For Students Pursue a deeper knowledge of God through self-paced college- and seminary-level online courses in Old and New Testament studies, theology, biblical Greek, and more. For Instructors and School Administrators Enhance your school’s traditional and online education programs by easily integrating online courses developed from the scholars and textbooks you trust. The issue is sales. Women dominate the church. They have since the 1200's, and so if you want to write a book for Christians, you have to write a book that will appeal to women.

The Psalms are not commonly thought of as containing exegetical difficulties. However, they are a "special kind of literature" and "require special care in reading and interpreting." They are best understood as a collective outpouring of communication with God much akin to that found in a diary. Combined with a view of the historical context of ancient Israel, exegesis of the Psalms can provide the reader with an invaluable perspective in dealing with the vacillation of life. The literary and functional aspects of the Psalms are covered in great detail by Fee and Stuart resulting in a comprehensive evaluation and dissection of this genre.

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Understanding the Bible isn’t for the few, the gifted, the scholarly. The Bible is accessible. It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to biblical scholars, and everyone in between. A few essential insights into the Bible can clear up a lot of misconceptions and help you grasp the meaning of Scripture and its application to your 21st-century life. Second, they continue with great tools for interpreting and accurately applying challenging genres like Old Testament prophecy, Christ’s parables (pg. 157, 160), and the apocalyptic vision of Revelation. I have currently found handling the narratives of Acts a significant homiletical challenge, so I am thankful for their particularly helpful tools for interpreting and accurately applying the Acts of the Apostles (pg. 112, 119). I would like to state that this is the only book that i have read that treats biblical interpretation. Thus, I have no other book to compare it to, so this review might be a little subjective.

In reading, the question we need to ask is, 'What's the point?' The aim of exegesis is to discover the original meaning of the author. Why does the author say that here? What does he say next? Content In all honesty, the only reason that I read this book is because it was required for a class. I'm glad that I read it and am thankful to have kept it as a reference. My only regret is that I wasn't made aware of it sooner. Having read it much sooner would have saved me decades of headache and heartache in sorting through all the twisted theologies currently parading through the modern church today. Where great commentaries give you fish, this book teaches you how to fish and feed yourself intellectually and spiritually from the Bible. As delicately as I can state it ...... Evangelicals need to get over it and enter the field themselves. If the Bible is true, it must be true enough to stand tough scrutiny. The opinion of this reviewer is that it does stand that scrutiny, but as a student of the Bible you must expect over time that your understanding will change and grow. That is called discipleship and growth. It's a good thing! And, of course, it makes sense that their rule would be too restrictive because the Holy Spirit is the true author of all of Scripture. He is the one who inspired the OT authors to write, so He certainly could have inspired books that have a level of meaning to their original audiences that take on a new level of meaning IN LIGHT OF THE NT. Because of that, I would suggest an update of their rule for interpretation: "a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or [original] readers, IF they had access to the revelation of Christ in the NT like we do." That is, if the original author knew what we know about Christ, would he have looked at what he wrote and said, "Ah yes, I see it now in the light of Christ." This still keeps good constraints on interpretation because it does not allow us to make the text mean whatever we want, but it also allows for the OT to be read in light of the NT and to see the mysteries God hid there but now fully revealed in Christ (Col. 1:24-29). As B. B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian, wrote: the OT is like a room full of wonderful furniture but the light is off, but with the NT, the light is turned on. We must interpret the OT in light of the NT; not just within itself.

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While parts of the Bible are certainly complex, even for the most seasoned theologians, its main message is understandable by anyone willing to put in the effort. It is a book intended for people of all ages, time periods, and walks of life to read and apply. We unknowingly interpret as we read, because our reading is coloured by our experiences, culture, and understanding of ideas and words. An example is Paul saying, 'Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts'.[2] In modern English, 'flesh' is taken to mean 'body'. So we think the verse refers to 'bodily appetites'. But Paul usually uses 'flesh' to refer to 'the sinful nature'. Too many people miss the point of a verse or book because they disregard the context or literary genre. The Bible is for everyone, but that doesn’t mean that every part is understandable by everyone by just simply reading. A careful examination of God’s Word will reveal to its readers not only what it is about, but also how it applies to them today, allowing them to serve God with gladness in Christ.