How to Read the Bible in Changing Times: Understanding and Applying God's Word Today

by Mark L. Strauss

Overview

Many find it difficult to take words that were written thousands of years ago and apply them to twenty-first-century life in the Western world. How do we read God's unchanging Word in a world that is increasingly defined by change?

How to Read the Bible in Changing Times shows everyday Christians how to interpret and apply the Scriptures regardless of time and culture. Rather than seeing the Bible as a magic answer book, a list of commands to obey, or a series of promises to claim, this insightful book allows the Bible to retain its identity as a complex, inspired document while showing that the truth it contains is relevant and life-changing. It shows the reader how to

determine the meaning of the text in its original context
identify culturally relative features
understand what the text teaches about God, his will, and his purposes
apply the truths discovered to contemporary life situations

It even shows readers how to discern God's will on the many modern issues that the Bible does not directly address.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801072833
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2011
Pages:	282
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Mark L. Strauss (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Distorting Scripture? The Challenge of Bible Translation and Gender Accuracy and Four Portraits, One Jesus: An Introduction to Jesus and the Gospels. His professional associations include the Evangelical Theological Society, the Institute for Biblical Research, and the Society of Biblical Literature. He lives in California.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Introduction: The Unchanging Word in a Changing World 1

2 What the Bible Is Not 13

3 What the Bible Is 41

4 A Heart-of-God Hermeneutic: Walking with God in His Story 69

5 Seeking the Heart of God in Dialogue: Tradition, Community, and the Spirit 93

6 Finding the Heart of God in the Diverse Genres of the Old Testament 107

7 Finding the Heart of God in the Diverse Genres of the New Testament 157

8 When Cultures Collide: Discerning the Heart of God in Cultural Context 207

9 Conclusion 245

Notes 253

Scripture Index 265