Douglas K. StuartAnmeldelser

I read most of this one through page 160, but not every single page, and then sampled important aspects of the rest of the chapters. Some chapters had summaries of points covered at the end, though most did not. It is too bad this wasn’t provided with each chapter as it would have been very beneficial. I definitely plan to return to certain chapters as needed when studying the Bible to apply their wisdom.

I wasn’t a fan of the writing style so much and it could be repetitive (mostly I don’t think this book is as accessible for most, and could have been written more simply to make it so). That said, my book is full of flags to reference later.

Also, as a disclaimer for those who might need or appreciate it:

The author somewhat promotes his own view of some issues (opinion of best translation—he was one who helped translate the NIV, egalitarian vs complementarian/women’s roles—he leans toward the former). So if this bothers you (as it seems to have some readers; it didn’t bother me personally), it might be good to know that going in.

A reliable guide to reading and understanding the Bible for yourself.

This book is a how-to guide for interpreting the Bible. It gives some general principles for interpretation, but the bulk of the book walks chapter-by-chapter through the major literary genres of the Bible and explains the challenges of each genre and the necessary principles to study and teach from such texts. A few of the chapters are lacking, especially the one on the Gospels, which focuses too much on the Synoptic Problem, and the one on Revelation, which gives helpful general principles but is lacking in specificity. -JPS

CITAÇÕES:
"Ou seja, a maioria de nós assume que, quando lemos, também entedemos o que lemos. Temos também a tendência de pensar que nosso entendimento é a mesma coisa que a intenção do Espírito Santo ou do autor humano."
"Sua Bíblia, que para você é o ponto de partida, seja qual for a tradução usada, é na realidade o resultado final de um grande traablaho de erudição."
"[Deus] escolheu falar suas verdades eternas dentro das circunstâncias e dos eventos específicos da história humana."
"Ou seja: a Palavra de Deus para nós foi primeiramente a Palavra de Deus para aquelas pessoas. Se iriam ouvi-la, isso apenas poderia ocorrer por meio de acontecimentos e em uma linguagem em que elas fossem capazes de entender."
"Em primeiro lugar, é necessário escutar a Palavra que eles ouviram; você deve procurar compreender o que foi dito a eles lá e antigamente (exegese). Em segundo lugar, você deve aprender a ouvir essa mesma Palavra aqui e atualmente (hermenêutica)."
"A razão porque não devemos começar com o aqui e atualmente é que o único controle apropriado para a hermenêutica se acha na intenção original do texto bíblico."
"Queremos saber o que a Bíblia significa para nós - e isso é certo. No entanto, não podemos fazê-la significar o que nos agrada, e depois dar os "créditos" ao Espírito Santo. O Espírito Santo não pode contradizer a si mesmo; afinal, foi ele que inspirou a intenção original. Assim, a ajuda do Espírito é nos conduzir à descoberta da intenção original, e nos orientar nos momentos em que procuramos fielmente aplicar o significado à nossa própria realidade."
"Um texto não pode significar o que nunca significou."
