Engaging Scripture: Reading the Bible With Early Friends

by Michael L. Birkel, M. Basil Pennington

A Spanish translation of Engaging Reading the Bible with Early Friends. Michael Birkel describes a practice of interacting with the Bible that opens the door to an increasing depth of faith and spirituality found through study, reflection, and prayer.

123 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Michael L. Birkel is a professor of Religion at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and director of the school's Newlin Center. He holds degrees from Wilmington College, the Earlham School of Religion, and Harvard University. Birkel is the author of numerous books on Christian and Quaker figures, as well as more general studies of religious tradition.

Reviews

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an engaging book with some good ideas for opening up the Bible. Some parts I found very helpful - the worked examples of early Quaker texts and their use of scripture are particularly good - and some interesting. Some I also found daunting - the suggestion that one meditates with the Bible by moving in a 'free flowing' way from one passage to another it reminds you of seems to me to require a much higher level of knowledge of the Bible than I have. A Bible passage is much more likely to remind me of something non-Biblical than another Bible passage, and those passages I would remember are the well-known well-worn ones, so the method would be unlikely to produce surprises. Birkel does also suggest using this method in a group, which would overcome some of this, but I wonder how many British Quakers would, like me, feel too ignorant about the Bible to use this method. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has actually done it!