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Best Books About Studying the Bible
Recommendations from Beginner to Advanced
Gregory the Great famously said, “Scripture is like ‘a river broad and deep, shallow enough for a lamb to go wading, but deep enough for an elephant to swim’.”
The idea is that you can enjoy the Bible regardless of your experience or knowledge. So, with that in mind, I’m going to share a list of the best books about studying the Bible.
I’ll start with books geared towards beginners and end with books on advanced topics.
Beginner Bible Study Books
This book will introduce you to the basics of studying the Bible. Fee and Stuart walk you through some general interpretive principles for the whole Bible and for different types of literature found throughout the Scriptures.
Building on the work from their first book, Fee and Stuart introduce interpretive principles for each book of the Bible. This is a handy reference tool to have as you read through the Bible.
This book is the expanded version of their smaller one: Journey Into God’s Word. Grasping God’s Word provides some great exercises for you to complete as you develop the ability to study Scripture.
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Intermediate Bible Study Books
This book provides a really in-depth introduction to interpreting the Bible from an evangelical perspective. It helpfully explains some of the preliminary issues about studying the Bible (e.g., the reader, the text, etc.)
If you want to learn how to study the Old Testament specifically, this is a good place to start. Douglas Stuart expands on some of the principles he covers in How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth.
If you want to learn how to study the New Testament specifically, this is a good place to start. Gordon Fee expands on some of the principles he covers in How to Read the Bible For All Its Worth.
In this book, Michael Gorman introduces you to the basic exegetical process. Unlike some of the other books, Gorman arranges the book so that you will learn how to put your thoughts together in a coherent way by the time you finish studying a passage.
This book is different than most of the others on the list. It shows you how much our cultural experience can influence the way we read the Bible. It’s a powerful reminder of our need to evaluate our presuppositions when we read the Bible.
Advanced Bible Study Books
This is a classic textbook for German graduate students. Steck introduces you to advanced methods of Bible study. For example, he talks about examining how the book was edited and developed over generations. If you want to explore the historical processes behind the production of the Old Testament, this is an excellent resource.
Richard Hays is one of the most important New Testament scholars of the last 30 years. His work has helped many people see how the New Testament authors utilized the Old Testament as Scripture. This book is a collection of essays on topics like that.
Gary Anderson is an excellent Catholic scholar and theologian. In this book, he illustrates how to read the Old Testament in light of Christian doctrine.
Craig Keener is a Pentecostal New Testament scholar. In this book, he explores how to read Scripture with what might be called a Pentecostal hermeneutic. Keener is famous for his in-depth footnotes and exhaustive citations.
The narratives in the Old Testament are far more fascinating than most people realize. Robert Alter is a Jewish literary scholar and this classic book will change the way you think of narrative in the Old Testament for the better.
This is the sequel to Alter's book on Old Testament narratives. If you want to understand Hebrew poetry
Conclusion
There you have it. Whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced student of the Bible, you can find something useful in this book list.
Let me know if you think I left off an important book.
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