"Estamos convictos de que a principal razão de os cristãos lerem as narrativas do AT de forma tão simplista, encontrando coisas que realmente não existem, é a tendência a 'nivelar' tudo, porque consideram que tudo que Deus diz em sua Palavra é, portanto, uma palavra direta para eles. De forma errada, esperam que tudo na Bíblia se aplique diretamente como instrução para suas próprias vidas individuais."
"O que você pode, ou deve fazer, é obedecer àquilo que Deus realmente conclama você a fazer na Escritura. As narrativas são preciosas para nós porque demonstram o envolvimento de Deus no mundo e ilustram seus princípios e sua chamada."
"A princípio, deve-se notar que quase todos os cristãos bíblicos tendem a tratar o precedente como autoridade normativa até certo ponto. Contudo, raramente isso é feito com consistência. Por um lado, as pessoas tendem a seguir algumas narrativas como padrões obrigatórios estabelecidos, enquanto negligenciam outras; por outro lado, às vezes tendem a estabelecer um padraõ obrigatório, embora haja uma complexidade de padrões dentro do próprio livro de Atos."
"A vinda do fim também significava um novo início - o início da nova era de Deus, a era messiânica. A nova era também se chamava o Reino de Deus, que significava: "o tempo do domínio de Deus". Essa nova era seria um tempo de justiça (Is 11.4-5), e os homens viveriam em paz (Is 2.2-4). Seria um tempo de plenitude do Espírito (Jl 2.28-30) quando então a nova aliança apregoada por Jeremias seria realizada (Jr 31.31-34, 32.38-40). O pecado e a enfermidade seriam anulados (Zc 13.1, Is 53.5). Até mesmo a criação material sentiria os efeitos jubilosos dessa nova era (Is 11.6-9)."
"Em certo sentido, portanto, o fim já chegara. Num outro sentido, no entanto, o fim ainda não chegara totalmente. Era, pois, JÁ, MAS AINDA NÃO."
"Por consequência, quando oramos: 'Venha o teu reino', oramos primeiramente em prol da consumação. No entanto, uma vez que o reino - o governo de Deus - que ansiamos por ver consumado já começou, a mesma oração está cheia de implicações para o presente."
"Sabedoria é a habilidade de fazer escolhas piedosas na vida."
"O AT reconhece, portanto, que algumas pessoas têm mais sabedoria do que outras, e que algumas pessoas se dedicaram de tal forma à obtenção da sabedoria que elas mesmas são chamadas de 'sábias' (hebraico hakam). A pessoa sábia era altamente prática, e não meramente teórica. Interessava-se por conseguir formular tipos de planos - fazer tipos de escolhas - que ajudassem a produzir os resultados desejados na vida."
"Deus dá sabedoria a todos que a pedem. Essa promessa não significa que poderemos nos tornar mais espertos por meio da oração, mas que Deus nos ajudará a sermos mais piedosos em nossas escolhas. se pedirmos."
"Pelo fato de o coração ser descrito como o ponto focal da sabedoria, somos lembrados acerca do lado pessoal da habilidade que pessoas sábias tem (cf 1Rs 3.9,12). O 'coração' no AT refere-se às faculdades morais e volitivas, bem como às intelectivas."
"Uma das formas de uma pessoa aperfeiçoar sua habilidade de fazer escolhas certas é por meio da discussão e da argumentação."
"Nem tudo na vida precisa ser rigorosamente religioso para ser piedoso. Na realidade, Provérbios pode servir de corretivo à tendência de espiritualizar tudo, como se houvesse algo de errado com o mundo básico, material e físico; como se Deus tivesse falado: 'É ruim', ao invés de 'É bom', quando contemplou pela primeira vez o que fizera."

