Read the Bible for Life, edited by George Guthrie

UPDATE: Guthrie responds: see below for his perspective on some of my concerns. Thank you, George!

I met George Guthrie recently, I think at SBL at ETS this past year. He is a warm and gracious soul, and he is also a very capable NT scholar. He recently edited a book for young students called Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding & Living God’s Word (B&H, 2011). It is composed of 16 chapters, containing personal “conversations” that Guthrie held with a variety of evangelical scholars. His intention is to spur teens and college students on towards fostering a love for Scripture and offer some foundational words of wisdom in terms of how to study the Bible.

The appendix also contains reading plans for studying the Bible over a year.

The scholars who are interviewed include: David Dockery, Andreas Koestenberger, Clint Arnold/Mark Strauss, Bruce Waltke, J. Daniel Hays, David Howard, Gary Smith, Darrell Bock, Craig Blomberg, Douglas Moo, and J. Scott Duvall (among some others). Some of this involves how to read the Bible spiritually, why we read the Bible, and much of it deals with reading different genres of Scripture uniquely.

What I liked about the book:

Guthrie’s overall purpose and intentions are commendable. He has planned the book out quite well. I also appreciate the selection of scholars. These are, mostly, conservative Baptist scholars, but they are the best of that bunch! I am always willing to read a book with Moo, Danny Hays, Duvall, Blomberg, and Bock!

Guthrie mentions the serious problem of Christians of a younger generation not taking the Bible seriously. He is absolutely right. There is an energy and a fresh-ness in the conversational approach he uses. He treats it much like Lee Strobel’s “The Case for…” books, where he writes like a journalist. Sometimes it is engaging, sometimes it is not, but I appreciate his enthusiasm.

What I found wanting:

First of all, let me say that I cannot really complain all that much because Guthrie took the initiative that many others have failed to do. Having said that, I still want to voice some concerns.

1. While it is hopeful in plan, it falls short in method. While hints of helpful methodology surface every now and then, I did not find most of the chapters to have the practical “how-to” take-home value I was expecting. Part of this may be the time spent on Guthrie’s describing the “scene” of the conversation – that leaves precious little time for the “meat” of the method. What he gains in ambiance, he loses in application and longevity of the book. This book either needs to be more focused (t0 be effective), or lengthened (which might scare students off).

2. There needed to be a chapter on the “theology of Scripture” – what is Scripture? Only once we outline what it is, can be actually point to its value and how it relates to God and relates to us. Is it a moral codebook? Is it the “story of God?” Is it a set of beliefs to be believed? Is it a prayerbook? While I completely agree that students need to learn genre-based method, they need to begin with WHAT IS THE BIBLE FOR? Hints of this come to light, once in a while, but not in a focused way. It deserves its own chapter. It deserves its own book!

3. Guthrie interviews himself in one chapter! This involves him actually talking to himself – asking himself questions out loud, and answering them as if he were another person. While he tries to play this off as tongue-and-cheek, it became a distraction for me (and a little creepy). If I were to make one (minor?) change to this book, it would be the recommendation that he either write that chapter as a normal (non-conversational) chapter, or have someone else (a real someone) interview him.

4. Guthrie makes a reference to every single word in the Bible being “inspired” (pg. 55). I know this is a normal thing for a conservative evangelical Baptist to say, and I don’t want to get into a spat over it right here and now ideologically, but I think this kind of thinking can do more damage than good to young students. To focus on individual words being inspired, I think, treats the Bible like a magical book. Then, when someone hands that student a Bart Ehrman book that deals with textual problems, where do they go from there?

I believe the Bible is inerrant (I prefer the word “perfect”; teleios), but based on its divine message, not a special “anointing” of each word individually. By analogy, think about Jesus as the perfect Word of God. We wouldn’t say each part of his body is inspired or communicative. We would say that his whole self is The Word of God – perfect, complete, inspired. He cannot be divided up into smaller “Word” parts. So Scripture, as God’s self-communication, is perfect. Let’s not obsess over every individual word being “inspired.”

