Dusting Off The Good Book: A Survey of the Bible's Literature with Some Principles for Interpretation

Further Reading Suggestions:

• Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (464 pages Zondervan; 2nd edition (2005) This is a good textbook for learning how to study and interpret the Bible, complete with exercises. A separate Workbook is also available.
• How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart (288 pages Zondervan; 3rd edition 2003)
• Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul (125 pages InterVarsity Press - June 1977)
• What the Bible is All About by Henrietta C. Mears is a great book for adults to begin to get to know the Bible. A Children's Edition based on it by Frances Blankenbaker for ages 9 - 12 is also available.

• The Clarity of Scripture How Scripture interprets Scripture
• The Process of Bible Study and Interpretation
• Translations and Interpretation
• The Purpose of the Bible
• Commentary on Psalm 19: 7 - 11
• Sproul's Reading Program for Beginners
• Overheads used

ASSIGNMENT after Week 2: Select and read a Chapter or more of a book of the Bible that is unfamiliar or new to you. After reading though it several times (perhaps in different versions) then break it down into paragraph units, summarizing each in a brief sentence. Then take some notes of verses or phrases within it that strike you, that you don't understand, or would like further explanation. Finally, make a guess as to what you feel the point of the passage is.

Suggestions for Scholarly Reading:

• The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant R. Osborne (624 pages IVP Academic Rev Exp edition 2006)
• An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics by Walter C. Kaiser and Moises Silva (352 Pages Zondervan Expanded ed 2007)
• Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old by Robert L. Thomas (528 pages Kregel 2003)
• Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A textbook of Hermeneutics by Bernard Ramm (320 pages Baker Academic 3rd edition 1980)
• Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study by Fredrick W. Danker (344 pages Augsburg Fortress Publishers 4th ed 2003)

• Historical Revelation: Putting Scripture in Context
• Bible History Timeline
• Progressive Revelation
• The Unity of the Scriptures: Theology
• An Outline of Christian Doctrines
• Chart of The Teachings of the Confession

  ASSIGNMENT after Week 3: Do some word studies in a concordance, if you have one, and cross reference studies on the passage and verses you worked on last week. Hopefully you have a good study Bible. Remember to use the circles of contexts as you do them.

• Bible Explorer 4 is a great bargain with a good library of 15 Bible Translations and 125 hand-picked reference works, currently on sale. A free download program with lots of free books is also available.
  WORDSearch 8 is a more sophisticated Bible Study program by WORDSearch and is available with a variety of libraries. Add on books can be purchased.
• LOGOS Bible Software is a good but more expensive program, also with a large library.
• BibleWorks Software is an expensive program especially useful for scholarly exegesis and study in the original languages.

• Diversity of the Scriptures

• The Epistles: How to read them
• Time Line of the History of the Church and the Book of Acts
• Paul's Correspondance with His Churches
• The General Epistles - (NT Echatological Chart)

• The Narratives: How to listen to a story
• A Storyteller's Steps in Bible Story Analysis
• Two examples of Story Analysis: Gen 38 and 39
• Diagrams of Narrative Structures
• A Survey of the Historical Old Testament Books
• Discerning the Story Structures In the Narrative Literature of the Bible
• The Epic Stories of the Old Testament

• He Gave Us Stories by Richard L. Pratt, J. (Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing Company, 1993)
• The Art of Biblical Narrative by Robert Alter; (Basic Books, 1981)

• The Gospels: Witnessing Jesus and His Teaching
• A Quiz on the Gospels
• Chart: Distinctives of the Gospels
• Chronology of Christ's Life
• Two Overheads on the Four Gospels

• The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim is a tremendous study, putting Jesus teaching and ministry into the cultural contexts of its day.
• The Training of the Twelve by A. B. Bruce is an excellent study of Jesus' discipling methods and Robert Coleman's The Master Plan of Evangelism should be in every library.
• Jesus and the Gospels: An Introduction and Survey by Craig L. Blomberg is a thorough academic work on the Gospels.
• Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus by by Joachim Jeremias gives a detailed description of its economic and social structures.
• A Harmony of the Gospels: New American Standard Edition by Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N Gundry puts the parallel accounts side by side with notes.

• The Parables: Catching the Point
• The 30 Main Parables
• Jesus' Use of Figurative Language
• Three Overheads used for teaching about the Parables
• Jesus' Master Plan
• Chart: Christ's Messianic Ministry

Some Suggestions for Further Reading:

• The Method and Message of Jesus Teaching by Robert H. Stein is recommended.
• Hard Sayings of The Bible by by Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce, Manfred T. Brauch and Walter C. Kaiser is helpful for those difficult verses and sayings.
• Among numerous books on the Parables are volumes by James Montgomery Boice, David Wenhem, Craig Blomberg and Simon J. Kistemaker.

• The Poetry and Wisdom Literature
• Psalms: Interpretive Principles - The Book of Psalms
• Overheads on Hebrew Poetic Form
• Some examples of the Psalms for Study
• A comparison of Narrative vs Poetry in Judges 4 & 5

Some Suggestions for Further Reading:

• The Art of Biblical Poetry by Robert Alter, who also has a translation and commentary on The Psalms.
• How to Read the Psalms by Tremper Longman
• Interpreting Hebrew Poetry by David, L Peterson
• A Treasury of David by Charles Spurgeon is considered his best work!
• Expository Commentary on Psalms: Vol. I, Volume II , Volume III by James Montgomery Boice
• Psalms 1-72 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) and Psalms 73-150 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) by Derek Kidner

• Proverbs: Making right choices -- Job and Ecclesiastes: Asking hard questions -- The Song of Songs: Singing the beauty of Marriage
• The Language of the Lovers in the Song of Songs
• The four Wisdom books: Overheads

Some Suggestions for Further Reading:

• The Wisdom of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes Derek Kidner, who also has commentaries on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
• How to Read the Proverbs by Tremper Longman
• The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 and The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 15-31 (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) By Bruce Waltke

• Law in Scripture: Principles for living
• The Books of the Pentateuch
• Ancient Isreal's Unique Law Code
• Overheads for The Book of the Covenant: Exodus 22, 23 and The Arrangement of Exo 24-40

• Five Views on Law and Gospel by Wayne G. Strickland, Walter C. Kaiser, Douglas J. Moo, Willem A. VanGemeren, and Stanley N. Gundry
• Toward Old Testament Ethics by Walter C. Kaiser
• God's Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology by Elmer A. Martens
• Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson
• Old Testament Ethics for the People of God by Christopher J. H. Wright

• The Prophets: Forthtelling the character of God - Interpretation
• Chart: The Prophets and the Timeline
• The Writing Prophets: A Survey
• Overheads on interpretation of the Prophets

• My Servants, The Prophets by Edward Young
• Interpreting the Prophetic Word by Willem A. VanGemeren
• The Prophets as Preachers: An Introduction to the Hebrew Prophets by Gary V. Smith
• An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books by C. Hassell Bullock