How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

Fee, Gordon D. and Douglas Stuart.  How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (2^nd Edition).  Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 1993.  ISBN 0-310-38491-5.  265 pages.

There are certain hazards in reviewing a book that has become somewhat of a standard, especially amongst evangelical and many charismatic Bible students.  But I believe this review will be useful to those who are trying to select a book to guide them in Bible study, and also to those who may have tried this book and found that not all their questions were answered.

This book is neither a scholarly introduction to Biblical exegesis, nor is it a simple, layman’s guide to Bible study for those with limited time and effort.  It will thus tend to dissatisfy many readers.  It is a guide for the serious layman or the more casual student, for example, the Sunday School teacher or the church leader whose specialty is other than Biblical studies.  In that area, it is a very good guide.  I do have some reservations, however, which I will list below.

But first let me note that both authors have written introductory books at the scholarly level in their respective fields, (Fee’s “New Testament Exegesis” and Stuart’s “Old Testament Exegesis”) and so the need for a slightly more intense introduction to each area has been filled.

First, the strong points.

The authors cover basics of interpretation quite thoroughly, starting with the basic need for interpretation (chapter 1).  They divide the process of interpretation into two parts, exegesis and hermeneutics.  These two terms often overlap in general usage, but Stuart and Fee are using them as getting at the meaning in historical context and applying that meaning to a contemporary situation respectively.  They base their approach to exegesis on a rather realistic understanding of what the Bible is, noting the differences in authorship and historical or cultural situation, and nonetheless affirming a high view of scripture.  Those who are acquainted with these authors will not be surprised, but the combination of the high view of scripture and understanding the historical and cultural circumstances is often missed by those outside the community of scholarship.

The authors deal well with issues of context, and history, as well as the process of interpretation including application quite effectively.  I think they draw the boundary lines a bit firmly, but since most people will probably color outside the lines more than they should, perhaps this is a good restriction!  I do think that their resource recommendations (p. 23) should include material from a broader range of perspectives.  To material from Zondervan (Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible) and Eerdmans (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) I would certainly add items such as the HarperCollins Bible Commentary and Bible Dictionary, the Oxford Companion to the Bible, and study Bibles such as the Oxford Study Bible [see my review] or New Oxford Annotated Bible.  In turn I recommend that those who are more liberal in persuasion include the recommendations of these authors.

The second chapter on Bible translations is excellent.  I would note, however, that I think the authors are a bit too hard on the New World Translation—though I don’t like it and I think it has many flaws, it’s not quite as bad as they suggest.  Otherwise for a book not dedicated to Bible translations, this material is excellent.

They follow these two chapters with several chapters on specific sections of the Bible or types of literature.  I think this approach is excellent.

The chapters are:

The Epistles:  Learning to Think Contextually

The Epistles:  The Hermeneutical Questions

The Old Testament Narratives:  Their Proper Use

Acts:  The Question of Historical Precedent

The Gospels:  One Story, Many Dimensions

The Parables:  Do You Get the Point

The Law(s):  Covenant Stipulations for Israel

The Prophets:  Enforcing the Covenant in Israel

The Psalms:  Israel’s Prayers and Ours

Wisdom:  Then and Now

The Revelations:  Images of Judgment and Hope

Unfortunately, the very nature of the subject matter makes it difficult to write a neutral guide which would merely show people methods of finding the meaning for themselves.  For example, the chapter on Old Testament narratives is subtitled “Their Proper Use.”  There are certain assumptions about the reason that narratives are included in scripture in the specific guidelines given for use of Old Testament narratives.  This is necessary, simply in order to discuss them at all, but it still tends to involve a set of rules derived from one’s view of scripture rather than an open approach that will allow one to examine various possibilities.  I would particularly consider the restrictions on the use of narrative to be a bit excessive.  I could make a similar comment on the parables, though the vast majority of the material is right on target and corrects major misuses, it also appears to put a very narrow box around the interpretation of Biblical parallels.

In the appendix we again have recommendations of commentaries, and these are very strongly slated to evangelical commentaries.  While I would recommend strongly that these commentaries be taken seriously, and would urge my more liberal readers to include volumes from the New International Commentary on the Old Testament (example:  Numbers), New International Commentary on the New Testament (example:  1 Corinthians [see my review]), Apollos Old Testament Commentary (example:  Deuteronomy) and Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (example:  Genesis), I would also suggest the Anchor Bible series (example:  Malachi), the Old Testament Library (example:  Isaiah), the International Critical Commentary (example:  2 Corinthians) and the Hermeneia (example:  Daniel) series.

These commentary recommendations lead me to what I think is a serious lack in this and other books on basic Bible study for Christians:  A study of critical methodologies.  Some may wonder whether such a study is important in basic materials.  I think it is.  With materials such as Jesus Seminar publications and various books on authorship of the Bible available in secular book stores, Christians will be exposed to such material at some time or another, and they need to know at least some of the basics of the process by which historical-critical conclusions are derived.  I don’t know of any good basic guide that can be recommended to the layman.