Opening the Bible

Rating:
Summary: Good primer to the bible
Review: Introduces the Bible as more of a spiritual tool to be used as an encounter with God, rather than a literary work full of facts and suppositions. Reminds us of the purpose of God's Word, as expressed in the Scriptures.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Merton's Classic opens one to the Word and its uses not only in our prayer life, but our daily lives as well. This well written treatise calls one to question their lives and to read God's Word more frequently.

Rating:
Summary: How to Read the Bible!
Review: This book gives an excellent frame of reference with which to read the Bible. Merton clearly addresses what the Bible is and what it is not, what to expect and what not to expect. This book prompts the reader to examine their own life and purposes; it calls on the reader to have a personal relationship with the Word of God. It cautions the reader who reads with a proscribed agenda and begs each individual to set aside their own preconceived ideas and let the Bible speak to them in its own way.

Merton wholehearedly accepts that fact that the Bible can be shocking, boring, questioning, and tedious. But at the same time he doesn't want us to simply disregard that which doesn't make sense to us in one momentary reading. Instead he wants us to accept the Bible in its wholeness even though we may not understand all of it at once.

He further asserts that "the Bible is a 'worldly' book in the sense that it sees God at the very center of man's life, his work, his relations with his fellow man, his love of his wife and children, his play and his joy." He continually reiterates that the central message in the Bible is one of unity, reconciliation and wholeness.

Altogether, this outstanding book can help open your mind and give you a proper frame of reference for reading the Bible.