"Handbook for Bible Study" by Lee Gugliotto

[B/W Photodude]

This book was recently discussed and I obtained a copy. I am deep into the book, even nearly done, but this is not the review of the book. It has been a bit of an experience acquiring this book and making sure it was legitimately mine.

I buy a lot of books off Amazon as used books (more than 25 books are in my "to buy" list!). Every so often one arrives and is marked in a way that makes me wonder if the seller should have been selling it. One book I bought came marked from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. Checking it out they informed me that due to the fact that it was a medical related book they are sold off after five years. They did not want old medical info in their library. JCAHO will mark it against a hospital if a healthcare text older than five years is found on a unit where it might be used in patient care. 

So, Handbook for Bible Study (HBS) arrived with the name of a church written in the back cover. Oh boy! I am thinking. This book wasn't cheap and arrived in nearly new condition. So, I needed to track it down to find out if the church intended for it to be sold.

Googling the church gave me a phone number of the church of which no one ever answered the phone. This led me to believe it was a small church with no staff during the week. Calling on a Sabbath morning had me talking to someone, probably whoever was walking past the phone(!), and they had no idea about the church library which was just a bookcase in the lobby!

So, I was off to find the church pastor and speak directly to him. I call the conference the church was in. The person answering phone asks, "What is this about?" Apparently they weren't aware that sometimes people want to talk confidentially to a pastor and who was this gatekeeper for the pastors of the conference?  They refused to give me his phone number! This included even the ministerial department. I was quite surprised that so many people would run interference and not allow someone to be able to reach the pastor. So, I got no further this time with the conference office.

However, I did know a pastor in that conference. Thinking he might have a conference directory and could help me get connected I called his home. His wife, who I have known for 50 years, answered the phone. I explained why I was calling and her first response was, "What did he do?!" "No!" I said, "Nothing like that. Just need to talk with him." Well they did not have the info I needed and it was back to the conference office.

Calling there again, they still refused to give out contact info, which to me is very strange. So, I gave them my number and asked them to call him and give him my number with a request that he call me. They agreed to do that. 

Two days later, I get a call and I am talking to the pastor. I explained the situation and what book I was referring to. It was felt that this book probably went over the heads of most everyone in the congregation and he said to keep the book and enjoy it!

I sort of felt uneasy that we could conclude that most people would not even be able to understand the book. However, I have met a church elder who has serious prejudices against "learned scholars" and all their books and papers they write. Unfortunately, the same elder dismisses anything that anyone has written and concludes that you only need to read the Bible. Unfortunately, not all of his theology is correct and the current disagreement is whether or not there is such a thing as a Holy Spirit. (However, he is a good friend of mine and we do talk spiritual things a lot.)

So, a bit more time and I will put down some thoughts on HBS. It has been quite the read so far.

[Stan]

He is a friend of mine  I was at the award ceremony with him when it was recognized  Gold standard or sow thing by the Evangelical Press it should say in the back cover.

[Gregory Matthews]

That book is of great value.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

Currently, April 16, 2022, Amazon has eight (8) paperback copies of the book on sale for $25.00.  It is well worth that price.

 

,

[Stan]

He might be a registered member here.  I think he w one at one time 

[Kevin H]

It breaks my heart to hear that the pastor felt that the book was over the member's heads. Isn't knowledge of the Bible our job?  I really really feel sad about it. We use to be the people of the book. 

[GHansen]

2 hours ago, Kevin H said:

. We use to be the people of the book. 

Back into the 1970s, we were people of the "red" books. Pastors, evangelists, friends, relatives were all pushing EGW. If it wasn't her, it was Uriah Smith. In a very short time I went from a person with a remarkable personal encounter with Christ to blabbering on about the trumpets, the mark of the beast, the state of the dead. There's one thing that really matters--Christ and Him crucified.

[Kevin H]

37 minutes ago, GHansen said:

Back into the 1970s, we were people of the "red" books. Pastors, evangelists, friends, relatives were all pushing EGW. If it wasn't her, it was Uriah Smith. In a very short time I went from a person with a remarkable personal encounter with Christ to blabbering on about the trumpets, the mark of the beast, the state of the dead. There's one thing that really matters--Christ and Him crucified.

Mrs. White and Willie, as well as people such as Prescott and Daniels talked about how Mrs. White should be understood and used. This was a big part of the 1919 Bible Conference. Sadly in 1922 this truth was rejected. Most Adventists sided with Stephen Haskell's approach to her works (She and he had some very sharp discussions on the topic. Both were frustrated that they could not convince the other to come over to their view, but remained good friends. After she died he continued the discussion with Willie, but he was not as friendly with Willie as he was to Mrs. White. He wanted to marry Mrs. White but she refused. That was wise. I'd hate to have seen how this discussion would have been with Willie if Haskell was his step dad. or how their differences in how to use Mrs. White's writings would have been  if he was her husband). Second and third are too close to call, but one was the view of the leaders who's ideas have developed into the so called "Historic Adventists" and those who wanted to see her as merely a devotional writer. 

