Resources for Reading the Bible Better

Do you ever wish you could read the bible better? Or maybe get just more out of what you’re already reading?

Some friends from our church recently asked me what resources I would recommend for studying the bible. So I decided to compile a list of recommended books and resources for reading scripture and also for understanding the faith in general. I’ll be sharing different parts from this list over the next few days.

Really, theological study should be a task for all Christians—not just for the few who attend seminary. As Archbishop Rowan Williams said recently in an article for Christianity Today, “Theological Education is for Everyone,”  theology isn’t just about answering questions people have about God. It’s about a renewed vision for humanity—seeing our brother and sister, our family, our work and our neighborhood through a redemptive lens.

And the church needs all her members—not just pastors—to see better. I’ve compiled a list of people that have helped me to see better. I hope you’ll get to know some of these voices and allow them to dialogue with your own voice and faith journey. This first part of this list is “Resources for Reading the Bible Well.”

- Fr. Jon Ziegler

Resources for Reading the Bible Well

Commentaries

N.T. Wright, The New Testament for Everyone Series

These commentaries are literally meant for “everyone,” so they are easy to read but they are also incredibly insightful. You don’t have the buy the whole set, you can just buy the one for the book you are reading. For example, last Sunday I preached on Romans 12 and used “Paul for Everyone. Romans: Part Two, Chapters 9-16.”

John Goldingay, The Old Testament for Everyone Series

This is the same thing as above, but for the Old Testament books, and written by John Goldingay (my former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary) who is one of the most respected Old Testament scholars of our day—and like N.T. Wright, he is also British and Anglican.

Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew

This commentary on Matthew’s gospel will blow your mind. It blew ours. We use it every time we preach through Matthew and our Table Groups have used it to guide their weekly discussions. Its style is theological and narrative: it isn’t trying to tell you what every verse means—but rather it goes chapter by chapter and fleshes out the story of Matthews gospel in very theological way. I love Stanley Hauerwas because Hauerwas loves the Church and that love comes through in his writing. (It’s like you are sitting down with the body of Christ past and present and they are telling you what this gospel means).

Willie James Jennings, Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible.

Jennings was an African American Fuller grad who went on to become one of the leading theologians of our time—teaching at Duke and now Yale. I haven’t had a chance to read this commentary yet, but Teesha has used it in her preaching our church and his other works have greatly influenced some of my teachers in seminary.

Walter Brueggemann, Genesis: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

Brueggemann is as good as it gets when it comes to reading the Old Testament. The book of Genesis is already familiar to many of us; Brueggemann will help you see it and appreciate it in a whole new light.

Brian K. Blount, Can I Get A Witness?: Reading Revelation Through African American Culture.

I can remember being moved as I read this book for a class in seminary in my tiny studio apartment. If you’re interested in the Book of Revelation—why not explore from the lens of African American culture?

How to Read the Bible

Joel B. Green. Seized by Truth: Reading the Bible as Scripture.

The title sounds kind of funny [it wasn’t Green’s choosing]—but the subtitle says it all: how to read the bible as Scripture. How do we read it as the authoritative “Word of the Lord” for the “people of God”? What is the importance of reading Scripture in community? Why is that both theological Liberals and Christian Fundamentalists often read the bible in ways undermine its essence as Scripture? This book is really helpful and I wish everyone in our church would read it.

Justo González,   Santa Biblia: The Bible through Hispanic Eyes and Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective

These books are about how Latinos approach the bible and biblical interpretation. But really, they just teach you how read the bible well—as Scripture. In a lot of ways, they do what Green’s book does, but from the cultural lens of the Hispanic Church. Justo González is a highly respected Cuban-American church historian and a member of the Methodist Church.

 Esau McCaully, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope.

This book just came out. I own it (it’s been shipped to my house in L.A.) but I haven’t been there to pick it up yet. Knowing what I know about Esau, it’s going to be really good. You should pick up a copy.

The Dr. Rev. Esau McCaully is a Canon Theologian in our Diocese, the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others. He is also a professor at Wheaton college who writes regular opinion pieces in the NY Times from his African American, Christian perspective. I recommend you start following him on Facebook and Instagram and listen to his Podcast, the Disrupters. (Esau did his PhD under N.T. Wright, which is, in my book, really cool).

Sandra L. Richter, The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament

Richter has taught at institutions we love (including Asbury and Wheaton College) and is currently a professor of Biblical Studies up the road at Westmont. She knows a lot by the bible and biblical languages and cool stuff like that and this book is meant to help everyday people make sense of it all.

Ellen F. Davis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading Of The Bible.

Imagine Wendell Berry had a twin sister with 4 degrees from schools like Berkley, Yale, and Oxford—and wrote books about the intersection the Bible, agriculture, and the environment. She’s really amazing and it turns out she and Berry are good friends in real life, and he wrote the forward for this. (When she guest-lectured at Fuller—it was as if the Beatles had showed up or something; we were star struck).

You can listen to her on the “On Being” Podcast with Christa Tippet: The Art of Being Creatures

———————————

Photo cred: Karolina Grabowska @kaboompics