Books on the history of Bible interpretation?

Question

I am highly interested in learning about the history of interpretation of the Bible, but I'm not really sure where to start. I'm especially interested in learning how people have historically understood the book of Revelation, and how they have understood the thornier parts of the Bible, like those that seem to condone slavery, or that have strange laws like in Leviticus. I'm curious to know, for instance, how different people argued for or against slavery based on the Bible, and what different people thought the strange imagery in Revelation meant for their times. Does anyone know of any good introductory books that deal with this topic?

Answer 1

Well, to begin, there are lots of different opinions out there about living life, and many people try to put God in their pocket to make their way of life right and someone else's wrong. It isn't OK to do this in my opinion. As soon as you point your finger at one sin saying this is wrong, you can find another verse in the Bible that says it is acceptable. And then there is always..."Judge not, lest ye be judged." which should put an end to all the justifications about Bible based moral code in our society but it doesn't seem to be doing that at all.

Having said that, I think you might be interested in reading Phillip Yancey, he is not a hellfire and brimstone kind of bible scholar, a finger pointer, he is very palatable even to me and I find most Christian authors to be very pompous, and he often seems to write against the grain of most theologians. He tries to bring Christians into a more intimate relationship with God by helping understand Christian principles on a grand scale. For instance, he wrote a book called "The Jesus I Never Knew" going into what Jesus' personality must have been like, how he must have been a curious kid with a frustrated mom, a boisterous type, often frustrated with his peers who just didn't understand him, often nervous, and entirely real...he paints a very HUMAN picture of someone with intense feelings, a hearty sense of humor, and deeply loving connections to his friends. Another book written by Yancey is called "What's So Amazing About Grace?" and I haven't read it. He also wrote a book called, "Soul Survivors" and I haven't finished it. It begins with an introduction about his intense dismay at the church's take on civil rights laws and practices, and some of the evil that the church was responsible for right up to the 1960's. It also talks about some other figures in history, NON-Christians, who pointed him back to his own faith when the church could not do so. I think he holds Mahatma Ghandi up, for one, as an example of Christian principles, and he of course, was Hindu. So Yancey writes a lot about digging deeper to find a God that a regular person can relate to, in hopes of having a passionate relationship with God.

Another book you might be interested in is called "The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love." by John Shelby Spong. This particularly sounds like what you might want to read. I confess, these titles have been on my shelf and not read by me personally. I got them all at one time on an internet shopping spree at amazon.com...and then I got Dish Network and my reading has been horribly slack lately.

You might also be interested in the history of the Bible as a compiled book...the canonization of the Bible as we know it today. There were tons of pieces of literature written in those times, gospels (stories about Jesus' life told from one person's perspective) and other codes. Some made it into the Bible, a whole lot didn't. Who knows why? And when you start talking about history SINCE the Bible was put together, you start to see that our Bible based reasoning (and much of American law is Bible based) has the potential to be skewed.

A search on apocryphal literature will lead you to information about this. One book in my library on this topic is called "Lost Christianities" and talks about how the church body has been a series of split offs since the disciples of Christ himself. Many early Christian teachings were interwoven with other influences of the time, so a lot of folks in those times who called themselves devout Christians...also believed in things like reincarnation, witchcraft, even multiple gods, and other things that are not supported by the modern day church. The reason that some of these ideas did not "stick" in the church is due to sheer popular opinion. The popular ideas were passed on, the fringe ideas were stamped out...and so on, at all times being interpreted with different motives the whole way, so our present day version of the Bible contains who knows what of the actual truth of what God wants us to know. And more importantly what bodies of thought got eradicated??

Some of this topic just infuriates me as an atypical Christian. I wonder what the Bible can do for me sometimes, having been most formally put together during a corrupt time in the church's history, with church and crown so intricately woven together, the Crusades, etc.

We do know that religions worldwide often seem to support moral codes that teach people to be easily governed, creating a sort of "chicken and egg" situation. "Religion as the opiate of the masses." We know that slave owners wanted their slaves to become Christian because they thought that Christian slaves would be so looking forward to their eternity in Heaven that it wouldn't matter how they were treated here, they wanted their slaves to be passive and forgiving, which is what how THEY wanted to be treated, and shows how skewed their interpretations of Christianity are (because Christianity as a way of life, does not promote weakness, it promotes strength)...what they didn't count on was that Jesus would become their champion and give them faith and hope in spite of their suffering. We also know that Christian principles helped spur the Civil Rights Movement...rallying whites to rethink their behaviors and attitudes towards racism in terms of their faith, when not too long ago, their church was practicing racism from the pulpit.

