Serving up scripture How to interpret the Bible for yourself and others

What is the Bible? While that question has split families and denominations, this is the latest entry into the fray, offering its answer with an unusual motif: cooking. Authors Bashaw and Higashi, both writers for The Bible For Normal People project, seek to give readers tools to interpret the Bible, comparing the process to preparing meals. Readers are encouraged to recognize their own interpretative lenses formed by preconceptions, biases, context, demographics, and privilege. Bashaw and Higashi discuss the origins of the Bible, the genres comprising its books, and traditional views of biblical interpretation. They propose thematic questions--historical, literary, ideological, and theological--for interpreters to ask as they investigate the meaning of scripture. The authors deem the Bible as literature and employ "critical biblical scholarship" to reframe how Bible readers interact with the text (a stance that may challenge more conservative readers) and include tips for interpreting biblical writing, discussion questions, and helpful resources. Regardless of one's leanings, Bible aficionados will find much to chew on.

Biblical scholars Bashaw (Scapegoats) and Higashi (1 & 2 Samuel for Normal People) team up for a lucid guide to reading scripture. Using cooking as a guiding metaphor, they detail the complexities of interpretation, describing it as a process wherein different "chefs" with unique sociocultural backgrounds use the same basic ingredients to produce vastly different results. Among the book's most useful elements are its tips on handling the Bible's various "ingredients," from its prose (don't pay much attention to headings and verses, many of which were added millennia after the Bible's composition) to the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelations (keep historical context firmly in mind when encountering "violent images and disturbing warnings," which were used to jolt "empire-compromised readers into repentance" or assure first-century Christians their nonbelieving oppressors would get their comeuppance). While the cooking metaphor wears thin in a few places, it provides an accessible entry point into the sometimes-opaque world of biblical scholarship, and the authors' colorful personal anecdotes enliven the proceedings. Church study groups will be especially edified. (Jan.)