Enjoying the Old Testament: A Creative Guide to Encountering Scripture
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Is it possible to enjoy the Old Testament?
Christians know they are supposed to read the Old Testament. Yet many struggle with this part of the Bible, finding it confusing, theologically troubling, or just uninteresting. Eric Seibert understands. His goal is to help students and other readers learn to love the Old Testament and actually want to read it.
In Enjoying the Old Testament Seibert demonstrates how reading the Old Testament can be fun and rewarding. Beginning with a rationale for why Christians should engage these biblical books, he then offers dozens of practical suggestions and exercises for hands-on interaction with the text. Equipped with a variety of tools and creative approaches, readers discover how even the most seemingly dry passages can come to life.
While many resources promise to help people understand the Old Testament, they often fail to address a prior question, Why bother reading it in the first place? Enjoying the Old Testament is uniquely designed to help readers find the beauty and wonder in the Old Testament as they explore it in all its complexity.
This is a Logos Reader Edition. Learn more.
- Demonstrates how reading the Old Testament can be fun and rewarding
- Offers dozens of practical suggestions and exercises for hands-on interaction with the text
- Helps readers find the beauty and wonder in the Old Testament as they explore it in all its complexity
Part 1: Preparing to Read the Neglected Testament
- Why Do We Need This Book?
- Why Don't People Enjoy the Old Testament?
- Why Bother with the Old Testament?
- Developing Realistic Expectations
- Cultivating the Right Mindset
Part 2: Having Fun with the Old Testament
- Finding New Meaning in Old Stories
- Being Persuaded by the Prophets
- Enjoying the Boring Parts
- Dealing with Morally and Theologically Troubling Texts
Part 3: Encountering the Old Testament in New Ways
- Exploring Different Perspectives and Making New Discoveries
- Topically Motivated, Artistically Oriented, and Personally Reflective Approaches
- Reading the Old Testament One Book at a Time
- Final Words of Encouragement and Advice
- Appendix: Additional Resources to Enhance Your Enjoyment of the Old Testament
Here is a book with a simple yet profound (and much-needed) aim: give people practical ways to take joy in reading the Old Testament and thus help them want to do it more. With pleasing prose and inviting humility, Seibert provides a variety of concrete and creative practices (literary, artistic, theological, and more) that can be adopted by readers at any level. The text’s problem parts are addressed (and who better than Seibert to address them?), but with a balanced emphasis on the Old Testament’s attractiveness. The end result is a hands-on manual that unlocks access to and stirs affection for an often-neglected part of the Bible. Readers should try this at home. They will be glad they did!
—Brad E. Kelle, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Point Loma Nazarene University
Eric Seibert makes reading the Old Testament both fun and practical. Addressing legitimate concerns about problematic portrayals of God, Seibert offers reading strategies that make sense. I plan to give this book to those who think the Bible is boring or irrelevant, because these pages prove otherwise!
—Thomas Jay Oord, author of The Uncontrolling Love of God and God Can’t
- Title: Enjoying the Old Testament: A Creative Guide to Encountering Scripture
- Author: Eric A. Seibert
- Publisher: IVP Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2021
- Pages: 234
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Appreciation; Bible. O.T. › Miscellanea
- ISBNs: 9781514001219, 9781514001202, 9781541001219, 1514001217, 1514001209
- Resource ID: LLS:NJYNGLDNCSCRPTR
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:51:51Z