Gordon Fee is a man who I have a high regard for. I was introduced to him through reading his powerful book God’s Empowering Presence which is one of the best books on the Holy Spi
rit I’ve ever read. I’m looking forward to reading his latest work Pauline Christology and the older classic Listening to the Spirit of the Text.
In Reading and Studying the Bible for Life, Fee sets out to help Christians improve the spiritual discipline we spend the most time at — reading the Bible. He begins by showing how great the need is and how far off the mark we are in good reading habits. We are a society that lives in noise, and we are loosing the ability to spend long periods of time in quiet to read. Fee also suggests that the division of Scripture into chapters and verses is a great historical tragedy because the result is that we tend to read Scripture without the context. Our devotional attitude toward Scripture causes us to seek personal words for the day, like a verse of the day, and it cripples our ability to understand the text.
At the heart of Fee’s message to Christians is that they learn to read the Bible contextually, which will curb subjective and distorted interpretations of the text. To read the Bible carefully is ultimately to be an attentive and faithful listener sitting at the feet of our Lord. This is a series of messages every Western Christian should listen to carefully, at least once a year.
Fee is currently a professor at Regent College, and has been a professor at many other seminaries including Wheaton and Gordon-Conwell.
These messages are based on the material found in Fee’s book How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, and his companion book How to Read the Bible Book by Book. These are two books that should be on the shelf of every Christian home.
Reading the Studying the Bible for Life is hosted by Union University:
Faith by Hearing 