Not Like Any Other Book: Interpreting the Bible

Faulty Bible interpretation lies at the root of every major mistake and 'ism' assailing churches today, and countless Christians are asking for the old, traditional and proven way of handling the Bible to be spelled out plainly. A new approach to interpretation has also gripped many evangelical seminaries and Bible colleges, an approach based on the ideas of unbelieving critics, stripping the Bible of God's message, and leaving pastors impoverished in their preaching. This book reveals what is happening, providing many brief examples of right and wrong interpretation. The author shows that the Bible includes its own rules of interpretation, and every believer should know what these are. Extracts from this book In other words, the Bible will itself, through its unmi stake able chief doctrines, act as judge of our interpretations. So we gather together the chief doctrines of the faith that are spelled out so plainly, usually in many places, secure in the knowledge that because the parts of the Bible always agree, these will never be contradicted. These certain Bible doctrines may then be used to test our understanding of other texts. This is one of the most important rules of traditional evangelical interpretation. The new philosophy of interpretation started to enter faithful Bible colleges in the 1960s, greatly accelerating in influence in the 1980s, until now it commands the majority of classrooms. Many of its teachers go as far as to say that the Bible must be interpreted like any other book. However much we believe in the Bible's divine inspiration, we should study it in more or less the same way that we study human literature, namely, in a scientific, objective, analytical way. Scripture must no longer be treated as a uniquely divine book with its own distinctive rules for interpretation. Review This book is very important because, ironically, it is itself almost 'not like any other book!'. It is difficult to find other books on Bible interpretation not infected with the deadly virus of liberal scholarship. We should pray that those who would usually run away from the challenge of Dr Masters and other old paths writers will repent. God may yet grant us the end of the man-centered 'talk' and the recovery of the 'sermon' to the revival of His bride the church and to His glory. - English Churchman Table of Contents 1. A Silent Revolution 2. Danger Beneath the Surface 3. The Wholly-Human Bible 4. The Super-Simplified Bible 5. The Blind-Date Bible 6. The Fragmented Bible 7. The Strictly-Scientific Bible 8. The Add-on Application Bible 9. What the Reformers Really Said 10. Are All Parables and Miracles Gracious? 11. Positive Steps of Interpretation 12. Is the Bible Always Binding for Today? 13. Sticking Up for the Judges 14. The Enigma of Samson 15. Epilogue Appendix I Twenty-One Steps for Message Preparation Appendix II The Closing Chapters of Judges