Car advertisements
on TV have progressed (??) from being informative in years past, to
idiotic, to truly moronic in modern times. So please pardon me when I
borrow an overused phrase from contemporary silly car commercials,
but Sproul’s little volume, Knowing Scripture, is truly
“best-in-class” for concise books that help the reader interpret
the Bible.
Sproul’s writing
is warm and friendly, almost whimsical at times, which belies the
immensely intelligent, well-schooled, sharp mind behind the volume.
The average layman will find this book easy to read, easy to
understand, and very encouraging as it admonishes him to read—and
interpret—his Bible.
The first chapter
explores the motivations and necessity behind the Christian’s
obligation to read the Scripture, and the second chapter follows on
smoothly with the question of private Bible interpretation. Sproul
argues for the idea that private interpretation is necessary and
legitimate, but must be informed by the teachers (through history)
God has gifted to the Church. He also deals with the matter of
objectivity and subjectivity in interpretation.
A wide-angle view
of hermeneutics occupies the third chapter as Sproul deals with
larger issues such as genre analysis, metaphor, the
grammatical-historical approach, source criticism, and how such
matters inform literal interpretation.
If chapter three
deals with hermeneutics on the “strategic” level, chapter four
approaches it from the “tactical” level as the author unfolds and
explains eleven rules to guide the interpretive endeavor. Chapter
five deals with some of the difficult issues swirling around the
question of how both the biblical writer’s and modern reader’s
cultural contexts affect meaning.
Finally Sproul
lists numerous helpful resources and tools for Bible study in chapter
six. As a humorous side note, Sproul thinks it is a simple matter to
master the Greek and Hebrew alphabets (well, okay), and a
thousand-word vocabulary of Greek (ah, not so simple). Maybe
it is simple for him and for other men and women of his intellect,
but I found it very challenging (and then found maintaining a
hard-earned Greek and Hebrew vocabulary to be nigh unto impossible,
since other demands crowd into post-seminary life).
Knowing
Scripture is truly the “best-in-class” volume for an
introductory look at how to read and interpret the Bible. Highly
recommended.