This was a very good introduction to reading the bible, providing guidance on establishing a disciplined way at approaching one's study.

The format of exegesis, then hermeneutics is repeated throughout, providing a consistent way to approach each book, regardless of its genre.

This book was recommended reading for incoming MDiv students at Princeton Theological Seminary. It is, however, a very low level introduction to the books of the Christian bible. I read much more advanced texts in my PhD courses at the seminary.

excellent source for understanding the bible, learning how to better understand it, study it, and explain it to others.

"Entendes o que lês?" Essa pergunta foi feita por Filipe, há muitos anos, a um eunuco, alto oficial da rainha da Etiópia, que estava lendo o livro de Isaías sem nada compreender. Lucas narra em Atos, Bíblia sagrada, à resposta desafiante do eunuco: "Como posso entender se não há ninguém para me explicar?". O tempo passou, mas o desafio continua, pois ainda hoje muitos, a exemplo do eunuco, admitem ler e não entender a Bíblia. Foi pensando nessas pessoas que Gordon Fee e Douglas Stuart escreveram este livro, Entendes o que lês? Nesta nova edição, o leitor desfrutará de um livro totalmente atualizado. Inclusive com o acréscimo de um capítulo que trata sobre a questão da tradução da Bíblia e o uso das diversas versões para a tarefa da interpretação bíblica. O livro Entendes o que lês? Adota uma nova abordagem ao ajudar as pessoas a ler e estudar a Bíblia com maior compreensão. Em doze capítulos, os autores, ambos professores no Seminário Teológico Gordon-Conwell, ensinam ao leitor os princípios da boa interpretação para vários tipos (gêneros) de literatura encontrados na Bíblia. Entendes o que lês? Útil na travessia do abismo entre o lá, naquela época do texto sagrado, e o aqui e agora da nossa vida. Exegese e aplicação recebem tratamento especial. O livro Entendes o que lês? (Gordon D. Fee - Douglas Stuart), da editora Vida Nova, mostra uma abordagem de como ajudar as pessoas a ler e estudar a Palavra de Deus com uma maior compreensão. Os autores são professores do Seminário Teológico Gordon-Conwell, em doze capítulos, mostram os princípios de interpretação da Bíblia. O livro Entendes o que lês? Trata da aplicação e a exegese dos textos sagrados, da escritura sagrada.

The authors did a reasonable job in attempting a monumental general overview of the Bible. It is, of course, must remain a paraphrased retelling of each Biblical book. The difficulty lies in attempting to reduce to one or more brief pages for the general reader. Considering the enormous range of subjects Biblical books cover, it is better to read the Bible itself to get the full range. Still, the authors needed to do 2 things. One: the general reader needs to know 'how to read the Bible' which the authors fall short on in spite of their intent. Two: the Revelation section needs to be redone as the authors apparently got bored & inserted their 'doctrinal' views contradicting what is actually in Revelation. I would NOT recommend this book as the book falls far short of its intent.

Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart

I have read a lot of books about how to study the Bible. I used this book the past 6 months to teach the Adult CE class at my church on How to Study the Bible. This is by far the best book i've read on this topic. Practical. Accessible. Insightful. I recommend this as a must read for all believers.

Really good book exploring the Bible and how to read it. Explores literary genres in Scripture, exegesis and hermeneutics

The Bible contains portions written in different genres of literature. This book explores the nuances of these various genres and the immense implications they have on proper interpretation of texts. This is an invaluable study for anyone who is serious about understanding what the biblical authors were trying to say.

An introduction at a very pracctical level of the skills Bible users can and should use to uncover the teachings the Bible has to offer to contemporary readers.

Understanding the Bible isn’t for the few, the gifted, the scholarly. The Bible is accessible. It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to seminary students. A few essential insights into the Bible can clear up a lot of misconceptions and help you grasp the meaning of Scripture and its application to your twenty-first-century life.

More than three quarters of a million people have turned to How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth to inform their reading of the Bible. This fourth edition features revisions that keep pace with current scholarship, resources, and culture. Changes include:

Updated language for better readability
Scripture references now appear only in brackets at the end of a sentence or paragraph, helping you read the Bible as you would read any book—without the numbers
A new authors’ preface
Redesigned and updated diagrams
Updated list of recommended commentaries and resources

Covering everything from translational concerns to different genres of biblical writing, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is used all around the world. In clear, simple language, it helps you accurately understand the different parts of the Bible—their meaning for ancient audiences and their implications for you today—so you can uncover the inexhaustible worth that is in God’s Word.

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is a work that speaks to the method by which one interprets the Holy Scriptures. Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart have produced this work to address the interpretative method by discussing what is typically understood to be the dynamic interface between exegesis and hermeneutics. In the understanding of the authors exegesis is the “careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning” (27), and hermeneutics, which does point to the whole field of interpretation, is used in the narrower sense “of seeking the contemporary relevance of ancient texts” (33). Therefore, the purpose of the authors is to give the reader the tools to not only understand the context and original setting in which the Scriptures were produced, but to also to take that understanding and make them applicable to the modern reader.

