Can you recommend a book for beginners that explains how to study the Bible?
I've spent the last two hours looking for a basic book for beginners that will help them study the Bible. I've found lots of good books, but none really do what I want. I'd prefer the book to be in Logos, but feel free to recommend other books too.
To save time, here's what I've been considering. These books are close to what I want, but all fall short:
- Howard Hendricks, Living by the Book: If this book was 75 pages, it would be ideal. But as it stands, it goes into too much detail about a relatively simple point - you need to read the Bible carefully!
- Rick Warren, Bible Study Methods, this is quite close to the sort of book I want, but I don't like the "pick the method you like" mentality, and I'm slightly nervous of Warren's own handling of scripture elsewhere to recommend a book of his on how to study the Bible.
- Michael Williams, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens, a very promising title, but it really just provides overviews of every book of the Bible. It's not a "how to" as such.
- Robert Stein, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible. This is very close to what I want. It's short, which is great, and it's well-written and easy to understand. But I don't need the two chapters on hermeneutics, and it really needs chapters on applying the Bible. Without that, it's incomplete - but perhaps it could be paired with another book on application?
- Duvall and Hays, Grasping God's Word, I love this book, and the structure is perfect. But it's too long and too expensive for what I have in mind.
- Mark Water, Bible Study Made Easy, this is a simple book, but too simple, really. It's a bit random, too, I need something more structured.
- John MacArthur, How to Study the Bible - four reasonable sermons, but they don't make a coherent whole.
The closest I've come is Tremper Longman's Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind, which isn't in Logos, unfortunately. But it's very simply written, reliable, and not overly long. It's great on helping you to understand the Bible, but not so great in helping you know how to get Biblical principles from the text and apply them to your life.
So, I know I'm being fussy, but am I missing any other alternatives? They need to be short, simple, "how to", not worry about hermeneutics and the post-modern dilemma, and help you know only understand, but also apply the Bible's message.
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Here's Learn to Study the Bible by Andy Deane, a book fairly new in Logos that contains 40 step by step methods to help people study the Bible efficiently. Here's one of the claims the book makes:
"This book contains the largest variety of methods! It has more methods, how-to illustrations, and study aids than you will find in any one resource. Whether you are just getting started in your walk with the Lord or are a mature believer, you will find a number of Bible study methods that will add enjoyment to your study time."
I hope this helps!
DAL
Edit: This book even has a link to a website: www.learntostudythebible.com which has some free tools to help people study the Bible.
Ps: Someone's suggestion seems funny, but true: Why not write your own book which has what you are looking for. It seems you already have some books that are excellent; all you need to do is write your own summary and add what you feel it's missing. Then you could sell it in Logos...hey, I'd buy a book if it's written by you lol [:P] then you can do the awwdio vyr-shun with a british occ-cent. You might even get the Geico Gecko to do the recording for you once we find out if the lizard is British or Australian [:D]
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Mark Barnes said:
These books are close to what I want, but all fall short:
??? Write your own and publish it in Logos???
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I have heard good things about Kay Arthur's book, "The New How to Study Your Bible", but I haven't read it myself. I have it in Kindle. From the TOC it looks basic enough and has good coverage. It doesn't appear to cover book or genre specific study tips, so you'd probably supplement it with a book like "How to Read the Bible Through the Jesus Lens" and/or a good OT/NT survey.
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- The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight
- Treasure the Word: A Layperson's Guide to Interpreting Scripture by Joseph Coleson
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This looks like a good one, but it's not available in Logos (yet). It should be!
It's less than half the length of the "too long and too expensive" Grasping God's Word, and less than half the price. And it's by one of the same authors. The only confusing thing is that the paperback edition product description page says it's 160 pages (which would be a good length) but the Kindle edition product description page says it's 464 pages (which would be too long). The paperback one is correct because I've looked at sample pages and the Index starts on p. 157. So is the Kindle edition a different longer edition, or is it based on smaller pages, or is that 464 figure wrong? Who knows, without buying the Kindle edition to find out.
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Mark Barnes said:
They need to be short, simple, "how to", not worry about hermeneutics and the post-modern dilemma, and help you know only understand, but also apply the Bible's message.
How about Roy Zuck's Basic Bible Interpretation? It is a pretty short and simple guide.
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Pam Larson said:
i would second both these books. I just finished teaching a one semester Adult CE class at my church using the first book.
john
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Looks like a lot of good suggestions have come up so far on this thread for books which are not in Logos yet. Time for a new thread to propose these as resources for Logos. I'll get on that and try to add to it as more ideas trickle in. (Here's that thread.)
