Journey into God's Word: Your Guide to Understanding and Applying the Bible

by J. Scott Duvall, J. Daniel Hays

Life is a journey, and like any journey, it requires an accurate, reliable roadmap to get us where we need to go. God has provided such a guide in his Word. But just as a navigator needs to learn how to interpret all the contours and symbols of a map, so also we need to be able to understand how the Bible communicates its directions to us. Journey Into God’s Word helps Bible readers acquire these skills and become better at reading, interpreting, and applying the Bible to life. This abridgment of the bestselling college/seminary textbook Grasping God’s Word takes the proven principles from that book and makes them accessible to people in the church. It starts with general principles of interpretation, then moves on to apply those principles to specific genres and contexts. Hands-on exercises guide readers through the interpretation process, with an emphasis on real-life application.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, School, Religion, Christian Non Fiction, Biblical

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2008

About the author

J. Scott Duvall (PhD. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament at Ouachita Baptist University. He is the coauthor with George H. Guthrie of Biblical Greek Exegesis: A Graded Approach to Learning Intermediate and Advanced Greek and with Terry G. Carter and J. Daniel Hays of the textbook Preaching God's Word: A Hands on Approach to Preparing, Developing and Delivering the Sermon.

Reviews

[Emily Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great review on basic hermeneutical principles.

[Patrick Lacson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource for beginning Bible students (it's a much smaller work to their fuller treatment on hermeneutics called Grasping God's Word). If you are confused about how to determine meaning from texts, how to understand and trace an argument by a Bible author, this book will help you. They employ what they call the Journey Method which is done in four steps:

1) Go to their town
2) Measure the river to cross
3) Cross the principalizing bridge
4) Apply it in our town

What I like about this book is that it forces you to become an active reader of the Bible. Often we are passive readers and expect reading our Bibles as something easy and straightforward. Most Americans (including Evangelical American Christians) don't know how to read. Most struggle to have a sustained level of concentration when reading and skip over so many helpful clues that authors employ to communicate their intended meaning.

There are weaknesses in the book
- An absence of reliance upon the Holy Spirit in prayer.
- An absence of the role of illumination (understanding)
- Genre causes one to change their hermeneutical approach (e.g. approach changes in their method for the book of Revelation)

But the strengths of the book far outweigh those weaknesses.
- Authorial Intent
- Literal/Historical Context
- Contextualizing (don't have a heart attack by that word) in order to form specific application
- Lots of examples of the Journey Method in each genre
- A very short book for the average reader. High school students and above would enjoy this book

If you're a Christian get this book! You will understand the Word of God and know the God of the Word.

[Danette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duvall and Hays teach a system of Bible study they call the Interpretive Journey.
1. Grasp the text in their town - what did the passage mean to the Biblical audience?
2. Measure the width of the river to cross - what are the differences between the biblical audience and us?
3. Cross the principlizing bridge - what is the theological principle in this text?
4. Grasp the text in our town - how should Christians today apply the theological principle in their lives?
There are assignments at the end of each chapter to guide you through practicing the steps.
I didn't do these assignments since we were working together in our Hermeneutics class.

A great tool to learn how to study and apply the Bible faithfully.

2019 - A book recommended by your pastor or church leader

[Charity Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this with my discipleship group & it is definitely a book I will recommend for someone who is just starting out their walk with the Lord. Both authors dive into HOW to read + interpret the Bible with the correct lens. 👍🏼 for me personally it was just a good reminder but it didn’t capture my full attention while reading - tis why I gave 2 stars.

[Ellie Danker · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5✨

I started this for VST earlier this year and finally got around to finishing it :) very informative and concise! The first half was definitely my favorite; the second half went over each different type of book of the Bible (prophets, psalms, gospels, etc), which was certainly helpful, just redundant at times. Overall a great read to finish out my reading goal this year!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good resource for someone that wants to begin to dig deeper into The Word.

[Brady Chubb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of helpful information and good reminders. Accessible and concise. Would recommend to somebody who is trying to deepen their understanding of gods word.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read and worked through the book with our youth group one chapter a week (still have a couple more to go, but I wanted to finish out the last few chapters early).

Simply put, Duvall and Hays were successful in what they sought to accomplish. It is a great starting point (for anyone) on how to better read, study, and interpret the Bible.

My only complaint is that a couple of the chapters spent more time focusing on the interpretive journey with one passage (such as the Psalms) but didn’t spend more time discussing how to better understand and interpret them. All in all, a great and worthwhile companion read to Grasping God’s Word!

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been searching specifically for a book that can be used in a local church setting to teach basic biblical hermeneutics to a
small but motivated class. As such, I wanted that book to be accessible but challenging, short-ish, and include lessons that require some degree of interaction on the part of the reader (i.e. Not just "here's how to do it" but also "now it's your turn to try"). After exploring several options that fell far short, I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. This is a phenomenal book! I will soon be encouraging the church I serve to invest in a case.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.7)

As my church encourages everyone to exegete the Bible regularly, I was already familiar with the process but this was a really great refresher for me. I also recommend this if you want to learn how to exegete. (The last chapters also give more advice on the exegetical process for the different genres found in the Bible.)

Used with the Liberty University Online ICE Exam: Survey of Biblical Literature.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Very good. One of the better books available for average Christians on Bible study. Definitely a book I'll want to read and refer to again (& again) in the hope of putting as much possible into practice, along with Precept's "How To Study Your Bible."
Challies' 2016 Reading Challenge #57 a book used as a Seminary textbook (or at least it's an abridgement of a Seminary textbook)

[Jill S. Mongold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now let's see if I can put this into practice

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really helpful and informative book to aid in translation and deeper analysis. Easy to read, with quite a practical approach that could be applied by most.

[Milinda Yount · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked Journey into God's Word. It is complementary with the Precept Bible study principles I've known for a long time with more focus on context, interpretation and how to handle the difference between the original audience and contemporary Christians. It was also a good follow up to Women of the Word (Jen Wilkin) that I read last year. It is written for believers who want to intentionally study the Bible; there are better books for those who are skeptics or still seeking God.

This is an abridged version of the material in a textbook called Grasping God’s Word that is custom-made for the local church. The writing style is easy to read and understand. Each chapter has discussion questions and writing assignments such that the book could be taught as an eight-week course.

[Fitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Game changer

Journey into God’s Word has revolutionized how I study the Bible. The steps took some time to understand, but after a lot of practice, it became second nature. I highly recommend this book.

[Peter Kiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Approachable and basic book for beginning the study of hermeneutics. Surprisingly good for how short it is, and I can tell the author tries to represent position he may disagee with fairly which I appreciated.

[Bob Buice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Textbook for a course. Not sufficiently scholarly. Too much like a fundamentalist Sunday school text.

[Alejandra Jara · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Muy buen libro! Excelente para estudiantes que están comenzando con el estudio bíblico. ¡Sencillo y práctico!

[Michael Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The central metaphor is helpful, and the OT chapters are especially helpful.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly helpful little book. Every Christian should read it!

[Carmi Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book providing insight into interpreting scripture. I am more confident about reading and understanding my Bible. I know I will use this book as a reference and reminder going forward.

[Helena Harned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fast reading with discussion questions and writing assignments at the end of each chapter. Daunting to my lazy side, but their "interpretive journey" - 5 steps for appropriately engaging with a Biblical passage seems like a good study tool.

[Veda Sorrells]

Another book for class, for very informative.

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good even thougg i had to read it for a class