The body of the work is comprised of discussions that point to the methods and tools by which an individual may understand the original historical context and apply that understanding to the lives of contemporary Christians. Each discussion is held within the framework of a specific genre of writing; i.e., epistle, narrative, history, divine bibliography, parables, or wisdom. The point that is begin made by Fee and Stuart by using this general outline is to highlight the fact that when we understand the type of literature, or style of writing, used by the authors when relating the thoughts of God, we have a head start on a better understanding of what is being related. There are specific considerations that should be considered when looking at a style of writing that help when understanding the basic message being relayed. The style and shape of a personal letter has a different thrust than prophetic literature; narrative is to be understood in a more literal fashion than the parables – even though parables are a form of narrative. Consideration of genre helps with the initial exegesis as described by the authors. Further, within each specific genre are considerations that relate to those categories. For instance – the use of parallelism in Hebrew poetry, or the use of figurative language when reading and understanding the parables.

One appreciates that the authors lay out their understanding of the words exegesis and hermeneutics, but one should also be aware that where Fee and Stuart place the exegetical process necessarily before the hermeneutical process while other authors in the past have appeared to reverse that order so that hermeneutics takes on the role of understanding what the Scriptures tell us and exegesis is the process by which contemporary understanding is achieved and meaning is drawn from the text. Also, even though understanding the basic genres used by the Biblical writers has become a foundational consideration in interpretation, the genres covered can overlap at many points in the Biblical record. There are prophetic portions in the divine bibliography, just as there are parables built into the Old Testament narrative – a point that Fee and Stuart do recognize.
Overall, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth would be a fine addition to the library of both amateur and professional biblical scholars. Well written and easy to read, the work provides a worthwhile reference for interpretative considerations.

Some quotes from the work:

“Let it be said at the outset – and repeated throughout – that the aim of good interpretation is not uniqueness, one is not trying to discover what no one else has ever seen before” (21).

“The basic rule: a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to the author or readers” (34). This rule, of course, does not always help one to find out what a given passage means, but it does help to set limits as to what it cannot mean” (77).

“If one wishes to use a Biblical precedent to justify some present action, one is on safer ground if the principle of the action is taught elsewhere, where it is the primary intent so to teach” (130).

“Because many of Jesus’ imperative are set in the context of expounding the Old Testament law and because to many people they seem to present an impossible ideal, a variety of hermeneutical ploys have been offered to ‘get around’ them as normative authority for the church” (149).

“To read any of the psalms well, you need to appreciate symbolic language (metaphor and simile) for what it is intended to evoke and then to ‘translate’ it into the reality it is pointing to” (216).

“Furthermore, we can still hear as God’s word – indeed, must hear – that discipleship goes the way of the cross, that God has not promised us freedom from suffering and death but triumph through it. … Thus Revelation is God’s word of comfort and encouragement to Christians who suffer, especially believers who suffer at the hand of the state, precisely because they are Christians” (271).

Good overview of the topic of interpreting Scripture. They lay out the fundamentals well in pretty accessible language.

If teaching disciples to read the Bible for themselves is the most important task pastors, teachers, churches can perform then I believe most have failed. I grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist church context that taught the innerancy and importance of reading Scripture daily and studying it corporately, but never once had a lesson in exegesis, hermeneutics, biblical theology, etc. I was fairly well-versed in theologically-rich works by John Piper and Jonathan Edwards in college, as well as apologetics, but still didn't understand how NOT to read my Bible, and how NOT to use commentaries (among other things). One shouldn't have to go to seminary to learn these things if reading the Bible is essential to the Christian life. It really wasn't until I started listening to expositional preachers and noticing the difference of how they handled Scripture and explaining how NOT to handle Scripture that I began to "get it." Too often I see well-known teachers in errors of redefinition and decontextualization, which simply recreates itself as disciples make disciples.

There's a reason why expositional preaching and biblical theology are at the forefront of the Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. The importance and practical application of proper exegesis and hermeneutics are what Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart teach in this book. I'm actually disturbed by who I haven't seen seen write reviews of this book on Goodreads and Amazon. Reading this book, and others like it which they recommend, is extremely important. This is basically a how-to guide made as simple as possible, providing some basic examples to get started in each genre of writing one encounters in Scripture.

