Comments on: Can You Study A Book Too Much?

By: mdehkram

mdehkram — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:18:06 +0000

One can study the Bible too much. A good book that tells of the excesses of Bible study is “The Christian Student” by Bickersteth – on Google Books. Also his book on studying Bible prophecy.
One can find more in the Bible than is really there. The best corrective of this is to read and study the Bible text on one’s own, before checking or reading commentaries/study Bibles/introductions/handbooks, etc. It will be easier then to discern a writer’s inferences, perhaps justified or not, that go beyond what is plainly stated in the text. Or to check one’s own inferences against what someone else has inferred.
Much of the methods of inductive Bible study can result in over-analysis, and being overly-methodical. Used as a guide is fine, but the method is only a tool.

By: christian wanderer

christian wanderer — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 05:49:46 +0000

It seems apt here to quote the phrase, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

I spent many years with a group that focused on “high” and “deep” Bible knowledge. There were a lot of very wonderful things I learned. But the church was a very cold place, with little love or compassion for people. The people who had been there the longest were puffed up beyond measure, and considered themselves Bible experts. In their behavior they acted more like Pharisees. (I wasn’t immune. It’s fun to think you understand the entire Bible in a way that so many “poor” Christians don’t. And it’s disillusioning to realize that you don’t know nearly as much as you think you do, because of the way you treat people.)

By: Dave R

Dave R — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 23:04:49 +0000

Quoting Ethan Magness:

“I too have felt that I “study” the Bible too much. However that is only a problem because I live out the Bible to little. Whenever we know more than we live (and I know a great deal more than I live) a great current of hypocrisy grows in our lives that can be overwhelming at times. When a young Christian comes to me for help seeking the truth of scripture, I am regularly shamed as I point them to a text that I have always known and never lived and they read it for the first time and begin to live it.”

Ethan, you hit it square on the head for me. I sometimes wonder how much of what I have learned I’ve forgotten – from disuse. The parable of the talents seems to have direct application here.

I continue to read and re-read the bible, not mostly to learn something new, but to be reminded (again) of what I do know, and should be doing.

I’ve been in enough different church movements to experience many ways the scriptures can be stretched and twisted out of shape, and misapplied to almost every area of life. I’ve come to appreciate the scholars, PhD types, etc. who bring my understanding of scripture back to solid principles of interpretation. I believe I have much more to unlearn and relearn than to learn new.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:39:36 +0000

I think I agree with the overall sentiment behind this blog post. The Scriptures have wisdom and depth that could exhaust a lifetime of study. However, when/if that study gives way to energized extrapolation- it usually leads to the subordination of the Bible to our own personal agendas.

I don’t think that happens as a result of too much study though. It probably happens as a result of our attempt to make the Bible a reflection of ourselves when we should be viewing it as the proverbial mirror that shows us who we are in comparison with who we ought to be (James 1:22-25).

By: RDB

RDB — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:09:31 +0000

Michael, just when I’m about to give up on you you go and write a fantastic post like this. Thanks so much you’ve made my day.

By: csida

csida — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:56:04 +0000

“Reginald, I can write no more. All that I have hitherto written seems to me nothing but straw… All that I have written appears to me as much straw…compared to the things that have been revealed to me.”
~Thomas Aquinas

By: Bror Erickson

Bror Erickson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:37:24 +0000

I don’t think you can ever study the Bible too much, you could though read too much into it. But I think that tends to happen more with people who take it too lightly, and don’t study it enough.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:01:50 +0000

All the people in here seem well-versed in the reading of the scriptures and the various ways and methods(and associated abuses) in which to do that. I just wonder… does it take slogging through the hermeneutical maze of whatever camp you come from to see the simpler(but not simplistic) picture that Michael paints here?

I’m 40yo and am just now learning from guys like Keller and Goldsworthy(Ph.ds – no irony there) to see that golden thread weaving it’s way through scripture. And it seems so obvious that I wonder why I didn’t see it before. But then I wonder could I have seen this 20 years ago – without having seen the other side – and then keep from getting distracted from these other tertiary issues? I don’t know and I think I’m too embedded the whole thing to be objective.

Thanks for the safe place to muse, iMonk.

By: John

John — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:54:08 +0000

An indirect comment: Why not just make your Bible survey class non-linear? Then you can keep the big picture central but still get to the details later.

Peace of X

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:23:45 +0000

This overlaps with something I’ve been mulling over as I complete my transition from my Evangelical upbringing into an Episcopalian faith: Is it possible to idolize and worship the Bible wrongly? Can we make an idol of the Word? The churches I grew up in structured everything around the hour-long sermon, and I found so many more ways of knowing God once I became involved in an Episcopalian church. I am still too timid, though, to say we’ve put too much weight in the Bible, but I think we have certainly forgotten other methods of worship and understanding God.