CONCLUSION:

I respect Guthrie and the work he is doing (he has more planned for a Bible literacy project). I will continue my search for the perfect textbook for my Christian Scriptures course. Guthrie’s book helped me clarify what I am looking for, and I am thankful for that.

GEORGE GUTHRIE RESPONDS:

Thanks very much for taking time to review Read the Bible for Life. I appreciate your interest in the subject and your warm commendation of my taking up the task. Rather than just addressing teens and my students (who I use to illustrate a couple of points in the introduction), the book is meant to be for laypeople generally. As you note, the need is great! Thanks in advance for letting me interact with you on a couple of points you mention.

First, as for methodology, you and I come from the world of “professional” biblical studies, and I think it is hard for us to grasp the perspective of the average layperson in terms of “method.” I did not want to assume anything as I wrote the book, and I intentionally did not lay out a “textbook” type of approach to methodology. That said, over and over again in the book I asked my interviewees, “How do we read this part of the Bible?,” or “How do we approach this aspect of reading the Bible?” (It is the books most consistent refrain.) And They gave very specific, practical guidelines. In fact, that is the content of each chapter. Now, in some ways, the answers are so basic, we might feel the approach is “thin.” What has surprised me is the response I have been getting from normal church people; over and again readers (even pastors) have communicated how much the book has transformed the way they read the Bible. So they are picking up a method, for which I am grateful. For key principles from the book, your readers might check the “Summation” section at the end of each chapter, which summarizes the guidelines for reading.

Second, I too have a concern about theological foundations for our understanding of Scripture and have written about that topic elsewhere. I agree it would have been good to include such a chapter. In fact, the original proposal for the book had 32 chapters (!), one of which was on theological orientation as we read the Bible. Perhaps in a sequel!

Third, of course my intention for chapter 4 was to do something creative and fun. Didn’t mean to creep you out! In fact, I have had a number of people tell me it was their favorite because it changed the pace of the book in a “fun” way. My editor, who laughed his way through that chapter, even suggested that I write a whole book from that perspective!—which would be too creepy; no body needs that much of “me.” However, to each his own.

Finally, I understand your fourth concern and agree with it. We talk about this issue (as it relates to textual criticism) in my classes. What surprised me was that you failed to note that in the interview we made the exact point two pages later (p. 57). The emphasis is placed on the message of God rather than the individual words. I am comfortable saying “every word” because I am speaking idiomatically to mean “all of the Bible.” However, your caution is well-taken.
Thanks again for taking the time to take the book seriously. I hope we get to have further interaction in the future.

NIJAY RESPONDS AGAIN:

1. The methodological points are basic, but they are there. Yes, George, I suppose you are right. Certainly some chapters are much stronger on this than others. I found the chapters, for example, on the OT stories, prophets, and the teachings of Jesus pretty good. I was a bit disappointed with the chapter on Proverbs and also the one on the Gospels – as for the latter, I was expecting more from Bock. I love his work and I wanted 2-3 methodological points (the one about top-down versus down-up was not that illuminating in my opinion). Perhaps an appendix could have offered a “refresher” on the take-up points. Yes, they appeared at the end of each chapter, but that only further underscored that some chapters really didn’t come up with much (again, in my opinion). I am not saying – your efforts were wasted. I am saying, you are almost there, just a bit more and it could be a really amazing tool. I agree my perspective might be tainted from being in academia, but I am in a position here at SPU where I teach almost exclusively freshmen and sophomores (and zero theology or Bible majors). I feel that these students can handle more method and, frankly, are starving for it. I don’t think, though, the distance between your view and my view is all that different.

2. The theology of Scripture chapter did not make it into the book. I understand the limits of space. I do hope it makes it into a sequel!

3. Many have enjoyed the self-conversation chapter. Fair enough. Maybe it is just me. If others find it helpful, I cannot gainsay its value.

4. The textual issues were address and we focused on the “message of Scripture” being inspired. I really didn’t doubt you or Clint or Mark. It was more that such wording may be taken differently. Anyway, I appreciate the clarification and I apologize for not making it clearer that you do deal with the textual and translational issues.

Thanks for the thoughtful response.