How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature--Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference and What It Means for Faith TodayMcKenzie argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves--what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. McKenzie examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading. The book of Jonah, for example, offers many clues that it is meant as a humorous satire, not a straight-faced historical account of a man who was swallowed by a fish. Likewise, McKenzie explains that the very names "Adam" and "Eve" tell us that these are not historical characters, but figures who symbolize human origins ("Adam" means man , "Eve" is related to the word for life ). Similarly, the authors of apocalyptic texts--including the Book of Revelation--were writing allegories of events that were happening in their own time. Not for a moment could they imagine that centuries afterwards, readers would be poring over their works for clues to the date of the Second Coming of Christ, or when and how the world would end. For anyone who takes reading the Bible seriously and who wants to get it right, this book will be both heartening and enlightening. |
Other editions - View all
How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature--Why Modern Readers ... Steven L. McKenzie No preview available - 2005 |
How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature—Why Modern Readers ... Steven L McKenzie No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
Abraham actually Amos Amos’s Anchor Bible Dictionary ancient history writing ancient Israel apocalyptic literature Apocalypticism beast beginning book of Amos book of Daniel book of Job book of Jonah book of Micah book of Revelation book’s chapter Christ Christian Chronicles church context Corinthians creation culture David dialogues divine Egypt eponymous etiology evil example faith form criticism Galatians genealogy Genesis genre God’s Gospels GrecoRoman Greek greetings Hagar Hebrew Bible Hebrew prophecy Herodotus historian human intent interpretation Isaiah Israelite Jacob Jeremiah’s Jerusalem Jesus Jesus’s Jewish Job’s Judah king kingdom literary meaning Micah narrative nature Nineveh NRSV Onesimus oracle original passage Paul Paul’s letters person Philemon poem prediction Proverbs Qoheleth question reference reinterpretation religious rhetoric righteous Roman Saul’s setting social Solomon specific speech story suffering temple theological traditions typically understanding verse vision wisdom literature word written Yahweh