The Christian Approach to the Bible

by Dom Celestin Charlier

298 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about what the Bible is, how it developed historically, and what approaches should be used to read/interpret it. It stays on a very general track, not giving any specific interpretations but pointing out for instance the Semitic mentality of much of the bible's writings and how different that is from the Greek mentality that we in the west are so used to. Dom Charlier is very critical of attitudes towards the Bible that do not take into account the specific voice of the people who wrote it, their historical times, and the unique role of inspiration. This is a very scholarly work which is well written and contains much useful information for anyone wanting to know how to approach the Bible. However, it is too academic and fails to inspire. Any book about the word of God should inspire one to imitate Christ not imitate a theologian or Greek scholar. Much of what he writes was probably groundbreaking in 1957. It is much less so in 2023. If anything, I've been fed a diet of the historical critical method since my high school days in the 80s. It didn't inspire then; it doesn't now.