Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Resources: Biblical Studies Bulletin 4

Vol 4: June 1997

Improving Biblical Literacy

In the last two days I've heard three people remark in separate contexts that although interest in spirituality abounds, knowledge of the Bible continues to decline. Margaret Killingray is writing a Grove booklet about the issue, and she needs your help.

Encouraging Biblical Literacy will be published in December in the Biblical Series. An educationalist who lectures at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, Margaret aims to show that the Bible contains a range of models for communicating its message which can stimulate strategies for encouraging biblical literacy within the church. The booklet promises to be interesting, informative, and helpful.

In the first chapter, she will survey what is meant by biblical literacy, referring to ways in which the Bible has been 'known' in the past. After examining the wider social and educational factors affecting such literacy, she will go on to look at the implications of, e.g., new approaches to the Bible in hermeneutics, narrative theology, and new secular understandings of the teaching and learning process. In the fourth chapter she will consider how the Bible communicates its truths. The final chapter suggests ways forward to develop biblical literacy today, using the insights and models of the Bible itself and giving some practical examples.

Although she has plenty of her own ideas, Margaret would value your suggestions about practical strategies for increasing biblical literacy in the home and in the church which she could incorporate in her final chapter. Your ideas could inspire others to (re)discover our rich inheritance in Scripture. Please write to Margaret at 72 Bradbourne Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 3QA.

The Editor

Comments on Commentaries

OT: The Psalms

The Book of Psalms stands in the centre of the Scriptures but any commentary on the Psalms faces a number of problems. The text is long and diverse, sometimes with divers readings. The Psalms themselves cover an immense period of history and every theological issue. Most people think they understand what the Psalms are before they begin to read them (but don't). The chance of finding a short, cheap, one volume commentary which does justice to the Psalter is remote.

The three volume Word commentary represents a substantial investment but falls into my 'best buy' category by a long way. The introductions are substantial; there is good coverage of textual problems, and there is no attempt to force the texts to fit individual reconstructuions of ritual or theology: Peter Craigie on Psalms 1-50 (Word, 1983); Mervin Tate on Psalms 51-100 (Word, 1990) and Leslie Allen on Psalms 101-150 (Word, 1983). Top of my list of monographs would still be Sigmund Mowinckel's great work The Psalms in Israel's Worship (Sheffield Academic Press, 1992).

Other substantial commentaries are those of H J Kraus, now available in English (2 vols; Augsberg, 1989) and L Jacquet, Les Psaumes et le coeur de l'homme (3 vols; J. Duculot, 1975). If you read French the latter is good for preachers. A A Anderson's 2 volume commentary in the NCB series is useful as a starter but doesn't always answer the hard questions. It also doesn't, in my experience, help much in preparing sermons. A Weiser (SCM 1962) is worth reading and is particular good at linking Psalms and hymnody but too many of the psalms are anchored to his reconstruction of the covenant festival. John Eaton's single volume Torch commentary (SCM, 1967) is as good as a small commentary can be and excellent at setting a context in ritual. His Psalms Come Alive (Mowbray, 1984) for more general readers is also good.

In the last fifteen years the work of Walter Brueggemann represents a shift away from the search for the original setting of the Psalms in the worship of Israel and back towards their underlying theology. See The Meaning of the Psalms (Augsburg, 1984) and The Psalms in the Life of Faith (Fortress, 1995) for a selection of his writings.

Steven Croft, Warden of Cranmer Hall, St. John's College, Durham

NT: The Gospel of Matthew

D Hagner's recently completed 2-vol. work (Word, 1993/5) is a mine of information (knowledge of Greek helps), certainly one of the best available. Hagner goes beyond the exegetical to the theological, though not all of his points emerge from the text itself. The 3-vol. work by W D Davies and D Allison in the new ICC series will soon be complete (T & T Clark 1988/91/?). In exegesis this just takes the lead over Hagner, especially on the Jewish context of the gospel, but does not probe the theological issues. Expensive and demanding (Greek again) the volumes are a lifetime investment. U Luz (Augsburg & T & T Clark, 1990) discusses the history of influence of each passage in sections that are fascinating in their own right, though at times frustratingly short. Unfortunately only one of his three projected volumes has been published in English to date (on ch 1-7).

These three 'heavyweight' commentaries complement each other very well because of their differing approaches. R Gundry's second edition (Eerdmans, 1994) should perhaps be added, but it is long and pedestrian in places, hard work to use, and not always rewarding, especially if the reader does not buy his view of composition and redaction.

