Introduction
This book was written for you if you earnestly seek answers to questions about the Bible because:
- You are not satisfied by a scholar's academic approach or by a theologian's sterile analysis or by an inflexible preacher's sermonizing; or
- You want solid facts that will stand the light of your own objective scrutiny; or
- You cannot agree with friends, family, or your church leader about part of the Bible, and feel you have nowhere to turn; or
- You have been exposed to a religious view that sounds good in theory, but seems impractical; or
- You are a Catholic, a Protestant, or a Jew who has disquieting doubts about the place of the Bible in the new century; or
- You demand a perspective toward the Bible that requires no apology to others for asking difficult questions; or
- You are interested in literature or literary analysis and haven't yet read the Bible as a work of literature.
If any of your questions is as serious as these, by all means read this book. We think it has the answers you are looking for.
Outline
Chapter 1, Working to Understand the Bible, surveys the Bible, and reports that some of its authors are known, some are unknown, and some had names different from those given. It concludes that, whether reading the Bible from a religious or a literary point of view, or both, it doesn't matter what the names were of its authors.
Chapter 2, The Literary Qualities of the Bible, outlines how the Bible is similar to and different from other great literature.
Chapter 3, The Unity of the Bible—One Great Book, or 66 Different Little Books? uses modern literary practices to consider the Bible's unities of organization, of the Gospels, of time, and of the two testaments. It concludes that the Bible's 66 chapters form one unified book of profound spiritual inspiration and surpassing literary art.
Chapter 4, Applying Literary Criticism to Inspired Writings, summarizes the doctrine of inspiration and particularly the verbal theory, identifies flaws, and presents a dynamic theory of inspiration that can be compatible with literary analysis as well as with religious beliefs.
Chapter 5, How to Avoid the Inerrancy Trap, explains the theory of inerrancy and identifies flaws. It states that, although Jews and Christians believe the Bible comes from God, it also comes through human beings who wrote in languages of long ago. The chapter reveals how to understand the resulting combination of inspiration and fallibility through literary analysis.
Chapter 6, Can We Really Trust the Bible? shows how the authors' concept of dynamic inspiration can explain misunderstandings and apparent inaccuracies of the Bible so that the work itself can be trusted.
Chapter 7, How Can We Get Meaning from the Bible?, continues to apply the literary approach presented by the authors to produce a moderate, acceptable method for extracting meaning from the Bible.
Chapter 8, The Bible's Influence on Selected English and American Literature, identifies the Bible's place in western literary heritage, shows where it meets literary criticism, and compares its purposes with the purposes of literature.
Chapter 9, Solving the Creationist Controversy, shows how a resolution of the conflict between the positions of evolution and creation can pave the road to understanding the Bible's old message in the new century.
Chapter 10, The Devil Made Me Do It, uses Milton's works on temptation as examples of how literary techniques can make the Bible's temptation narratives richer and its lessons more understandable than if it were read solely by itself.
Chapter 11, "By What Authority?" shows how the moderate position taken throughout the book applies to governmental and religious authority derived from experience, the Church, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.