The authors have since written a companion book that I hope to read (How to Read the Bible Book by Book) but I'll read D.A. Carson's Exegetical Fallacies, R.C. Sproul's Knowing Scripture, and James Sire's How to Read Slowly first. Fee is a Pentecostal who has differentiated himself from others in his denomination. He's also a fantastic NT scholar, having written well-regarded commentaries on Paul's epistles to the Corinthians. Stuart is an Old Testament and ancient languages scholar at Gordon-Conwell. The first edition of this text was put out in the 1970s and the latest revision was published in 2006. Below include my own thoughts, summaries of topics, and some of my highlights and notes edited slightly.

"Reading the Bible with an eye only to its meaning for us can lead to a great deal of nonsense as well as to every imaginable kind of error--because it lacks controls... we believe that God's Word for us today is first of all precisely what his Word was to them. Thus we have two tasks: First, our task is to find out what the text originally meant; this is called exegesis. Second, we must learn to hear that same meaning in the variety of new or different contexts of our own day; we call this second task hermeneutics...the original meaning of the text--as much as it is in our power to discern it--is the objective point of control...And this brings us back to our insistence that proper 'hermeneutics' begins with solid 'exegesis.'"


Scripture was written to be understood and interprets itself, but we have to pay attention and ask the right questions to get at the meanings. The authors walk through the different versions of literature found in Scripture and how to ask questions of the text. They disagree with each other on certain interpretations and hermeneutics, and are fairly plain about that. "Even the two authors of this book have some disagreements as to what certain texts 'plainly' mean. Yet all of us are reading the same Bible, and we all are trying to be obedient to what the text 'plainly' means.

"There are two basic kinds of questions one should ask of every biblical passage: those that relate to context and those that relate to content.The questions of context are also of two kinds: historical and literary...The most important contextual question you will ever ask--and it must be asked over and over of every sentence and every paragraph --is, 'What's the point?'...A text cannot mean what it never meant. Or to put it in a positive way, the true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken. This is the starting point. How we work it out from that point is what this book is basically all about."

Most sections have a 10-20 point summary of the do's/do nots.

They begin with a brief look at textual criticism and the difficulties of Bible translation. They endorse the NIV and (then new) HCSB while comparing various translations. They examine the translation difficulties related to various texts. (Fee is controversial in believing that 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 as we know them were not written by Paul but were a marginal comment written by a scribe that was later copied into manuscripts as though written by Paul. He argues that it clearly contradicts 11:2-16.) While many trumpet the ESV's gender-literal translations, they point out the problems with saying "man" or "son" when the author was referring to women as well, or "pupils," etc. In short, approaching a text from multiple translations and understanding why they differ is important.

They discuss the importance of Bible dictionaries and external sources, particularly when looking at Old Testament history. They contain an appendix on what to look for in a good commentary and list a couple for each book, classified by the level of reading. Consulting a commentary should be "the last thing you do" in studying a text or a book.

Some weaknesses and traits of the book that have probably kept it from wider scholarship and praise in recent years:
1. The authors are not Presbyterian or Southern Baptist.
2. They prefer the NIV as a translation and are somewhat critical of the ESV as an overreach into the unnecessarily literal.
3. The authors do not write about examining the themes that run through Scripture. They do mention analogies and caution the reader to avoid making analogies where Scripture does not. They demonstrate how Augustine over-analogized everything, much of what I marveled at in City of God (my review) was bad exegesis, and are probably eager for the reader not to turn common themes into unjustified analogies. But Wayne Grudem and others teach that finding themes is an important aspect of biblical theology.
4. The book does not discuss inerrancy, even though the authors are inerrantists. Inerrancy is assumed, I suppose, and the authors do not deal with bible difficulties.
5. Fee's views on 1 Corinthians (see above) and the role of women in the church put his hermeneutic outside most Reformed teachers.

The authors deal with the problematic uses of the OT in the new. Christians believe that the New Testament authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore able to write analogies between the Old Testament and the life of Jesus than we are able to today. For example, Paul's interpretation of Jesus as the "rock" in Exodus 17:

"To be sure, we modern readers are quite unlikely on our own to notice this analogy in the way that Paul described it. If Paul had never written these words, would we have made the identification of cloud and sea with baptism (v. 2) or the rock with Christ (v. 4)? In other words, would we, on our own, be able with any degree of certainty to determine the sensus plenior or secondary meaning? The answer is no. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write about this analogical connection between the Israelites in the desert and life in Christ without following the usual rules about context, intent, style, and wording..."

