Here are a few posts from Crossway authors this past week that may be of interest. Enjoy!
Watch Crossway author Scott Klusendorf (The Case for Life) debate the science of abortion with Nadine Strossen at Westmont College.
“You need to answer the question, “What is the unborn’ before you answer the question ‘Can you kill the unborn?’ … The pro-choice movement needs to deal honestly with the question, ‘What is the unborn?’ rather than dismissing it, rather than explaining it away.”
“Here’s what the science of embryology teaches: from the earliest stages of development, you were a distinct, living, and whole human being.”
Guest Post by Erik Thoennes, author of Life’s Biggest Questions
Many consider the study of theology to be dry, boring, irrelevant, and complicated. But for those who want to know God, the study of theology is indispensable. The word “theology” comes from two Greek words, theos (“God”) and logos (“word”).
The study of theology is an effort to make definitive statements about God in an accurate, coherent, relevant way, based on God’s self-revelation. Doctrine equips people to fulfill their primary purpose, which is to glorify and delight in God through a deep personal knowledge of him. Meaningful relationship with God is dependent on correct knowledge of him. Any theological system that distinguishes between “rational propositions about God” and “a personal relationship with God” fails to see the necessary connection between love and knowledge.
The capacity to love, enjoy, and tell others about a person is increased by greater knowledge of that person. Love and knowledge go hand in hand. Good lovers are students of the beloved. Knowledge of God is the goal of theology. Knowledge without devotion is cold, dead orthodoxy. Devotion without knowledge is irrational instability. But true knowledge of God includes understanding everything from his perspective.
So theology is learning to think God’s thoughts after him. It is to learn what God loves and hates, and to see, hear, think, and act the way he does. Knowing how God thinks is the first step in becoming godly.
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We posted last week on the Literary Study Bible, now available on ESVBible.org. In the preface of this resource, editors Leland and Philip Ryken say that “when we read the Bible, literary considerations are not optional features to which we might attend only if we have an interest in literary matters”.
In other words, if we really want to understand the Bible, we need to understand the Bible as a literary work. Adapted from the Literary Study Bible‘s introduction, here are 5 strategies, in the editors’ own words, for reading the Bible as literature:
1. In any reading of a biblical text, give precedence to its literary mechanisms and implications.
“A certain priority needs to be given to literary form – not a priority of importance but a priority in the sense of what comes first. To approach the Bible as literature . . . is not like dessert – something pleasurable to add to more important aspects of the Bible. The literary approach is the first item on the agenda – the starting point for other approaches to the Bible.”
2. Understand the many literary genres of the Bible and be able to identify them in the texts.
“The importance of genre to biblical interpretation is that genres have their own methods of procedure and rules of interpretation. An awareness of genre should program our encounter with a text, alerting us to what we can expect to find.”
3. Appreciate the beauty and artistry of biblical passages.
“Literature is an art form in which beauty of expression, craftsmanship, and verbal virtuosity are valued as rewarding and as an enhancement of effective communication. . . . Authors cultivate artistry like this because it is important to their effect and intention. The Bible is an aesthetic as well as a utilitarian book, and we need to experience it as such, both for our understanding and for our enjoyment.”
4. Use a literary approach to the Bible to assist other approaches.
“A literary approach seeks to complement other approaches, not to replace them. It is appropriate to say again, however, that the literary forms of the Bible are the means through which the content is expressed, and this means that literary analysis has a particular priority as the only adequate starting point for other kinds of analysis.”
5. Realize the Bible as a literary work speaks to concrete human experience.
“The subject of literature is human experience rendered as concretely as possible. The result is that it possesses a universal quality. Whereas history and the daily news tell us what happened, literature tells us what happens – what is true for all people in all places and times. . . . While we rightly think of the Bible as revelatory (God’s supernatural revelation of truth), the literary parts of the Bible are at the same time the human race’s testimony to its own experience.”
The Literary Study Bible is available in both a print edition as well as in an online module hosted at ESVBible.org.
We’re proud to announce the release of The Big Picture Story Bible eBook with Read-Aloud (available exclusively with iBooks for iOS).
Originally released in 2004, The Big Picture Story Bible by David R. Helm and Gail Shoonmaker received such positive feedback that a companion audio CD was released in 2010. Now the two have been joined! When purchased on the iPad in the iBooks App, readers can follow along as the book reads itself aloud!
By synchronizing the pre-recorded audio track with the written text of our book, God’s big picture is literally illuminated as the words light up in sync with the narrator’s voice. We know that your children will love this easy and fun new way to read a classic book on your family’s iPad. Click here to download your copy today ($12.99).
Here’s how it works. Open the book in iBooks and tap the audio icon on the top bar…
When the reader clicks “Start Reading”, the words illuminate in conjunction with the narrator’s voice.
The pages turn on their own as the narrator continues to read the text.
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Review of The Big Picture Story Bible
“This is, hands-down, my new favorite of all our children’s books, as well as the “story Bible” genre. It is superior to most other Bible story books in that it is written not as a collection of stories, but as one story — God’s “Big Picture.” It is, simply, a “Biblical Theology” for children, tracing the grandest Biblical story lines progressively through the entire Bible. Author David Helm does this in a way that is Christ-centered, while also showing how themes like God’s place, God’s people, and God’s Word/Promise find their climax and fulfillment in Jesus.
“Big Picture” also refers to the artwork, which is fantastic. I am sure it is the reason this book was my toddler’s favorite long before she could follow the story itself. Besides being visually engaging, the artwork contributes significantly to the plan of the book by having progressively repeating themes to reinforce the story of redemption that forms the “plot” of this children’s Biblical theology.”
“This book tells the whole story of the Bible so well I would commend it even to adults who want to understand the story line of the Bible better. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.”
- Jim Weidenaar, Westminster Bookstore
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