I can't believe it since sometimes it seemed like it would never be over, but I am finally done with God's Holy Fire: The Nature and Function of Scripture and although I'm relieved I'm also a little sad. I didn't buy the book so I could insult it. I bought it because I was looking forward to the lessons it had to teach me and the most pathetic part is that when it wasn't being atheistic or trying to undermine my faith it was just so mediocre. The latter half of the book was certainly better than the first and in a way it gave me a little gift. In the first chapter, on page 8, the authors write:
If the Bible has lost its place in our churches, then there are reasons. First, past experiences in classes may have immunized people from serious Bible study. Sunday School classes often fail to demonstrate the relevance of the Bible for our lives. Many people have memories of Bible study that consisted of mind-numbing, fill-in-the-blank questions. They remember the tedium of plowing through passages one verse at a time, passages that they could never connect to their lives. Biblical material was reduced to a kind of trivia, even before trivia was a game: "Which of the judges was left-handed?" "Name the kings of the Northern Kingdom - in order." "Name all of the cities of Paul's third missionary journey." Many people wondered what significance this information had for their lives.
Then, in the next-to-the-last chapter, on page 225, the authors wrote:
I'm reminded of my experience at the Broadway Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas. Every five year old had to know the books of the Old Testament, the books of the New Testament, the names of the twelve apostles, and the entire Twenty-third Psalm before graduating to first grade Sunday School.
...
What can we do to equip our children to love Scripture and benefit from its message? This plea is not merely a call to learn a mass of facts. As the personal reflection about my experience at the Broadway congregation in Lubbock suggests, however, memorization, or at least basic literacy, forms the foundation that permits study at a greater depth.
But wait, I thought that having to memorize Bible facts "immunized people from serious Bible study" rather than forming "the foundation that permits study at a greater depth." So the book flatly contradicts itself. I say that this is a gift because it proves how amazing the Bible is. God's Holy Fire: The Nature and Function of Scripture was written by three different authors and it shows. The style changes dramatically throughout the book and the book contradicts itself more often than the one example given above. But the Bible consists of 66 books written by many authors, and although the style changes throughout there is a remarkable thread of continuity that runs from beginning to end and it does not contradict itself. The authors of God's Holy Fire could stand to give it a little more respect.