Among the 'middleweights', E Schweizer's volume on Matthew (SPCK, 1976) follows a similar pattern to his other gospel commentaries with an interest in theological issues shining through. D Hare (Interpretation; John Knox, 1993) writes in a series aimed at preachers; I like the clear, readable comments and the practical and contemporary slant. D Harrington in the Sacra Pagina series (Glazier/Liturgical, 1991) combines notes on exegesis with readable interpretation, distilling current ideas. F D Bruner's (Word, 1987/90) two volumes, The Christbook on ch.1-12, and The Churchbook on ch.13-28 emphasize theology over exegesis. R T France (Tyndale; IVP, 1985) offers a good, easy to use commentary, with a lot of useful discussion in a short space. Craig Blomberg (New American Commentary, Broadman, 1992) gives a good, all-round treatment from a conservative theological perspective, as does L Morris (Pillar; Eerdmans/IVP, 1992).

M Davies (Readings; Sheffield/JSOT, 1992) uses a more narrative-literary method. A very condensed version of her 'reading' of Matthew appears in Expository Times (May, 1977). Such approaches can be valuable, although at times one is not left with very much substance. Luz's attempt (above) is more satisfying. So too is D Garland's Reading Matthew (SPCK, 1993), whose useful literary and theological comments are augmented by considerable references to other primary sources. J A Overman's Church and Community in Crisis (Trinity Press, 1996) is a very readable commentary, from an expert in Matthew and Judaism. His reading of the gospel as close to Judaism is similar to A Saldarini's work on Matthew, but even for those who do not share this view of the Sitz im Leben (but prefer the position of others like Stanton), Overman is useful. G Montague's 'cross-cultural' commentary Companion God (Paulist, 1989) is an interesting idea. R H Smith (Augsburg, 1989) gives a moderate and fairly brief commentary, aimed at preachers.

Older commentaries include D Hill, for a long time the standard to use, but now dated and overtaken by others (New Century; Marshall, 1972); F Filson, which is rather thin on substance (Black, 1971); and J Fenton who follows an older critical approach (Pelican; Penguin, 1963). I still turn to B Green at times; it has useful nuggets, especially on the Jewish background, despite its brevity and date (New Clarendon; Oxford, 1975).

Revd Dr David J Graham, Lecturer in New Testament, Glasgow Bible College

[Ed: David Graham's own commentary will be published by Eerdmans sometime in 2000 in a new series (the 'Two Horizons').]

Potty Hermeneutics

Every few months, it seems, somebody somewhere comes up with a sensational and implausible new 'angle' on Christianity in general, and the Bible in particular. This is happening at both a more academic as well as a popular level. Thus we had A N Wilson's version of what Paul said, or rather, how he distorted the teachings of Jesus the simple Galilean preacher, and as a result ended up founding the religion Christianity. Tom Wright offered a (by all accounts) convincing rebuttal to this, both in print (What Paul Really Said) and in debate face-to-face with Wilson. But despite the fact that Wright's arguments were altogether more convincing, the smart money says that more people will buy Wilson's book. Does this matter?

Well, it might make a difference in the church. At the more popular level, the end of last year saw the publication of The Tomb of God, which claimed to have discovered the secret location of the body of Jesus. It did this by 'decoding' various ancient documents [Ed: see Biblical Studies Bulletin vol. 2].

At the beginning of this month, the Daily Mail carried a three-day serialisation of The Bible Code. This new book observes that if one arranges the Hebrew text of the Old Testament in matrix form and looks at every n^th letter in certain sections (as one does), one finds some of the important events in world history have been predicted, such as the assassination of Yitzak Rabin. The Bible even predicts that this discovery will be made by computer analysis! Of course the theory only works if we adopt a particular text of the OT (oddly identified as the Textus Receptus, i.e., 'received text'a phrase normally reserved for a particularly late form of the New Testament). What is more, the author does not point out that with the consonantal Hebrew text it is statistically far more likely to find significant letters in close proximity than one might in a text including vowels. One could just as well make hay of discovering ossuaries (bone boxes) bearing favourite biblical names lined up together on a museum shelf (as Heart of the Matter attempted not so long ago).

Bible scholars of all persuasions will consign The Bible Code to the dustbin where it belongs. Perhaps the danger is not in individual books like this, but the trickle of such approaches which may well become something of a torrent as we approach 2000. Does this 'background noise' which says, in effect, that one can make the Bible say whatever one wants it to, have an effect on the confidence of church members in the Bible? And what is the best response?

