Book Review: 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible
Sunday, October 17, 2010 at 10:43PM 
Click image to buy at Monergism Books by Robert L. Plummer.
Last week I mentioned that I’d be adding one more book to the list of excellent books that I judge to be both accessible and valuable for every believer, and 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible is it. I don’t know of any other introductory book on interpreting scripture that would be as useful for any Christian who desires to better understand the Bible.
Robert Plummer wrote this book with a college or seminary Bible course in mind. “Ideally,” he writes, “it would serve as a textbook…” but would also “be beneficial to any curious Christian.” His goal
was to be accessible without being simplistic and scholarly without being pedantic, while always keeping an eye to practical questions and real-life application by the Christian reader.
It sounds almost as if he had my list in mind when he wrote the book, doesn’t it?
40 Questions has 326 pages, which might sound long, but it’s made up of 40 short stand-alone chapters. It’d be perfectly fine for you to look at the list of questions and jump right in to those that interest you most and skip (but hopefully not forever) those you’re less interested in. And there are plenty of charts and lists to keep things uncomplicated and enough humour and stories to keep things unstuffy. (I started reading this book while traveling and the format makes it perfect for that.)
The book is divided into four sections. The questions in Part 1 concern the text, the canon, and the translation of scripture; in Part 2 they’re on the general interpretation of the Bible; Part 3 includes questions on interpreting the various literary genres in scripture; and Part 4 has questions about some contemporary issues in hermeneutics.
That last section, by the way, is the one I found least helpful. I ignore discussions of contemporary issues in almost everything because so many things turn out to be nothing much in the end. Seminary students probably need to know this stuff, but I don’t, at least not yet. And this is the section of the book that’s going to feel outdated too soon as “contemporary issues” change.
You’ll find all of the specific questions answered in 40 Questions in this PDF of the table of contents from Monergism Books. What’s more, I’ve already posted quotes from some of the chapters so you can see for yourself exactly what the content is like.
- Not Bestowing Authority (Who Determined What Books Would Be Included in the Bible?)
- Not Necessarily Normative (How Do We Interpret Historical Narratives?)
- Not Without Exceptions (How Do We Interpret Proverbs?)
- Not Similar to My E-mails (How Do We Interpret Letters or Epistles? (Structure and Nature))
One heads-up about Plummer’s book: He takes a few jabs that are likely to annoy dispensationalists, who would, if you ask me, be wise to simply overlook those remarks on account of the value of the book as a whole.
I’ve already said that I’d recommend 40 Questions for any believer, but more specifically
- If you want to learn how to study the Bible for yourself, this would be an excellent tool.
- If you have a few serious questions about the Bible, this may give you the answers you seek.
- If you teach a Bible study, this will make you better at it.
- If you’ve come across interpretations of the Bible that confuse you…or give you the heebie-jeebies, this may clear thing up for you or help you find just where an interpretation went wrong.
- If you work with (or have your own) teens or young people, this would be an excellent resource to help you answer some of their questions about the Bible. Or you could just give them this book and let them find the answers for themselves.
Here’s the bottom line: Your home library should have a copy of 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible and so should your church library. No if, and, or buts.
Buy 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible (40 Questions & Answers Series)
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