Living by the Book: The Art and Science of Reading the Bible

This book is like none I have read before. It has helped me understand how to read the Word of God through Observation, Interpretation and Application. This book is easy to read. Good for teenagers, homeschoolers, Sunday school teachers and students. Valuable resource!

If you've ever had an excuse for not getting into the Word, this book is for you. Howard Hendricks who chairs the Center for Christian Leadership (affectionately know as "Prof." to his students at Dallas Theological Seminary) with the aid of his son Bill, has written this phenomenal book on the "why" and "how" of Bible study.In the first few chapters, Hendricks challenges all the excuses we have for not studying our Bibles and posits clearly superior reasons in favor of doing so. He then uses Scripture itself to show us what we will gain from regular study of God's Word. In typical Hendricks fashion he begins by humoring "I wish we had a better term than `Bible study,' because for most of us, `study' is a bad news item. It has all the appeal of flossing our teeth" (13). He tells the story of a man he met at a Bible conference who drove twelve hundred miles to "get under the Word" and Hendricks muses "was he just as willing to walk across his living room floor, pick up a Bible, and get into it for himself?" (9).There are three steps, which will transform that sometimes-dry text into the spiritual growth that we desire in our lives. They are Observation, Interpretation and Application. These three steps are the heart of the book. The ability of Howard Hendricks to communicate clearly and effectively is unmatched in this introductory work on Bible study. The pages of this book come alive as he swiftly and painlessly removes the obstacles to personal study while at the same time equipping the reader with the proper tools to understand God's Word. Virtually every chapter contains exercises for the student of Scripture to get hands-on experience instead of just theoretical book knowledge. Much of this book is essentially the application of Mortimer Adler's book, How to Read a Book, (which Hendricks highly acclaims) to the Bible. The anecdotes, illustrations and "quotables" are alone worth the price of the book, not to mention the enlightening elaboration of the three-step approach to Bible study. This book should be the absolute first book a new Christian reads apart from the Bible itself.

Howard Hendricks has created a powerful tool for unlocking the meaning of the Scriptures. His method of Observation, Interpretation and Application reveals the immense depth of the text. And anyone can learn this! Reading this book created a desire and an unexpected excitement to get into the Word! This book is number 2 on my list of recommended reading (because it is so effective in helping to read book number 1 on my recommended reading list!). A must have book.

Not only is the method subscribed by this book useful in getting out of the Bible that which was intended, but if the first couple chapters don't get you downright excited about a study of the Word of God, then nothing will. This book will light a fire of desire to search, and find, ALL of God's Word.

Hendricks says, "[T]he objective of this book is to help you ask observational questions of the biblical text, explain what a passage means, and then describe practical ways to use what you've learned in everyday life." (pg. 326) He delivers by covering the often skipped over element of observing what is actually in the biblical text. Most students of the Bible have a handle on interpreting. But Hendricks will broaden your view and help balance and objectify your study. With observation and interpretation as a solid basis he then, and only then, moves on to application. It's one thing to get in the Word, but altogether different when the Word gets into you. I typed up a 9 page, detailed outline of the book to quickly help remind me of how I can get the most out of my Bible study. Get this book so you can get into THE BOOK.

"Living By The Book" is the best introduction to the Bible that I have yet to read. Whether you are brand new to Bible study, or a seasoned lover of the Word of God- there are many helpful tools in this book. There is a wealth of knowledge to be discovered in the Bible, and this book shows you how to be a "spiritual" detective. Fun and rewarding reading! Thank you God, Howard, and William!