Hard Sayings of the Bible

This book offers a great scholarly look at some of the sayings that seem difficult to us who live in the 21st century -- far removed from the cultural setting and lingo in which the Bible was written. The work is pretty thick consisting of several hundred pages. I like this though, because (usually) more thickness means more substance, and fortunately I do indeed find it to be the case here. The book is also good because it addresses considerations from opposing camps that the authors do not necessarily agree with. Thus there is a sense of objectivity. Now, on a defensive note, I've seen the objection from at least one other certain person that the book, hence the length, is essentially one convoluted mess of rationalizations attempting to fight a losing battle. As the work has also been described as 'cumulative rationalizations' and a work of torturous logic. These kind of statements come exceptionally close to the logical fallacy that long and complex arguements or statements imply that said statements are 'patch-work' for a failing viewpoint, paradigm, or what have you. This is a non-sequitur, because it does not follow that a work of great breadth and sophistication is a result of torturous rationalizations. Afterall, no one would suggest encyclopedia writers/publishers are in denial about reality! Indeed, even skeptics produce heavy works, but don't look for these same skeptics to apply such logic there! In the end, could it be that the great amount of work put into this book, other than to satisfy all the relevant data possible, is to respond to the likewise "exhausting" and even sometimes "torturous" criticism that the Bible so often receives? Quite so, anyone who produces an extravagant criticism of the Bible offers the opportunity to have the favor fully returned to them likewise. And that is what this book so wonderfully does: If you want a scholarly handle of the supposed difficulties, and sometimes so-called 'contradictions', in the Bible then this work will provide you with the plentiful data to deal with them.

THIS BOOK WILL COME IN HANDY TO ANYONE WHO IS STUDYING THE BIBLE FOR THE FIRST OR THE FIFTIETH TIME! IT OFFERS AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF INSIGHTS AND REFERENCES FOR THE BEGINNER ON UP. I REFER TO IT OFTEN AND SUGGEST IT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN BIBLICAL STUDY.

I find three books that tackle Bible difficulties stand out above all others. Gleason Archer's "Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties", Norman Geisler's and Ron Brooks' "When Skeptics Ask...", and this one. Out of those three this is probably my favorite. This one seems to go into deeper historical setting information. And as one who questions constantly, I am finding better answers here. That is not to say that the three books disagree, for they do agree with each other. This one seems to always anticipate the extra question someone would ask. And now to alienate at least 50% of you... The one disagreement between the books is that this one has an egalitarian stance while the other two hold the traditional view regarding the role of women in the church. Holding one view or the other on this topic will neither send someone to heaven nor hell, yet often emotion takes over this debate. As a former traditionalist I was surprised at how the biblical (as opposed to liberal) view of egalitarianism seemed to answer my questions in harmonizing scripture on this topic far better than the traditional view. Even though I am egalitarian, I am one by the smallest of margins which in my view is not enough to make wholesale changes to the role of women in being pastors. If you are a traditionalist do not discount this book solely based on it's egalitarian stance. As I've said earlier it does agree with the excellent traditionalist books I've mentioned, it just seems to go a little further in explaining the same answer as the other two books give. The only disagreement between these books is regarding the role of women. Update: Wow here I am a couple of years later and I'm even more impressed, as this book continues to tackle the harder issues that the other ones just touch on or avoid altogether Like Mark 1:2 which attributes a passage in Malachi 3:1 to Isaiah. I'm not going to try to give their answer here, so buy the book.

I don't think there is any mystery to the fact that some biblical passages are tougher to interpret than others. This is why I so appreciate this book. In fact, I had bought the individual IVP books that were later compiled into Hard Sayings of the Bible, and I spent the money for this because it's nice having it all in one bound volume. I have used this many times to see if a particular passage is talked about, and probably half of the time it's in there. (I consider this to be a pretty high percentage.) While I may not always agree with the assessment, it is nice to get other perspectives, and more than once they have convinced me of their position on very difficult passages. So, for the person who honestly struggles with interpreting the scripture for himself, I would say this is a good book to have as a reference tool. The authors are certainly scholars who are worth, at the very least, a consideration.