Literature students who can analyze a passage from East of Eden with ease often flounder when trying to analyze a Bible passage. Why?

Dr. Andrew Abernethy explains how people can overcome barriers to understanding Scripture by using skills they already have, and by seeking not just to understand, but also to savor.

Dru asks Dr. Abernethy, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois, about his new book Savoring Scripture: A Six-Step Guide to Studying the Bible.

Prior to joining the faculty at Wheaton, Dr. Abernethy was a Lecturer in Old Testament at Ridley College (Melbourne), where he benefited greatly from teaching and living with fellow Christians in a cross-cultural and post-Christian context. He has written numerous articles and is also the author of several other books: Eating in Isaiah (Brill, 2014); The Book of Isaiah and God’s Kingdom (IVP, 2016); God’s Messiah in the Old Testament (Baker, 2020); Discovering Isaiah (Eerdmans/SPCK, 2021).

Show notes:

00:26 Savoring Scripture
07:48 Do we need special knowledge to understand the Bible?
14:54 The humility to overcome the fear of getting Scripture wrong
21:15 Taking time to savor God
28:45 Applying existing skills to biblical interpretation

Show notes by Celina Durgin

Episode 182: Our place in space