Does it matter that this only happened when blacks started to be such a force to be reckoned with that they needed to be placated? Maybe. But it is also largely accepted that racism is evil body of thought in our society, even if we have trouble recognizing it in practice.

So was truth picked over and served up ala carte by peoples' leaders? I think so. Having faithful citizens of most religions, promoted easy running communities...for example, a lot of religions promote marriage and fidelity...saying that we should do this because God says so. Well, it may truly be the RIGHT way to live, but it is also a lot easier to run a village of families with a figurehead (a man) taking care of his people, than a bunch of single mothers, bastard children, and sexually diseased citizens that become sick and make others sick creating a public health problem for the government to worry about. This is just ONE thing that religions usually have something to say about. Diet is another. The Bible seems to be no exception for spouting these codes of conduct and sometimes I wonder if we got our ways out of truth or convenience for our leaders.

So there is all that...canonization. Check it out. You will find even more than the Apochrypha from the Roman Catholic Bible. Presumably, there was even a Gospel of Jesus Himself...which is reasonable, since we are pretty sure he was literate, etc, having been schooled in the temple, and probably wrote plenty. But there is nothing in the Bible that Jesus WROTE, only quotes from others of what he said. That strikes me as odd, for a religion based on the Godship of Jesus Christ, that there isn't a personal message from him...and yet we call the Bible God's word. Divine inspiration for ordinary people aside, I can believe, I know the Bible wasn't penned by God himself on paper that fell from the clouds. But you'd think that in any self-respecting religion about Jesus, there would be something very special in there that Jesus, a person with access to writing materials, would have written himself.

For fiction, there is always the Left Behind books. They are about the end times, and the author is supposedly an expert Bible scholar, particularly about Revelation.

I am NOT slamming Christianity by the way, this is something that, as a believer, I struggle with and can't wait to find out when I meet God face to face. So please don't interpret this as something disrespectful.

Answer 2

THIS IS THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTIONS

One resource that I highly recommend is the ministry of No Greater Joy Ministries.

Michael Pearl explains Biblical passages like no one I have ever heard. He does very plain but thorough Bible Studies and he is very educated in the cultural history surrounding Bible times (especially the Old Testamant laws). It is cut and dry Bible study-not a lot of frills and fun. (His wife has a very valid message to give to the women as well.)

The website is http://www.nogreaterjoy.org

There are SCORES of articles on subjects from marriage, to child training, to Biblical theology.

He has books, pamphlets, and tapes that delve deep into the Scripture. He does sell some products written by others. And the prices are VERY reasonable for the education and understanding you get. Here is just a sampling of some of the information.
REVELATION POSTER & BOOKLET- Years ago when Michael was teaching through the book of Revelation, he painted an eight-foot canvas depicting the events described by John. Michael has prepared a handbook to go with the painting, which makes it a great study guide.

BASIC THEOLOGY - This set contains Bible teaching on the
Body, Soul, and Spirit on CD and the By Divine Design - book

EIGHT KINGDOMS- Most cults and many of the denominational differences today can be traced to a lack of understanding of the mystery of the kingdoms. The key to understanding the entire Bible is found in knowing the differences among the eight kingdoms.

King James, His Bible, and Its Translators by Laurence M Vance, PH.D - This collection of essays on the subjects of King James, his Bible, and its translators is the result of painstaking, original research, with an emphasis on primary resources.

BY DIVINE DESIGN - Michael discusses some of the basic presuppositions that lead us to believe in and trust the unseen God. We are part of a great drama that is perfectly orchestrated by both the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.
CDs or TAPES:
CHRONOLOGICAL PROPHESIES
GOD's ETERNAL PROGRAM
and lessons on many entire books of the Bible (Romans, Colossians, Hebrews, etc)
Some items are available in both book and audio format, so look carefully for what you want.
There are even some MP3 messages and messages you can listen to online.

he also sells
Which Version Is The Bible? By Floyd Nolen Jones, Th.D., Ph.D.281 pages, paperback

He has a very interesting article called What Is the Best Method of Studying the Bible? and I highly recommend it.

If there is a woman in your life, Creat to Be His Help Meet is a marriage-saver/enhancer. It is painfully Biblical-from the wisdom that Debi Pearl has received over the years of her marriage and faith.

This whole website is packed with information that Christians and those seeking answers to Biblical questions can appreciate.