These three approaches are still the 3 most popular views in the church. Her views on this topic are rejected. We would have been more balanced and focused on Christ and Him crucified had we followed her view and allow the 1919 Bible Conference to continue. 

And with Uriah Smith, he wrote before Mrs. White got most of her visions and insights on the issues of last day events. It's a shame that again we take Uriah Smith over Mrs. White on this topic. (Even Stephen Haskell pointed out in his book on Daniel that the image has, not 4 parts, but 7 parts) 

[GHansen]

15 minutes ago, Kevin H said:

Even Stephen Haskell 

The more I hear about Stephen Haskell, the more I tend to identify him as one of the great villain's of the church. If it hasn't been done, I hope some scholar will accurately document the harm or good he did to the church

[Kevin H]

He did both good and harm. The most harm was his view of how inspiration works, it is surprising because Mrs. White kept trying to tell him how inspiration worked for her, and he would disagree and try to tell her how inspiration worked. He wanted to take her nearly word for word, except when she would try to tell him how inspiration works. 

[GHansen]

On 4/17/2022 at 6:21 AM, B/W Photodude said:

I sort of felt uneasy that we could conclude that most people would not even be able to understand the book.

Most of us can't even understand the Bible, which if approached without preconceived opinions, prejudice, constraints imposed by what we think EGW said, is not hard to understand. Thinking back on the Bible studies I had, much of the material was designed to convince me that the Bible didn't really mean what was plainly before me.

I was looking at a Puritan book from 1642. I'd hardly read 5 pages when I was so confused, I gave up. It reminded me of some SDA sermons/Bible studies in which the proponent skates all over the Scripture, connecting words and passages that may actually have no legitimate connection. Then there was the teacher trying to force Scripture into a little box she had constructed from EGW. Even people in the congregation started to shout her down. She knew she was out of her depth, admonishing to remember what EGW said. God doesn't dwell in temples made with men's hands. Scripture is not confined to constructs crafted from EGW.

[B/W Photodude]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:47 PM, Kevin H said:

It breaks my heart to hear that the pastor felt that the book was over the member's heads. Isn't knowledge of the Bible our job?  I really really feel sad about it. We use to be the people of the book. 

It may have been my suggestion that he agreed with. And reading the book I still am of that opinion. Bible readership is so low and probably even lower in being read are SOP books. There is a significant lack of interest in seriously studying these days and I see it all around me. I have run into people in sabbath school who have been church members for 50 years at least who did not have an understanding of the book of Revelation. Certain chapters in the book are a challenge. The chapter on Hebrew verbs, even English grammar would be a challenge. And the chapter on logic would leave many behind. I do not wish to leave the impression that even I have a good understanding of the book. It is a challenging book. As I noted in my OP, I have run into people who even have a prejudice against learned individuals and think their study of the Bible is enough. It may be, but then if you read no one else and think your own reading is enough, you do run into the danger of private interpretation.

[B/W Photodude]

Finally done and here is my review:

I would not say I am the best book reviewer and this book is a very complex book to review in the manner of most book reviews I have read. 

Many topics were covered in this book including:
Contextual analysis
Structural analysis
Verbal analysis
Cultural analysis
Theological analysis
Grammer and verbs 
Logic

The author discussed the most accurate versions. He also had a very interesting look at the Gospels including a discussion of the Synoptic Gospels.

There was a very long chapter on informed sources. This chapter was about a 45 page list of ancient documents including books that have been included in the Bible but are now not there and books that never made it into the Bible. What I found interesting in this section was one paper written before the time of the Catholic church and it was about the Trinity. I hear from time to time that the Holy Spirit is a Catholic invention, but I think the Holy Spirit has always been a topic that many cannot seem to understand or believe. I recall that even in Paul's time he was discussing this issue and the response he got was, "We have not even heard of such a thing as the Holy Ghost."

I found the discussion on the Gospel of Mark to be very interesting and I think perhaps it should have been called the Gospel of Peter! Seems that Mark was associated often with Peter and not a witness to the ministry of Jesus. So, there was a bit of conjecture that the source of the material for this gospel was Peter and perhaps (my thought) Peter was really the one who wrote the missing "Q" document that the Synoptic Gospels are thought to have derived their material from.

I have wished that someone has written, and perhaps they actually have, a book on the Christian church from the fall of Jerusalem to Constantine. I have heard many names from those times such as Polycarp and Iraneus. Polycarp and Pothinus of Lyon were said to have been disciples of John and both of them were known by Iraneus. John is said to have died in Ephesus were he lived.

One thing not in the book was much of anything to do with recent or current church issues. It also did not promote any current issues or get involved in which version of the Bible were best to read.

A very interesting book this was and I would read it again in the future.

[phkrause]

One thing I had always heard is that Mark and Luke got most of there info from Matthew, John and Paul??