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Confident: Why we can trust the Bible
Let's face some uncomfortable many Christians can struggle with exactly the same issues about the Bible as their non-Christian friends. Is God in control? Can he be trusted? Is he moral? Does he care and can he speak into my life and my struggles? Daniel Strange and Michael Ovey set out how we can we place our complete trust in Scripture, challenging both Christian's and those outside the church.
160 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2015
5 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Strange
21 books13 followersDaniel Strange was born in 1974 to British and Guyanese parents. After studying theology and religious studies at Bristol University, he completed his doctoral work on the theology of religions under Prof. Gavin D'Costa. From 2000-2005 he was Co-ordinator for the Religious and Theological Studies Fellowship, part of UCCF. He joined the faculty of Oak Hill Theological College, London as Tutor in Culture, Religion and Public Theology in 2005. In 2018 he became the Director of Oak Hill. His book, Their Rock is Not Like Our Rock, received an Award of Merit for Theology/Ethics in Christianity Today's 2016 Book Awards. Dan is a Contributing Editor for Themelios. He is married to Elly, has seven children and serves an Elder at East Finchley Baptist Church. He regularly suffers as a season ticket holder at West Ham United.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 1, 2018
A solid book on why Scripture can be trusted. It will stimulate loads of questions. It would be good for a church book club.
July 13, 2017
A very nice little book. Surprisingly good, given its size, and it's well-structured. I particularly appreciated how Dan Strange and (the late) Mike Ovey uncovered the real issue that lies behind disputes over Scripture: namely, Christology (the person of Christ). They didn't say this, but one implication is that, whether dealing with Islam, liberal Christianity, or JWs, disagreements about scripture ultimate boil down to Christological disagreements.
Another strength was the emphasis on God's the character as a Speaker, and the implications that has for scripture. These things flow together to yield a more relational and Christocentric doctrine of Scripture.
That said, I can't help feel that their theology of the Word would be enriched by insights from Luther, or more recently from Kevin Vanhoozer or from Michael Horton. This is a consequence of their dependence on John Frame, who has always disappointed me as a theologian, and their overemphasis of a particular brand of presuppositional apologetics at the expense of some more historical apologetics. They recommend Blomberg's tome at the end, but don't make use of it all in the book. For that reason, the second half of the book seems more valuable than the first half. I'd still recommend it, though!
Another strength was the emphasis on God's the character as a Speaker, and the implications that has for scripture. These things flow together to yield a more relational and Christocentric doctrine of Scripture.
That said, I can't help feel that their theology of the Word would be enriched by insights from Luther, or more recently from Kevin Vanhoozer or from Michael Horton. This is a consequence of their dependence on John Frame, who has always disappointed me as a theologian, and their overemphasis of a particular brand of presuppositional apologetics at the expense of some more historical apologetics. They recommend Blomberg's tome at the end, but don't make use of it all in the book. For that reason, the second half of the book seems more valuable than the first half. I'd still recommend it, though!
December 28, 2022
* A good book on the reliability of the bible
* Splits it into two sections. A word for them and a word for us dealing with unbelievers objections and where believers might struggle with the bible
* The bible can be strange to unbelievers and they may simply not know the basics
* Shows us how Jesus trays God’s word and hence how we should treat it
* As the authorities word of God. The top authority which no human author is above
* A good illustration of a junior academic and a senior academic and how the bible was written. Junior acedenmic is the human authors the senior academic is God. Has a a better view
* God has a perfect view of everything which we don’t
* A perfect mess. The bible shows the messiness of life and what the bible says and also how it was put to gather
* How the bible is at the heart and has shaped western culture
* Having suspicious minds which is good in evaluating human writing but is problematic in assessing God’s word as it is perfect.
* This is seeped into our culture though having suspicion minds on what an individual says or writes so we go to the bible with that suspicion
* We have to interpret the bible rightly
* Splits it into two sections. A word for them and a word for us dealing with unbelievers objections and where believers might struggle with the bible
* The bible can be strange to unbelievers and they may simply not know the basics
* Shows us how Jesus trays God’s word and hence how we should treat it
* As the authorities word of God. The top authority which no human author is above
* A good illustration of a junior academic and a senior academic and how the bible was written. Junior acedenmic is the human authors the senior academic is God. Has a a better view
* God has a perfect view of everything which we don’t
* A perfect mess. The bible shows the messiness of life and what the bible says and also how it was put to gather
* How the bible is at the heart and has shaped western culture
* Having suspicious minds which is good in evaluating human writing but is problematic in assessing God’s word as it is perfect.
* This is seeped into our culture though having suspicion minds on what an individual says or writes so we go to the bible with that suspicion
* We have to interpret the bible rightly
January 12, 2022
A book that’s written to give you confidence in the Bible. The authors have clearly tried to make it accessible to many and it holds two main aims: 1) Confidence to outsiders + 2) Confidence to insiders.
Their main starting block is that those inside and outside of the church are far more biblically illiterate than previous generations and you need to take a step back. Helpful, clear and well communicated. Maybe having read a fair bit around the subject there’s a lot that isn’t there but at the same time they had a clear audience and they communicated well to them. A helpful primer on the subject and the discussion questions at the end of chapters lend to a Small Group study.
Their main starting block is that those inside and outside of the church are far more biblically illiterate than previous generations and you need to take a step back. Helpful, clear and well communicated. Maybe having read a fair bit around the subject there’s a lot that isn’t there but at the same time they had a clear audience and they communicated well to them. A helpful primer on the subject and the discussion questions at the end of chapters lend to a Small Group study.
May 12, 2025
Can we trust the Bible? TL;DR: Yes.
In this book, Strange and Ovey approach the question from two perspectives. The first is "A Word for Them", helping the reader think about how we can respond to non-believers who question the Bible's authority. This was the most helpful part of the book. The second section is "A Word for Us," showing how Jesus treats the Bible and, by extension, how we should treat it. This section was not engaging as the first.
In this book, Strange and Ovey approach the question from two perspectives. The first is "A Word for Them", helping the reader think about how we can respond to non-believers who question the Bible's authority. This was the most helpful part of the book. The second section is "A Word for Us," showing how Jesus treats the Bible and, by extension, how we should treat it. This section was not engaging as the first.
September 25, 2022
If you are looking for a book which teaches you why the Bible is credible from a practical and historical perspective, this is not the book you’re looking for. It’s a thoughtful book and well intended, but not something I’d recommend.
May 30, 2016
A helpful little book looking at various aspects of the reasonableness and authority of the Bible. It makes several good points and could be useful to many people in addressing some of the concerns that are raised about the Bible. However, I personally found it disappointing because it didn't address the kinds of issues that my friends tend to bring up - the (possibly more intellectual) challenges around the Bible's historical reliability and feasibility, accuracy and coherency, as well as questions about canon. For example, it argues that Jesus held Scripture as being the word of God, but Jesus was only referring to the Old Testament. By extrapolating this to the New Testament without further explanation, the book weakens its argument.
December 2, 2015
Stimulating thinking about how we can trust what the Bible says. It rattles along quite nicely and is easy to digest.
May 1, 2017
Short but Punchy
A short but punchy book that provides readers thoughtful reasons for accepting the Bible as the authoritative word of God. Many of its subjects are treated thinly, but the sections on God, Jesus, and the implications for the Bible were helpful and fascinating.
A short but punchy book that provides readers thoughtful reasons for accepting the Bible as the authoritative word of God. Many of its subjects are treated thinly, but the sections on God, Jesus, and the implications for the Bible were helpful and fascinating.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews