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Light of the Word

How Knowing the History of the Bible Illuminates Our Faith

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

While Christians generally acknowledge that the Bible is God's Word, many of us lack robust confidence in the reality of its trustworthiness. We may not be sure if we really believe what we read. But the more we understand how Scripture came to be, the more we discover its power and truth.

Historian Susan Lim unpacks how the history of the Bible bolsters our faith and anchors us through the changing tides of time. The story of Scripture, while messy and complicated at times, is also the story of how God shepherded his people throughout the centuries in and through these writings. Lim explains how Christians came to accept certain documents as inspired and not others, and how the books we now call the Bible came to be assembled and canonized as authoritative. The same Spirit of God who oversaw the writing of Scripture continues to be at work actively in us in our receiving and reading of it, to grow us in faith and maturity.

Those of us who confess that Jesus is Lord can also confess with confidence that Scripture is God's Word. As the church through the ages has received and passed down the sacred Scriptures, so too can we receive for ourselves the living Word that God still speaks through today.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 13, 2023
      “While a comprehensive understanding of the Scriptures is not a prerequisite for salvation, it is nonnegotiable for sanctification,” asserts historian Lim (Sola Scriptura and Sectarianism) in this impassioned history of the Christian Bible. Framing the acceptance of God’s word as the “second gift” after salvation, Lim begins by delineating the Old Testament’s three-part structure (the “Law,” “the Prophets,” and “the Writings”), a setup that existed “at least a century before Jesus’s birth.” Later she digs into the New Testament, devoting particular attention to how its 27-book canon was solidified in the fourth century, which helped “stabilize the church” by “rooting out heresies and clearly delineating orthodox teaching.” Other topics include the book of Esther, in which God is never explicitly mentioned; miracles in scripture; and “challenges” to the Bible, including that “archaeology has disproved” it. Lim’s enthusiasm for her topic is palpable, and she never loses sight of “the wonderfully absurd” (for instance, that “God impregnated a teenage girl from a humble family”) or sacrifices close historical detail. New Christians will gain particular energy from Lim’s heartfelt promise that scripture can reveal “moments when the miraculous converges with the ordinary.”

    • Library Journal

      December 1, 2023

      Many evangelical Christians are reluctant to acknowledge that some utilize creativity when they compose the books that make up the Protestant Bible. For them, it significantly compromises their belief that scripture is the absolute, inerrant inspiration of God. This was Lim's own experience as a new Christian. She (history, Biola Univ.; America's Past: A Christian Narrative) believes that the Bible was inspired by God, but she also appreciates, because of her training as a historian, that living souls were a vital partner in conveying the Word. She argues that Christians can trust the 66 books of the Protestant canon as God's word by realizing that the stories recorded in it were corroborated by ancient literature and archaeology. Lim's book seeks to breach a divide that exists among evangelicals of recent generations. VERDICT Best for readers interested in the historical context of biblical scripture and evangelical beliefs.--Glen Edward Taul

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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  • English

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