion, for personal application, and for preaching and public worship).  After this there are essays on the canon of the OT, NT, and the apocrypha which give a perspective I personally share.  Two chapters give a solid conservative look at the reliability of the OT and NT manuscripts before two more essays give a look at the role of archaeology in improving our understanding of the reliability of the OT and NT as well.  The last two parts of the book consist of three chapters on the languages of the Bible and how they work as well as the complexity of the Septuagint, and then a look at a survey of the history of salvation and how the NT quotes and interprets the Hebrew scriptures.
  
  One thing that is easy to note from this book, and certainly easy to criticize, is the way that the authors consistently bifurcate the scriptures into the Old and New Testaments and view them generally in isolation.  There appears to be a consistent desire to exaggerate the discontinuity between the two testaments, not least because these authors do not appear inclined to deal meaningfully with the corpus of biblical law.  We do find the authors wrestling with personal application, but in a fairly shallow manner, and a great deal of the approach here can be termed as antinomian, not least because the authors repeat discredited and long-refuted views about clean and unclean meats and the Sabbath in scripture and do not deal meaningfully with the continued importance of biblical law in the early Church of God.  Again, though, this book does not promote a biblical view of scripture, but rather promotes the evangelical interpretation of scripture that selectively chooses traditions (including unbiblical views of the nature of God) that suit its understanding while dismissing those traditions--including the occasional doctrinal issues of the apocryphal books--that allow it to have an independent place vis-a-vis the Roman Catholic Church.  As an outsider to these concerns, I viewed the book as a mixture of fairly obvious truth and fairly lamentable error, but conservative evangelicals will likely find more to appreciate here.
  
  [1] See, for example:
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
• 
  Matt Mangum

  This is a decent introductory book for a young Christian or uneducated Christian, though it does not offer much for someone who is familiar with the topic or anyone looking to use this as a jumping off point into further research. The paucity of footnotes really hurts it in my opinion. It very much reminds me of an updated version of The Origin of the Bible, which had the same strengths and weaknesses.That said, this should be helpful for the right people.
• 
  Kingsley Layton

  A great, though difficult, asset to understanding scripture in the context it was given.
• 
  Dan Valentine

  Excellent, well communicated, well researched, understandable flyover of all areas of Biblical study.
• 
  Anna Dalton

  A good resource on a variety of topics, written by a number of different authors. It seemed a bit disjointed to me, maybe because the topics and authors do change so frequently. But it's also good to have nice short sections and chapters so you don't get bogged down.
• 
  Brandon

  A very basic work of Biblical Introduction. Nicely serviceable for adult Sunday School or basic Bible study groups.
• 
  C.H. Cobb

  Without question, this is one of the best basic Bible introductions that I have read. Using a series of nineteen essays by eighteen different scholars, the editors have woven together a comprehensive introductory exploration of all the major questions that surround the phenomenon we call the Bible.
  
  Part 1 addresses the issue of Bible interpretation. A sketch of the process of Bible interpretation is provided, showing due sensitivity to the issue of genre, followed by a good summary of the history of interpretation. As is true in the rest of this little volume, the two chapters are just the right length to tease out the major issues without burying the introductory reader in a flood of detail.
  
  Part 2 explores five different reading strategies with which one can approach the text. This is clearly the most devotional part of the book, and the editors have chosen well for the contributors, with names like Packer, Piper, and Powlison. In reading this section, students might be tempted to blow through it and get to chapters with more technical details such as canon, or the use of the Old Testament by the New. But the reader should not forget that the whole point of studying Scripture is to, well, read it, and to read it with ever-increasing understanding. This section might well be where the payoff for the book is located.
  
  Part 3 investigates the issues and problems surrounding the concept of the canon of Scripture. The Old and New Testaments are treated separately, as the canon issues between the two are quite distinct. An excellent chapter on the Apocrypha is also provided.
  
  Part 4 delves into the reliability of the manuscripts and questions of textual criticism. The level of detail is just right for an introductory work, and the two testaments are again dealt with in two separate chapters. Part 5 continues that pattern by devoting a chapter each to archaeology and the Old and New Testaments. Plenty of examples are given, although it would have been nice for a few pictures to have been included in these chapters.
  
  Part 6 was devoted to the biblical languages. This section was either the weakest, or strongest part of the book, depending on the level of detail you are looking for. Peter Williams got into an astonishing amount of detail regarding Hebrew, for a layman’s introductory text. I enjoyed this chapter immensely, I suspect my students got somewhat lost in it. It will certainly give the average man on the street an great appreciation for those who know Hebrew well enough to translate it. David Black took a very different approach with Greek, and dealt with characteristics of Koine, the range of Greek styles in the New Testament, and some basic linguistics. The section concluded with a great chapter on the Septuagint. Peter Gentry handled this section and included in it several pages on translation strategy (functional versus formal equivalence).
  
  This is probably my major criticism of the book. Gentry’s paragraphs on translation strategy should have been expanded into a complete chapter on the history of the English text and the translation rationales behind the myriad modern versions. He did a great job handling the issues, and I wish he’d been asked to contribute a whole chapter on it.
  
  The final part, on Old Testament and New, included a chapter on the history of salvation by Vern Poythress, and a chapter on the New Testament’s use of the Old, by C. John Collins.
  
  This is a terrific lay-level textbook for Bible Introduction. It’s too short (203 pages) and too basic for graduate use, and possibly even for undergraduate use. But in the church, which is where I am using it, it is perfect in terms of its writing level and content complexity. I highly recommend this book for personal or church classroom use.
• 
  Chuck

  If you're looking for a simple, clear overview of Scripture (not the story, the actual text), this book is for you. Brief chapters on canon, text, reading the Bible and other basic ideas.
  
  Unfortunately, each chapter does not end with a brief bibliography of resources when you want to go to the next level of information.
  
  Very readable.
• 
  Josue Piolita

  This is a well written book. Each of the topics discussed deserve much more attention. Yet, as the subtitle indicates, this book is an "overview of the Bible's origin, reliability, and meaning." As an overview, the authors did a great job!
• 
  Drew Miller

  A brief overview by way of 19 short essays on understanding the history of the Bible, its trustworthiness, and how to read it. A great introductory book for anyone looking to grow their confidence in the Word of God.
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  Luke Evans

  
  
  Very basic
  
• 
  Sean McGowan

  Good overview of Scripture.
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  Alex

  Only read Roger Beckwith’s “The Canon of the Old Testament”.