Similarly with Matthew noting Jesus' "fulfillment" of various prophecies, such as being the "son called out of Egypt."

Epistles:

"one must always keep in mind that they were not primarily written to expound Christian theology. It is always theology applied to or directed toward a particular need."
Were occasional from the reader's side and written for a specific or stated occasion. (Philemon, James, Romans, exceptions to epistles occassioned from reader's side).


OT Narratives, their proper use:

"In the biblical story God is the protagonist, Satan (or opposing people/powers) are the antagonists, and God’s people are the agonists. The basic “plot” of the biblical story is that the creator God has created a people for his name — in his own “image” — who as his image bearers were to be his stewards over the earth that he created for their benefit. But an enemy entered the picture who persuaded the people to bear his “image” instead, and thus to become God’s enemies. The plot resolution is the long story of 'redemption,' how God rescues his people from the enemy’s clutches, restores them back into his image, and (finally) will restore them 'in a new heaven and new earth.'”


"As you read the various narratives, be constantly on the lookout for how the inspired narrator discloses the point of view from which you are to understand the story."


What OT narratives are:
1. Not allegories or stories filled with hidden meanings. (Augustine made this error in City of God... everything was allegory.)
2. Not Intended to teach moral lessons
3. often illlustrations of what is taught explicitly elsewhere, like examples of what happens when people disobey the Ten Commandments.

Errors in interpretation of biblical narratives:
Allegorizing - relegating the text to merely reflecting another meaning beyond the text.
Decontextualization - ignoring the full historical and literay contexts and the individual narrative
Selectivity - picking & choosing specific words & phrases to concentrate on instead of listening to the whole.
Moralizing - looking for a moral in every story. Ignores that "narrativges were written to show the progress of God's history of redemption."
Personalizing - applying parts of the text to you or your group in a way not applicable to everyone else.
Misappropriation- Gideon's fleece, people try similar because Gideon did it.
False appropriation - form of decontextualization. Suggestions or ideas that come from contemporary culture, foreign to the narrator's purpose.
False combination - Pulling here and there even though elements not directly connected in the passage.
Redefinition - Example: 2 Chron 7:14-15

"so they tend to ignore the fact that God’s promise that he will “hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” was about the only earthly land God’s people could ever claim as “theirs,” the Old Testament land of Israel. In the new covenant, God’s people have no earthly country that is “their land” — despite the tendency of some American Christians to think otherwise about the world. The country all believers now most truly belong to is a heavenly one (Heb 11:16). Perhaps the"


They offer ten principles of interpretation.

Acts:
Holy Spirit is the leading role in the narrative.
Church history was not Luke's goal per se. He wanted to explain how the Gospel got to Rome. Ignores Eastern churches, Jerusalem, Egypt, and more.

Fee and Stuart give an exegetical sampling of Acts 6 and 8.

"Not every sentence in every narrative or speech is necessarily trying to tell us something. But every sentence in every narrative or speech contributes to what God is trying to say as a whole through Acts."


"Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.e. obligatory) way — unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way"


Trying to look at Acts and the epistles for "how to do church" is problematic.
Show how Baptism immersion is tricky (151-152).

"We would probably do well to follow this lead and not confuse normalcy with normativeness in the sense that all Christians must do a given thing or else they are disobedient to God’s Word."


The Gospels:
"the major hermeneutical difficulty lies with understanding 'the kingdom of God,'"

Authors shaped, and arranged his materials. Mark’s gospel, for example, is especially interested in explaining the nature of Jesus’ messiahship in light of Isaiah’s Fee claims “second exodus” motif.

pericopes.
"Think horizontally"

"To think horizontally means that when studying a pericope in any one gospel, it is usually helpful to be aware of the parallels in the other gospels. To be sure, this point must not be overdrawn, since none of the evangelists intended his gospel to be read in parallel with the others. Nonetheless, the fact that God has provided four gospels in the canon means that they cannot be read totally in isolation from one another."

why?
1. parallels give us an appreciation for the individual's distinctives.
2. help us be aware of different kinds of contexts.

