Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading ...

1 THIRD EDITIONG rasping God s WordA Hands-On Approach toReading, Interpreting, andApplying the BibleJ. Scott Duvall J. Daniel HaysForewords by Mark L. Straussand Kevin J. Vanhoozer To our wives, Judy Duvall and Donna Hays Our discussion of Song of Songs (chapter 22) summarizes our lovefor youCONTENTSC overTitle Page ForewordPreface to the Third EditionPreface to the Second EditionPreface to the First EditionPart 1: How to Read the Book Basic Tools1. Bible Translations2. The Interpretive Journey3. How to Read the Book Sentences4. How to Read the Book Paragraphs5. How to Read the Book DiscoursesPart 2: Contexts Now and Then6.

2 The Historical-Cultural Context7. What Do We Bring to the Text?8. The Literary Context9. Word StudiesPart 3: Meaning and Application10. Who Controls the Meaning?11. Levels of Meaning12. The Role of the Holy Spirit13. ApplicationPart 4: The Interpretive Journey New Testament14. New testament Letters15. New testament Gospels16. New testament Acts17. New testament RevelationPart 5: The Interpretive Journey Old Testament18. Old testament Narrative19. Old testament Law20. Old testament Poetry21. Old testament Prophets22. Old testament Wisdom Appendix 1: Inspiration and CanonAppendix 2: Writing an Exegetical PaperAppendix 3: Building a Personal LibraryScripture IndexSubject IndexAuthor IndexAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorCopyrightAbout the PublisherShare Your ThoughtsFOREWORDThis is a wonderful user-friendly book for serious readers who desireto journey into the world of the Bible in order better to understandand to live faithfully in today s world.

3 J. Scott Duvall and J. DanielHays have chosen an apt title: Grasping God s Word. The metaphor ofgrasping is a useful one for thinking through what is involved inbiblical interpretation. As you embark on that lifelong journey, aswell as the shorter one of studying the present work, it may beuseful to keep four senses of the term in begin with, Grasping is an act of violence: to seizegreedily. This is not what the present authors intended! It is,however, what many so-called postmodern readers think aboutthe process of interpretation. In our disenchanted, disbelieving age,many no longer believe that there is a meaning in is more like a power struggle in which the readerimposes or forces his or her will on the text: This is what it means tome.

4 In the opinion of many contemporary readers, we can never seebeyond ourselves so as to attain an objective meaning. For thesepostmodern readers, there is no such thing as correct God s Word lays great emphasis on the importance ofobserving the small details and the overall design of biblical Duvall and Hays are not unaware of the current skeptical well know that the observer-reader is not an impersonalrecording device, but rather a person with a speci c identity,history, and cultural background all of which a ect what onesees. Readers are not godlike, hovering in disembodied fashion overliterary creations; no, readers, like authors, are rooted in particularhistorical situations in what our authors call towns.

5 Not wreaking violence on texts is hard work, for it is all too easyto read our own ideas and prejudices into the text. Accordingly, theauthors call readers both to undertake serious observation and to behonest about their background and their location. Readers must beprepared to have their values and beliefs called into question by thetext. If they are not, they will grasp the Bible in the wrong way,twisting its words so that they conform to what we want them tosay. This book is about avoiding such violent , Grasping God s Word is really about another kind ofgrasping: understanding.

6 We grasp an idea or a story or a poemwhen we can make good sense of the words in their context. Foronly when an interpretation makes sense of the parts and the wholecan one say: I ve got it. To grasp, or understand, or get it is torecognize what an author is saying and doing in his or her text. Thepresent book equips serious readers to get it. What is especially valuable is the authors attention to both the parts and the whole of the Bible. They are as concerned with theBible s words and sentences as they are with its paragraphs andbooks. Why? Because they rightly see that one can only understandthe whole in light of the parts, and the parts in light of the we are not to grasp at the interpretative straws of word studiesand proof texts.

7 No, as the Israelites in ancient Egypt knew, strawcan be used to make bricks. The bricks in this case are sentencesand paragraphs that, when put together, are in turn used to make avariety of larger structures. One therefore nds chapters on wordstudies (the parts), as well as chapters on how to read the di erentkinds of wholes ( , the di erent types of literature) that makeup the Bible. Indeed, the authors rightly devote almost half of thebook to the practical challenges of interpreting and applyingdi erent kinds of biblical , this book is about Grasping in the very literal sense ofhands-on and practical know-how.

8 For this is a book for interpreterswho are willing to get their hands dirty with concrete examples andpractical assignments. Readers will receive the equipment, tools,and training in order to correctly handle the word of truth (2 :15). Everything the contemporary tourist needs to know and totake on the journey into the world of the Bible is provided herein,along with instructions on how to get back again application!In the fourth place, this book is about Grasping God s Word inthe sense of holding on rmly. It is not enough merely to graspGod s Word intellectually to make sense of it.

9 No, we need to graspGod s Word practically to make use of it. To what use should theScriptures be put? One important answer lies within the text itself: for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16). We need not only to understand but to hold on to andobey God s Word. For the Scriptures contain the words of eternallife the words, when grasped, that enable the reader to lay holdof Jesus Christ, God s living Word, in faith. Of course, Grasping theScriptures, or holding on to Jesus Christ in faith, is only a gure ofspeech. The truth of the matter is that when we grasp the messageof God s love for us, it or rather, God grasps us.

10 This is the trueend of biblical interpretation: to know as we are the nal analysis, Grasping God s Word is a matter of life anddeath. Needy sinners, we need to let go of the cultural baggage thatweighs us down and to hold rmly on to the words of Scripture fordear life. For it is only in Scripture that we come to know, and beknown, by him who is the way, the truth, and the J. Vanhoozer The Bible is the most revered, respected, and celebrated book of alltime. Since the rst published book rolled o the Gutenberg Pressover ve hundred years ago (a Bible, of course!), it has been aperpetual best-seller, far surpassing sales of any other volume inhuman history.