Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart on How to Read the Bible Book by Book

Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible Book by Book: A Guided Tour (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 444pp., ISBN 9780310211181.

This serves as a follow-up and companion volume to their valuable and much-praised How to Read the Bible for all its Worth, 3rd edn. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003).

It provides an introduction to the books of the Bible, with each chapter following the same structure:

• Orienting data for the book in question
• Overview of the book in question
• Specific advice for reading the book in question
• A walk through the book in question

Their goal, however, is not simply to introduce each book of the Bible, but to show how each book fits into God’s story, in such a way that we might become better readers of Scripture. To this end, an opening chapter offers an overview of the biblical story (under the familiar rubrics of creation – fall – redemption – consummation), each main section (e.g., history, writings, prophets) begins with a brief discussion of its place in the biblical story, and each chapter ends with a summary sentence on the place of the individual biblical book under consideration in the larger story of which it is a part.

Fee and Stuart express the hope that their book will not be a substitute for reading Scripture in its own right, and that readers will read the ‘walk through’ sections of each chapter alongside reading the Bible itself.

Those attempting the task of reading the Bible through in a year may find it helpful to read this book (or others like it) alongside doing so. Periodically, depending on availability of material and time, I may post items of possible interest on the biblical books as I come to them through the year, although this will doubtless be difficult to sustain with some of the shorter ones. At the very least, unless it becomes too wearisome, I will post Fee and Stuart’s summary sentences from this book as milestones along the way.