Understanding Scripture: How to Read and Study the Bible

by A. Berkeley Mickelsen, Alvera M. Mickelsen

"For a Christian believer living in today's fast-changing world, knowledge of the Bible is important. Knowing how to apply the Bible to present-day situations is equally important. This book will help the lay person experience what the Psalmist 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.' (Psalm 119:105)."
—Millard J. Erickson Without question, studying the Bible can be one of the most rewarding experiences of the Christian life. Unfortunately, if you are ill-equipped, studying the Bible can also be intensely frustrating. For example, how do we know when the Bible is being literal and when it's being figurative—and how can we tell the difference without a degree in theology? What do history and culture have to do with studying the Bible? Are there principles for interpreting parables, allegories, prophecies? Is Revelation different? Because questions like these are inescapable, Understinding How to read and Study the Bible is a must for the individual interested in maximizing his or her time in Bible study. This book arose out of Alvera and Berkeley Mickelsen's life-long passion for helping people understand the Bible and its significance for their lives. Now in a thorough revision of the 1978 edition co-authored with her husband, Alvera Mickelsen once again shows how principles of interpreting God's word can make Scripture come alive in an unprecedented way.

Genres: Christian

141 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[David Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads a bit like a text book--but a good text book. When I think of the demise of Sunday School and Wednesday Bible classes across the nation I am reminded of perhaps the number one complaint against both: The classes are boring!

There is no need for them to be if the Bible is the text book. The Bible, the greatest book ever written, should be the most exciting subject ever. It should be the centerpiece of every Christian's life and conversation.

This book would be a great primer on how to make that happen.

I recommend it to any student of the Bible (Hint: All Christians should be students of the Bible) and especially to teachers and preachers.

[Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evangelical or "conservative" Christians regularly pay lip service to the authority and importance of the Bible, and many of us genuinely do make a point of reading it regularly --but many do not, and many who do don't actually make a real effort to understand and engage what they read. The cause of this, in many cases, is because the Bible, written as it was thousands of years ago in another culture, can be a challenging book, especially for readers whose education hasn't even prepared them for critically reading modern writings produced in our own culture. But the result is a church whose Biblical illiteracy is about as bad as that of the secular society around it, and in which the authority of Scripture, for all practical purposes, is replaced by default with the authority of various denominational and cultural traditions.

No single book can provide an all-purpose antidote to this problem, and no book can offer a comprehensive set of canned interpretations or interpretive techniques for every verse in the Bible. But this one does a pretty good job of imparting, in language understandable to everyday non-specialist readers, some basic principles and information that can help to make Bible study more effective and rewarding (and less intimidating and frustrating). One of the authors' major points is the need to first determine the meaning a Bible passage would have conveyed to its original readers, in its cultural and literary context, and only then to deduce its application(s) to the present situation. They also cover the effects of translation of Bible texts from the original languages into English; the nature of figurative language and poetry, and how this effects interpretation; the difference between Biblical parables and allegory (a form they're often confused with), the real meaning of the word "doctrine," and why it's important; and the inability of fallible humans to infallibly understand every aspect of truth in its entirety. For a reader who seriously wants to read the Bible as an authoritative communication from God to humanity, given in the context of a particular culture but relevant to all cultures, this is a constructive, common-sense book that I think could be a real help. (I'd recommend it especially for adult and youth class Sunday school teachers, and for preachers who haven't had formal training in Bible study.)

[Trevor Binkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro to understanding the Bible.