I recently preached on the subject of astrology in a sermon series on topics of current interest. On going into my (substantially stocked) local Christian bookshop, I found only one book on the subject. And yet, as response to the sermon highlighted, this is a topic that Christians are aware of and encounter day by day, and are rarely encouraged to explore an appropriate response. I wonder if these books on potty hermeneutics are similar. They must provoke interest, otherwise they would not be given the coverage they are. It is tempting not to discuss them, lest by doing so we inadvertantly give them credance. But in so doing, are we failing to engage with the questions that are really being asked? Should there be a Grove booklet on these things? Answers on a postcard please

Revd Ian Paul, Managing editor, Grove Books Ltd

Computer Corner

Software for Bible Study: BibleWorks for Windows

I bought this program to use for most of my sermon-writing, and it's helping me keep my Greek going. I don't use the program to its full potential - you'd need to to be doing detailed linguistic research to stretch it to its limits - but it does what I want it to do very well.

Features

All sorts of searches are possible, including searching on word forms in Greek and Hebrew, and you can display multiple results, or the same result in parallel versions. Statistics abound, though not in an easily understood format. Searches are done through a command linean archaic method in these days of point & click interfaces. However, there is a 'Command Line Assistant' which saves you having to remember the correct codes to control your searches. You can keep notes on each chapter of the Bible, or each verse if you like. However, you can't annotate the original text, or leave yourself any visual reminder that you have attached a note to a particular verse.

BibleWorks will parse any word for you and give you a brief definition: simply by resting the cursor over the word in question, either in the Greek, Hebrew, or KJV text. Right clicking almost anything gives access to a variety of quick menus, allowing you to search on a word or form, copy text or look it up in a reference work, and much else besides. You can even type Hebrew from right to left in the text editor.

BibleWorks allows you to call up the command line for a word search while in another application. The results of your search are then pasted into your host application. I found this unreliable: it worked in some applications, but my 'all-singing all-dancing' 32-bit word processor would have none of it.

The interface is complicated to say the least: four windows to come to grips with, and a plethora of buttons with rather unmemorable icons. Fortunately you can customise to your heart's content, and it is worth doing so in order to have the bits of the program you need where you can find them.

Modules

BibleWorks comes with over 40 modules including 12 English translations, numerous foreign versions, Greek NA27, BHS Hebrew OT, Rahlf's Greek LXX, lexicons, dictionaries, and other helps, even the Westminster Confession! However, the choice of English versions is strongly American-biased and the NIV costs extra. BibleWorks needs its CD in the drive all the time, unless you choose to copy a handful of its modules to your hard disk. However, speed of access on my system (Pentium 60 with quad-speed CD) was commendably fast.

The auto-loading CD smoothly guides you through the installation process, including adding Greek and Hebrew fonts to your system, which then become available to your word processor. The online help is somewhat opaque, though the short manual is adequate for most needs. There is an exhaustive manual in Acrobat format on the CD, and a few video clips explaining the basics.

Availability and Cost

BibleWorks is available in Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT versions. This is a serious Bible study program for serious users, at a serious price. Expect to pay around £250 for the Windows 95 version, unless like me you can take advantage of a bulk order (via a theological college) straight from the States. BibleWorks comes from Hermeneutika Software, P. O. Box 2200, Big Fork, Montana, 59911. Phone 001-406-837-2244, Fax 001-406-837-4433. Web page: http://intr.net/bibleworks/

Revd Nick Sharp, Enfield Middlesex

Grove Biblical Series

Subscriptions to the series continue to growfaster than we had anticipated. Perhaps this points to a hunger for relevant material that we had underestimated. It would be great to pass the 2,000 mark; who do you know who would value the series?

This month's book booklet is Preaching Old Testament Narrative by Bob Fyall, lecturer at St John's College, Durham, and a URC minister. Large parts of Scripture in both Old and New Testaments consist of narrative, and preachers often do not know where to start. Bob spots some traps to avoid, and then give a worked example of a sermon series on the books of Kings. This is a practical booklet which should ignite our interest in reading and preaching such large sweeps of Scripture.

Coming Soon in BSB

Comments on Commentaries continues its survey with two more biblical books; our attempt at humour in the last issue has prompted one response (unprintable in this issue but revealed in the next!); plus more news and views.