The purpose of studying the Gospels in parallel is not to fill out the story in one gospel with details from the others. Usually such a reading of the Gospels tends to harmonize all the details and thus blur the very distinctives in each gospel that the Holy Spirit inspired.

The very best of these is edited by Kurt Aland, titled Synopsis of the Four Gospels (New York: United Bible Societies, 1975).

"Think vertically"
To think vertically means that when reading or studying a narrative or teaching in the Gospels, one should try to be aware of both historical contexts — that of Jesus and that of the evangelist.

There were three principles at work in the composition of the Gospels: selectivity, arrangement, and adaptation.

"One of the most noted of these, for example, is the cursing of the fig tree (Mark 11:12 – 14, 20 – 25; Matt 21:18 – 22). In Mark’s gospel the story is told for its symbolic theological significance. Note that between the cursing and the withering, Jesus pronounces a similar judgment on Judaism by his cleansing of the temple. However, the story of the fig tree had great meaning for the early church also because of the lesson on faith that concludes it. In Matthew’s gospel the lesson on faith is the sole interest of the story, so he relates the cursing and the withering together in order to emphasize this point. Remember, in each case this telling of the story is the work of the Holy Spirit, who inspired both evangelists."


Jesus' parables:
- point of parables was to illicit an immediate RESPONSE.
- identify the audience. Disciples? crowd? Pharisees? Scribe?
Some parables have no context.

The authors provide interesting interpretation in several places. "Let the dead bury their dead...," Jesus' refusal to settle dispute between brothers, etc. were admonishments that the kingdom of God is at hand, there are better things to concern oneself with.

Old Testament Law:
Six guidelines:
1. OT Law is a covenant.
The covenant format had six parts to it: preamble, prologue, stipulations, witnesses, sanctions, and document clause.
2. OT is not our Testament
"unless an Old Testament law is somehow restated or reinforced in the New Testament, it is no longer directly binding on God’s people (cf. Rom 6:14 – 15)."
3. Two kinds of old-covenant stipulations have clearly not been renewed in the new covenant . While a complete coverage of the categories of Old Testament law would take a book of its own, the portion of laws from the Pentateuch that no longer apply to Christians can be grouped conveniently into two categories: (1) the Israelite civil laws and (2) the Israelite ritual laws.
4. Part of the OT renewed in the new covenant. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”
5. All of the OT is still the word of God for us, even though it is not still God's command to us.
6. Only that which is explicitly renewed from the Old Testament law can be considered part of the New Testament “law of Christ” (cf. Gal 6:2).

There is an explanation of the apodictic laws and casuisitic laws.

12 dos and don'ts:
1. Do see the Old Testament law as God’s fully inspired word for you.
2. Don’t see the Old Testament law as God’s direct command to you.
...

OT Prophecy:
The prophets are not inspired to make any points or announce any doctrines that are not already contained in the Pentateuchal covenant.

Importance of understanding historical context.
"God spoke through his prophets to people in a given time and place and under given circumstances. Therefore, a knowledge of the date, audience, and situation, when these are known, contributes substantially to your ability to comprehend an oracle."

Stuart (I presume) walks the reader through Hosea 5:8-12.

Poetry and Psalms
The authors give certain aspects of poetry to look out for.

Psalms are poetry and need to be appreciated as such. A reader must be careful not to “overexegete” psalms by finding special meanings in specific words or phrases where the poet will have intended none.

wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes):
1. proverbs are not legal guarantees from God
2. Proverbs must be read as a collection
3. Proverbs are worded to be memorable, not theoretically accurate.
4. Some proverbs need to be "translated" to be appreciated.
Unless you think of these proverbs in terms of their true modern equivalents (i.e., carefully “translate” them into practices and institutions that exist today), their meaning may seem irrelevant or be lost to you altogether (cf. ch. 4).

