Comments on: Of The Book or just about it? http://thoughtpaths.com/archives/164 ThoughtPaths with Ken Wilson et al Sat, 22 Nov 2008 06:03:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.7 by: kwilson http://thoughtpaths.com/archives/164#comment-91 Tue, 08 May 2007 16:35:47 +0000 http://thoughtpaths.com/archives/164#comment-91 Exactly. And the situation you describe personally frequently (but not always) reflects the same situation institutionally in our churches. Welcome to the pre-Reformation... Exactly. And the situation you describe personally frequently (but not always) reflects the same situation institutionally in our churches.

Welcome to the pre-Reformation…

]]> by: Andrew http://thoughtpaths.com/archives/164#comment-90 Tue, 08 May 2007 13:47:01 +0000 http://thoughtpaths.com/archives/164#comment-90 I must say I agree with much of this. At a certain point, a while ago, I realized I had a lot of books about the Bible, or were somehow Biblically based. I was spending a lot of time reading these books and going to "Bible Studies" where we would study one of those types of books, rather than the Bible, or a book from the Bible. Then it occurred to me that I needed to spent less time reading books about the Bible, and spend a lot more time reading The Bible. Since then my About-The-Bible book purchases have slowed down, and my Bible reading has increased somewhat, but as always, not as much as it should. I also found there were two separate parts or ways to read the Bible. One is for devotion, where you read in order to have an experience with God, for God to speak directly to you. This may come from randomly opening the Bible and reading where you open to. It may come in the form of praying out of portions of the Bible, like the Psalms. For this type of reading, almost any translation will do. If you like the KJV, then have at it! If you find yourself struggling over the language, trying to understand it, then try the NIV or New Living Translation. The other side is exegetical reading. This is where you're trying to figure out what The Bible is saying. For this, having access to a number of translations is good. It's also good to have a Greek New Testament and a Greek Lexicon too. For this, you probably want to stick with a particular book, or passage. Maybe read some commentaries. The depth of this type of reading should be left up to the reader. Obviously someone with an M.Div and M.Theo will go a lot further in depth than most people. But I think both types of reading are important. I also think that the two types of reading can happen at the same time, but not always. I must say I agree with much of this. At a certain point, a while ago, I realized I had a lot of books about the Bible, or were somehow Biblically based. I was spending a lot of time reading these books and going to “Bible Studies” where we would study one of those types of books, rather than the Bible, or a book from the Bible.

Then it occurred to me that I needed to spent less time reading books about the Bible, and spend a lot more time reading The Bible.

Since then my About-The-Bible book purchases have slowed down, and my Bible reading has increased somewhat, but as always, not as much as it should.

I also found there were two separate parts or ways to read the Bible. One is for devotion, where you read in order to have an experience with God, for God to speak directly to you. This may come from randomly opening the Bible and reading where you open to. It may come in the form of praying out of portions of the Bible, like the Psalms. For this type of reading, almost any translation will do. If you like the KJV, then have at it! If you find yourself struggling over the language, trying to understand it, then try the NIV or New Living Translation.

The other side is exegetical reading. This is where you’re trying to figure out what The Bible is saying. For this, having access to a number of translations is good. It’s also good to have a Greek New Testament and a Greek Lexicon too. For this, you probably want to stick with a particular book, or passage. Maybe read some commentaries. The depth of this type of reading should be left up to the reader. Obviously someone with an M.Div and M.Theo will go a lot further in depth than most people.

But I think both types of reading are important. I also think that the two types of reading can happen at the same time, but not always.

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