Monday, August 8, 2016

Understanding the Faith, by Jeff Myers

Understanding the Faith is the second in a series of three books from Summit Ministries. Understanding the Times was their first book written by David Noebel and has been the flagship publication for Summit. Eventually  there will be a third book in the series, titled, Understanding the Culture. I look forward to reading that book when it comes out.

I first read Understanding the Times about 10 years ago when I was a High School Youth Pastor and was trying to find material for my students that would challenge them and prepare them for the future. Not only did that book do what I wanted but it introduced me to Summit Ministries and their course work that they do each summer in Manitou Springs. It is a great program for High School Junior's and Seniors or College Freshman to help them prepare for their time in college and the World Views that they will face.

This book, Understanding the Faith comes as a breath of fresh air for the Pastor who is looking for material for his church family to help them grapple with their faith and come to understand it in good foundational truths. I'm not sure how Summit plans to use these three books in the future but I would think that Understanding the Faith should be their first textbook to take students through.

The topics range from what the Bible is to whether it has any authority for us today and whether we as Christians should be Anti-Science or maybe Biblical Scientists. It grapples with the questions, 1) Is there Good and Evil?  2) Did God create Evil? If so, why? 3) What's the truth about Hell? 4) If Christianity is true why do people walk away from the faith?  These are all excellent questions and Jeff Myers does a fantastic job of answering them.

The book is long, that's OK because it is a text book.  I worked my way through it by reading a chapter a day and found that it took me three weeks to get through (missing a day here or there for reading).

I was so impressed and excited about how Myers handled the text that I want to push him to get the three volumne done so that I can continue on with learning, this time about culture.

BUT, since that isn't out yet I decided to go back and re-read Understanding the Times, yes you read that correctly, I'm going to re-read a textbook and one that is not short. BUT, the material is important and it is good for us as Christians to understand our faith, understand the world views that permeate our world and then understand our culture so that we know how to engage people in intelligent, meaningful conversations to help them learn about the Glory of God.

Enjoy!

The Word of God in English, by Leland Ryken

As part of some course work on Bible Translation and Hermeneutics I read this text from Leland Ryken. I was very impressed with his scholarship as well as his patient and gracious handling of an issue that could cause some to think that he had a personal issue to vent in regards to Dynamic Equivalent Translations. But he gives good background to his thoughts and provides details of his research to help articulate what he is thinking in regards to translations.

There are two main translation types that most of us know about today. There are the Literal Translations (commonly known as word for word) and there are the Dynamic Equivalent Translations (commonly known as thought for thought). Although Ryken will provide background on both types of translation work it will become very evident which is his preferred style. But I have to say that I understand why after reading through his work.

He will go through the different structures and types of literature found in the Bible from Historical accounts to Narratives to Parables and Poetry. In each case he will examine the difference in translation process and give you time to dwell on what he has to say and then make up your own mind.

In the camp of Literal Translations he lists the King James Version, the English Standard Version, the New American Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version. On the side of Dynamic Equivalent falls, New International Version, The Message, The New English Bible, The New Living Translation and others.

What I found most helpful were the Tables in the back of the book where he diagrams out several passages of scripture and allows you to see how the different translations handle the text. This is very enlightening.

One final thought, he makes an excellent point about the original languages and the need for Pastor's, Teachers, Expositors and Scholars to depend on original languages, and if they don't read or understand those then they need to be prepared to know why they choose the translation that they will be working from and know whether they can trust it to give a good translation of the actual text or if they give a translation with their own commentary included.

I highly recommend this book to any Bible Student who wants to understand better the work of Translation of Scriptures and why there is so much difference in the translations that you find in your local Bible Book Stores today.

Enjoy!