Exploring the Mysteries of the Bible
Basic information
- Author(s):
- Published: August 23, 2012
- Publisher: Calvin College Press
- ISBN: 978-1937555-05-4
Without using technical terms, Exploring the Mysteries of the Bible is written in layperson’s language and attempts to bridge the gap created by the academic world. By presenting a big picture of the entire Bible, this book demonstrates the way in which the 66 books of the Bible are inter-related to present a story of God.
This book employs a biblical exegetical method that pays close attention to the interrelationship among multifold books within the Bible. Since the Bible is an amalgamation of ancient people’s theological reflections, stemming from different historical and cultural milieus and created by numerous writers and editors, it is not simply story, but thoughtful story. Indeed, the Bible is the result of intensive intellectual and spiritual processes into which critical discernment was invested before the decision was made regarding what had to be put into writing, and how it was to be put into writing. To do justice to this nature of the Bible, any interpretive method should resist the temptation of molding the variety of perspectives operative in the Bible into a unified whole, and also be cautious not to ignore any conceptual dissonance and conflict evident within it. Instead, a biblical exegetical method must reconstruct the interrelationships among multiple books, while neither sacrificing the uniqueness of each individual book nor harmonizing them. By reconstructing the interrelationship within the biblical books, this book can do more than paraphrasing what the Bible in its entirety says. The book explains the Bible in its own terms and in its own right, without imposing any preconceived idea of what it supposes to say.