Here's another one that is in Logos, that's not very expensive and gets pretty good reviews on Amazon.com.
And another one that's in pre-pub which looks good:
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Mark,
I am pretty sure you have come upon this resource by Kay Arthur, it teaches an inductive method of acquiring the text: http://www.amazon.com/How-Study-Your-Bible-Inductive/dp/0736905448/ref=sr_1_44?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369883004&sr=1-44&keywords=inductive+bible+study+kay+arthur
My bias in approaching the text is to take real needs and life issues to the text searching the scripture methodically for answers with nothing more than prayer, a bible, a concordance and a dictionary in hand. One should also develop a reading plan and stick to it. The Lord honors disciplined and motivated saints whose sole purpose is to glorify Him in Christ, especially if that one is broken and yielded to His leading.
Meanwhile, Jesus kept on growing wiser and more mature, and in favor with God and his fellow man.
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I wonder why Kay Arthur's book "The New Inductive Bible Study" is not available in Logos or Vyrso. It seems like vyrso only has the kid's version of it, but how helpful would that be for an adult?
DAL
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DAL said:
I wonder why Kay Arthur's book "The New Inductive Bible Study" is not available in Logos or Vyrso. It seems like vyrso only has the kid's version of it, but how helpful would that be for an adult?
An educated guess… The kids version isn't likely to become a Logos edition, therefore it was freely put into Vyrso. The regular adult version IS desired for a Logos edition and has been withheld for that purpose. (The contracts for Logos & Vyrso books are different beasts, and Logos editions need more time and attention and haggling).
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The very best I ever saw was Oletta Wald's The Joy of Discovery. There is now a new edition called The New Joy of Discovery.
Oletta Wald takes the principles of Inductive Bible study that she learned from such masters as Robert Traina, who wrote the classic Methodical Bible Study, and makes the principles more understandable.
I wish Logos published this, but they don't. It is available in paper and in Kindle format.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
Here is a resource that you may want to consider - Irving Jensen on the Internet
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The comment on inductive bible study reminded me of this one:
Bauer, David R., and Robert A. Traina. Inductive Bible Study: A Comprehensive Guide to the Practice of Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011.
Unfortunately, it's only available as part of a collection:
http://www.logos.com/product/20974/baker-academic-bible-interpretation-collection
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Pam Larson said:
The comment on inductive bible study reminded me of this one:
Bauer, David R., and Robert A. Traina. Inductive Bible Study: A Comprehensive Guide to the Practice of Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011.
Unfortunately, it's only available as part of a collection:
http://www.logos.com/product/20974/baker-academic-bible-interpretation-collection
[Y] I wish that set was broken up. I would sure like to have that volume.
"In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley0 -
It's not a book, but here's a link to a great workshop by Matt Chandler of The Village Church on how to read the Bible and apply it to your life. It totally transformed my Bible reading when I first heard it:
http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/how-to-study-the-bible/
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Hi Mark
My response isn’t really answering your question (providing a resource), but I hope it helps. I feel like I know you through these forums enough that you’ll understand what I’m saying; in fact you may have already taken this into account.
For complete beginners, rather than teach the theory of how to study the Bible, have you considered teaching by example? I usually start in the gospels. I ask them to enter into what it must have been like for those people, and whether this is what they would expect God to be like. Invariably, they have some different expectations of God, rather than that he would be eating with the tax collectors who represented their oppressors, or allowing a sinful woman to cry all over his feet and wipe them with her hair (or whatever the story is). Through these examples, they’re learning how to respond to Scripture—how to appreciate the God of Scripture and his actions in human history. The application is relational first.
Later we might teach them a simple technique such as SOAP (Scripture, Observation of what it meant for them, Application of what it means for us, and Prayer as responding to what God said). But again, we tend to do this by example rather than by instruction. (We actually wrote an app that does it by example.)
Eventually the person needs some basic background on the various books of the Bible. Any study bible or Bible Dictionary provides this, or Fee & Stuart’s Book By Book.
For most people, I think real-world learning begins with real-world examples. By example, we focus people on the God of Scripture rather than just tools for Scripture.
Hope that's of some use.
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Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I've bought a few of them, but it looks like I'll be going ahead with Rosie's suggestion. That great thing about that is that keener students can use Grasping God's Word, whilst others use Journey into God's Word.
Rosie Perera said:This looks like a good one, but it's not available in Logos (yet). It should be!
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Mark – I came across another resource which may be of interest. It isn't in Logos, but it is on a daily sale somewhere else...
40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer (Kregel)
http://www.amazon.com/Questions-Interpreting-Answers-Series-ebook/dp/B004WYHU3A/ref=tmm_kin_title_0
EDIT: I changed the link to the non-mobile version.
