from cover to cover once a year (and, again, that practice does not make me superior to others in any way). Along the way I have come across two Bible teachers who have major influence on me.Just over 21 years ago I came across a book called How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. It is about how to read the Bible within its own contexts and according to the different genres of the books in the Scripture. I learned heaps from it. One of the reasons why I liked it is that what it says resonates with my own reading of the Bible.
As I embarked on my own theological studies and later on worked on a postgraduate research project in the New Testament, I found myself studying and enjoying Professor Gordon Fee's commentaries and books all the time. I would say that he was my best Bible teacher, despite the fact that I had never met him personally.
Some years ago I eventually had a chance to sit in one of Prof Fee's public lectures at Regent College, Vancouver. At the lecture someone asked him which New Testament scholars he liked most. He was reluctant to single out anyone, but mentioned F. F. Bruce and N. T. (Tom) Wright specifically.
(Recently I found a video clip of Prof Fee in which he mentioned Tom Wright. Click here for the clip.)
At the time I was reading Bishop Tom Wright's books on the apostle Paul. Upon Prof Fee's recommendation, I have since read many of Wright's writings. I have to say that they really resonate with my own reading of the Bible. Tom Wright is able to put together a lot of things in the Bible that I would not have articulated in my own words. Yet I find myself agreeing with him because I have read the Bible in very similar ways over the last 28 years.
This does not mean that I agree with Tom Wright and Gordon Fee all the time. Nor does it mean that they are better than all the other Bible teachers. But I do have to thank them for being my teachers in my own journey of seeking God and learning from the Scriptures.
No comments:
Post a Comment