Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible

Dr. Ryken uses this book in his Literature of the Bible class, and follows the text almost chapter-by-chapter. Hearing him talk through the concepts and their importance in biblical studies solidifies the methodology he uses in the text. The book itself sometimes seems long and difficult to work through, but it is by deliberately working through the concepts that the method of literary interpretation starts to sink in. It is an infinitely valuable exercise that will improve your reading of virtually every biblical text and make it come alive in new ways. Remarkably, it is also an approach less in biblical studies that allows the Bible to speak for itself, and reveal its own literary forms into interpretive frameworks that every-day readers can understand. While some scholars may contest Dr. Ryken's approach as not the same caliber as other works in biblical studies, this would be a mistake. Ryken does not delve into the ancient contexts or deal with syntactical discourse analysis of the original languages, but he takes the literary forms of the Bible as they are and allows inductive reading to take its full effect in the text. This should not happen at the expense of studying the historical contexts, but it is an often overlooked, and invaluable addition to the discipline. Furthermore, Ryken interacts with various scholars and delineates a very reasonable approach to difficult passages, especially in Revelation where as he says "wild speculation" is rampant. But the most immediately valuable sections, I have found, are his tips to identifying "unity and variation" in the Psalms, and identifying the sub-genre categories to "make your joy full" in reading the text, as he would say.

Ryken's text is a great resource not only for Biblical Studies but also for general Literature Studies. There are great explanations of literary terms- I wish I had this book four years ago when I started my English Degree. The Biblical explanations are clear, and very helpful if you are not aquainted with the Bible, but can be redundant if you spent a lot of time in Sunday School. Overall, this is the best book of the term, and possibly one of the greatest textbooks Ive used in 4 years of college.

Learned a lot of information concerning the Bible. Easy to read and understand. Great addition for all that teach Biblical courses.