Revelation
Revelation must have meant something to the original hearers. Is written as a form of literature (apocalypse).
"John clearly intends this apocalypse to be a prophetic word to the church. His book was not to be sealed for the future. It was a word from God for their present situation...What we must be careful not to do is to spend too much time speculating as to how any of our own contemporary events may be fitted into the pictures of Revelation."
"The fall of Rome in chapter 18 seems to appear as the first chapter in the final wrap-up, and many of the pictures of “temporal” judgment are interlaced with words or ideas that also imply the final end as a part of the picture. There seems to be no way one can deny the reality of this. The question is, what do we do with it? "

These are references given throughout the text that are not included in the Appendix:
Textual criticism. This you may find in convenient form in the articles by Bruce Waltke (old Testament) and Gordon Fee (new Testament) in volume 1 of The Expositor's Bible Community (ed. Frank Gaebelein [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979],

Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 2d edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), pp. 373 – 546; Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus
read Robert H. Stein’s The Method and Message of Jesus’ Teaching

how to do hermeneutics in the Gospels: "highly recommend" George E. Ladd’s The Presence of the Future (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974).
Joachim Jeremias - Rediscovering the Parables [New York: Scribner, 1966], p. 181):

we recommend Bernhard Anderson with Steven Bishop, Out of the Depths: The Psalms Speak for Us Today, 3rd ed. (Louisville, Ky.:
or Tremper Longman III, How to Read the Psalms (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1988). These
The very best introduction to Revelation — how it “works” as a book, its basic point of view, and its theological contribution to the Bible — is by Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); for an “easy read” commentary intended for the lay reader, you may wish to look at Professor Fee’s Revelation in the New Covenant Commentary Series (2011),

The Appendix contains information on how to choose a commentary while offering suggestions for each book and some introductions to OT and NT.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5. I highly recommend it.

Espouses a conservative theology, but has great philological helps and text-critical notes.

This book, as it is stated in the beginning, does not so much reveal things about the Bible as it reveals how the Bible should be studied. I think that it is a very helpful guide that can and should be used frequently in Bible study. It was nicely split into sections/categories so that it can be used as a sort of reference book if one were to need to only know the guidelines set forth for understanding the Epistles, or the Gospels, etc.
While reading through I wrote down sections that I found to be particularly new or helpful so that in the future I can go back and reference this book. However, as they said in the beginning, most of the ideas presented in the book are actually common sense and the book more or less just organizes these common practices so as to make them more common and more concrete, or understandable.
The one thing that this book was a good reminder of was to think about what the text meant to the original recipient. Sometimes it is easy to just read the Bible and to forget that some of the expressions or illustrations might not mean the same thing now as they used to. Or it's easy to read a story and forget to think about what impact it would have had on people in that time period. Even though I already knew that it is important to look at these things it is always good to be reminded and to see them in a little different light. This may be a book that I get a copy of to use in years to come.

The authors provides suggestions on reading and studying the Bible, including chapters discussing how to approach the various genres of writing in the Bible. Their efforts, however, were a bit marred by the authors' own personal biases when it comes to matters such as Bible translations and even theological biases. Persons who disagree with specific parts of the faith of the authors will have issues with the authors' approach to certain things. Still, it is overall a good work on how to study the Bible that will be enjoyed by many persons wanting to improve their comprehension of Biblical texts.

An excellent overview of how to read the Bible that is very readable. He also gives many recommendations of how to continue into deeper study.½

A must for the deep study of the Word. Reading this first will help with considering the position of other academic authors on the Word.

Great overview by two scholars that are very respected in their fields yet are still able to write for larger audiences than academia. This is a book I wish I would have read early on in college as I think it would have helped speed up my interest in studying the Bible and wanting to learn more about the context. We are given broad brush strokes into the OT and the NT which allows us to get a better sense of the big picture and story of God and His relation to us. Fee and Stuart leave with much to think about and a helpful hand to explore texts that one otherwise might avoid. Truly something that is helpful for any member of a church to study and learn from.