Summary: Taking as starting points the questions of What is the bible, What sort of truth does it contain, and How it is to be used, Wright details several of the ways the bible has been read while both making a case for how it should be read and giving an example by means of a passage from the book of Isaiah. Wright says that there are two common traps in reading the bible. Often people only read the bible in a devotional way by seeking a piece of wisdom or a word of God for that particular day. Others might make the mistake of reading it as a proof-text — thinking of the bible as a jigsaw puzzle of theological propositions that need to be pieced together into a whole. Neither is entirely wrong, says Wright, but these ways of reading need to be done in a context of reading the bible as both a story and as a symbol. Using Isaiah 40-55, Wright concludes by showing how reading the bible as both story and symbol illuminates the theme of redemption from exile and points the way to Christ.

Topics: Truth