I was interviewed last year for the LDS Perspectives podcast, which I recommend. Therein, I allude to a lot of different books and papers, linked below. I also cited John Widtsoe on genre, from his 1930 book In Search of Truth available online here. Widtsoe said,
“As in all good books every literary device is used in the Bible that will drive the lesson home. It contains history, poetry and allegory. These are not always distinguishable, now that the centuries have passed away since the original writing.”
Here is further reading that I alluded.
- Marc Brettler, How to Read the (Jewish) Bible
- Editorial, Iraq war idea.
- McKenzie, How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature– Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What it Means for Faith
- Galaxy Quest and genre confusion ideas.
- Lee, The Erosion of Biblical Certainty: Battles over Authority and Interpretation in America
- VSI: Scientific Revolution
- VSI: Enlightenment
- Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither
- On historiography and Samuel/Chronicles, I believe Peter Enns talks about this both in his excellent Incarnation and Inspiration: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament and his other books.
- Enns spoke at BYU last year, and has been interviewed on the Maxwell Podcast twice.
- The most sequential/systematic book on genres related to the Old Testament is by Kenton Sparks, Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature.
- Sparks other books have influenced my thinking, both
- Misreading with Western Eyes
- “Goes without being said”
- Mormons and the Bible
- A must-read by Philip Barlow on the way the Bible has been read within Mormonism.
- On Leviticus, see Julie Smith’s article
- On modern translations of the Bible, see
- My article in Religious Educator on why Bible translations differ and how to use them well, and get at Greek and Hebrew.
- If you’re looking for a new Bible, see my recommendations here and here.
- Asking good questions (see below)
- Julie Smith, Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels
- Jim Faulconer’s books
- Scripture Study: Tools and Suggestions:Scripture Study Questions
- Doctrine &Covenants Made Harder:Scripture Study Questions
- Book of Mormon Made Harder:Scripture Study Questions
- Old Testament Made Harder:Scripture Study Questions
- New Testament Made Harder:Scripture Study Questions
- John Welch, “Towards Becoming a Gospel Scholar”
- On note-taking, see my series of posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
- If you’re interested in Jonah, see my post here, with several links to a podcast a did, and other posts about Jonah like The Insufficiency of the New Testament argument.
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