I read this book in 2005 as a part of a summer preaching program. Each week, I was assigned one book to read and review. The following may contain ambiguous references to my experiences in that program because these reviews were not originally intended for the general public. However, I believe what I wrote can be helpful to someone who may be interested in this book…

This book was packed full of information and some really good advice. I wish I would have been able to read it more slowly than I did and actually work through the exercises he suggests. The book reminds me of (and very well may be directly from) a college class in Bible study. I haven’t taken any such class, but many of the things presented here were enforced in most of the classes I have taken. I liked how the process of Bible study and the different elements and implications of it were laid out and analyzed clearly.

Probably the biggest thing that this book helped me to see is a methodological approach to study any given text for myself. Like I said, that is the whole point of a college education in Biblical Studies, but even with that, there is a huge tendency to simply rely on the professor’s exegesis of a certain passage. I have a wealth of information on many parts of the Bible and have been taught the skill of finding more information, but this book was an excellent reminder to start with the text itself and not with the commentaries and other tools for “interpretation.”

I especially liked the point he made repeatedly at the end of the “interpretation” section: Many people are tempted to begin and end with interpretation and they completely fail to either observe or apply. “What does this passage mean?” is a good and valid question but our study shouldn’t start or end there. He asserts (I think correctly) that we should start with “What does this passage say?” and end with “How does this passage apply?”

The material at the end of the book made a strong case for making applications (specifically in personal Bible study) but also in sermons. The knowledge and confident faith we may gain by studying doesn’t do us any good whatsoever if we don’t apply it. Additionally, his “four substitutes for application” discussion was excellent and very true of Bible study today (not to mention, it would make a great sermon).

I agree completely with the emphasis that he put on observation (most of the book is about this). He made the point that the more observation you do the less interpretation you will have to do and you will be much more accurate.

He used an illustration that really grabbed my attention. When discussing people’s tendency to misinterpret scriptures he told about two men who came knocking on his door to study with him. The younger one tried to argue from the original language some point not knowing that Mr. Hendricks had any knowledge of that language. The author proved the young man wrong and the two men left. For some reason his description sounded a whole lot like a couple of our well-intending but under-equipped brothers. To some extent, I can picture myself being torn apart by some “seminary professor” about some interpretation of a passage, even if my interpretation is correct. I suppose this is part of why I value learning so much. If my interpretation of some scripture is correct then I want to be able to defend them to someone who has an incorrect interpretation. I guess it just bugs me that these guys who are wrong about so many things know so much more about the scriptures than most Christians do.

The beginning of the book seemed to be trying to grab the reader’s attention but didn’t really catch mine too well. I guess this sort of book has to have some sort of hook. Otherwise it will be put down quickly. When I got to the real discussion, though, there was a lot of good stuff. I think the reason, the intro didn’t appeal to me is that I don’t fit any of the categories he suggests at the beginning. I have time to study, I know the Bible is useful today, and it is pretty interesting to me. But, it was extremely helpful to me. I am glad I read it and I plan to read it through again more carefully.

Probably the biggest problem with this book is that the people who need it most won’t ever read it (unless they’re forced to like I was). I couldn’t see any of the people in the interviews at the beginning of the book actually finishing it. He briefly addresses those issues but this book wasn’t primarily addressed (for example) to people who don’t think the Bible is historically reliable (he deals with that briefly but not as convincingly as he could have if that were his focus). In addition, the section on the necessity of Bible study was good but could easily be dismissed by someone who “doesn’t have time” anyway. People dismiss pleas like that all the time.

Therefore, I don’t think this book did a particularly good job at convincing someone who really is prone not to study, to study. The simple reason is that most people who are prone not to study won’t actually follow through with any of this. However, the book did a great job at showing just how many of us (almost all of us) are prone not to study to some degree. It was a very encouraging book and now that I have read it, I am much more excited about studying the scriptures for myself. ( )

I went through this book with my girlfriend and we both benefited a lot from it. This is an excellent intro. to Bible study methods and hermeneutics book. One point Hendricks reiterates time and time again is that the Word of God was written not to learn about, but to change your life! This is an excellent overview of Bible study and would be extremely beneficial to people just starting out. ( )