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alabama24 said:
I came across another resource which may be of interest. It isn't in Logos, (...)
40 Questions about Interpreting the Bible by Robert Plummer (Kregel)
Then it's time for a suggestion, I think (maybe for all of the 40 Questions series? Some are not even in a digital format yet - e.g. Tom Schreiner's 40 Q about Christians and Biblical Law looks interesting).
Have joy in the Lord!
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alabama24 said:
Mark – I came across another resource which may be of interest. It isn't in Logos, but it is on a daily sale somewhere else...
Thanks Alabama. I bought it, and Calibre is working its magic as I type...
NB.Mick said:Then it's time for a suggestion, I think (maybe for all of the 40 Questions series? Some are not even in a digital format yet - e.g. Tom Schreiner's 40 Q about Christians and Biblical Law looks interesting).
I agree. I've not come across the series before, but it looks very interesting. I'd certainly buy it in Logos.
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Mark Barnes said:
bought it, and Calibre is working its magic as I type...
Hi Mark. You have me thinking [:)] ... Calibre?
How are you using? Relation to Kindle books?
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Steve said:
How are you using? Relation to Kindle books?
Mark means that he is using Calibre to convert this Kindle book to a personal book using the personal book builder in Logos.
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A number of years ago, LOGOS held an essay contest asking for Bible Study helps. They were on-line for a few years, though I do not know if they are still available.
Blessings,
FloydPastor-Patrick.blogspot.com
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I also discovered this collection of methods put together by MJS.
http://community.logos.com/forums/p/336/3343.aspx#3343
I don't know if the format that these are in are currently supported by L5, somebody more knowledgeable about the internals of LOGOS will need to explore that option.
Blessings,
FloydPastor-Patrick.blogspot.com
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Floyd Johnson said:
A number of years ago, LOGOS held an essay contest asking for Bible Study helps. They were on-line for a few years, though I do not know if they are still available.
A Google search for "essay contest" site:logos.com finds the blog entry announcing the contest with a link to the page of winning essays, which has only one (short and not particularly useful in this instance) essay shown.
Floyd Johnson said:I also discovered this collection of methods put together by MJS.
http://community.logos.com/forums/p/336/3343.aspx#3343
I don't know if the format that these are in are currently supported by L5, somebody more knowledgeable about the internals of LOGOS will need to explore that option.
Hmm...that link appears to be to an entirely unrelated post by someone else. Could you find the one by MJ that you were referring to?
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[quote]
Rosie Perera said:I also discovered this collection of methods put together by MJS.
http://community.logos.com/forums/p/336/3343.aspx#3343
I don't know if the format that these are in are currently supported by L5, somebody more knowledgeable about the internals of LOGOS will need to explore that option.
Hmm...that link appears to be to an entirely unrelated post by someone else. Could you find the one by MJ that you were referring to?
Not sure why it goes to the bottom of the page, but if you scroll to the top, you will see MJ's post. Let me know if you still are not seeing MJ's post.
Blessings,
FloydPastor-Patrick.blogspot.com
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Floyd Johnson said:
Not sure why it goes to the bottom of the page, but if you scroll to the top, you will see MJ's post.
Ah, that's because there the #3343 bookmark at the end of the link, which must have been the post you jumped to that thread by, so it was still in the URL bar even though you'd scrolled up to the top.
Incidentally, did you know you can get the link for a particular post in a thread by clicking on the little dog-eared page icon next to the person's name:
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Rosie Perera said:
Incidentally, did you know you can get the link for a particular post in a thread by clicking on the little dog-eared page icon next to the person's name:
I didn't realize this but it is good information to know. Is there a place where every feature of the forum software is explained? I know I read some when I first joined but it would be good to review it.
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Bruce Dunning said:Rosie Perera said:
Incidentally, did you know you can get the link for a particular post in a thread by clicking on the little dog-eared page icon next to the person's name:
I didn't realize this but it is good information to know. Is there a place where every feature of the forum software is explained? I know I read some when I first joined but it would be good to review it.
I don't think so. I've just learned bits and pieces here and there by experimentation, and reading what others have discovered. One useful thing that I learned recently, which might come in handy to help someone who is puzzled about why they don't have access to some of the formatting tools on the toolbar when composing a post: you can set whether you're using the Normal or Advanced editor. It's under Site Options (click on the Edit link next to your name in the upper right corner of the forum, and then click Site Options). There are a bunch of other options there too, and that's also where you can set up a signature line. (But then again you probably already knew that because you have one.)
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Kay Arthur and David Arthur. How to Study the Bible. After you read it use their study guides at precept.org
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