Pastor Andy Deane’s new book teaches you forty different step-by-step Bible study methods to help you discover, apply and enjoy God’s Word. Each practical method has a handwritten example to demonstrate it and make it easy for you to follow the steps. Learn how to study the Bible with so much variety that you’ll never get into the rut that routine brings ever again. Learn to Study the Bible has more Bible study methods than any other book out there!
Here’s the list of 40 methods presented in Andy’s book. Handwritten examples for each method follow a clear, well-organized method description.
Basic Bible Study Methods (simple ways for everyone to study God’s Word
Daily bread
Timothy method
SPEC’S ON
Rethink and restate
Alphabet method
One at a time
Six searches
Exhaustive questions
Five P’s method
Major Bible Study Methods: (time-tested approaches for those who want to go deeper)
Verse-by-verse charting
Chapter overview
Chapter details
Book overview
Book details
Bible characters
Biblical topics
Bible themes
Word studies
Creative Bible Study Methods (interesting methods that add variety to Bible study)
Translation comparison
Messy Bible
Modern issues
Thirty days
Vantage point
Skeptics method
Studying Specific Passages (diverse techniques for studying certain biblical topics)
Royal wisdom
Categorizing Proverbs
Meeting Jesus
Twenty Jesus questions
The commands of Jesus
Truly, truly
Study the biblical types
Study the prayers
Study the miracles
Study the parables
Study the Psalms
Study Methods for Younger Students (basic Bible study methods suitable for teenage students)
The title Longing for God alludes to Augustine’s famous teaching that because we have been made to find fullness of life in God, all our activities in life, even our sinful ones, result from our longing for God. The paths in this book serve to orient us toward God so that we may satisfy this unquenchable longing rather than have it frustrated by inadequate or perverse sources.
In every age, great Christian saints have cultivated their life with God using the writings of Scripture, the theological reflections of others, the capacities of human reason, the cultural resources of the day and the spiritual disciplines. Through their reflections, the great saints witness to the work of the Holy Spirit and, when we study them, guide our spiritual life as well.
Here are the seven paths of Christian devotion with the “great saints” whose works are discussed and quoted under each path:
PATH ONE: THE RIGHT ORDERING OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD
Origen of Alexandria: The Quest for Perpetual Communion with God
Augustine of Hippo: Loving God with Our Body, Mind and Heart
Bernard of Clairvaux: The Desire for God and the Ascent of Pure Love
Blaise Pascal: The Right Ordering of Body, Mind and Heart
PATH TWO: THE SPIRITUAL LIFE AS JOURNEY
Evagrius of Ponticus: From Deadly Thoughts to Godly Virtues
George Herbert: Weaving Life into a Meaningful Whole
John Bunyan: The Pilgrim’s Path to God
Thomas Merton: Finding Our Home with God
PATH THREE: THE RECOVERY OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOD LOST IN THE FALL
Thomas Aquinas: Learning to Love and Know God Fully
Martin Luther: Growing in the Freedom of God’s Love
John Calvin: Knowing God and Knowing Ourselves
PATH FOUR: INTIMACY WITH JESUS CHRIST
Francis of Assisi: The World as Our Cloister
St. Bonaventure: The Fullness of Life in Christ
Thomas a Kempis: Imitating Christ
Ignatius of Loyola: Guided by the Mysteries of Christ
PATH FIVE: THE RIGHT ORDERING OF OUR EXPERIENCES OF GOD
Julian of Norwich: Enfolded in the Goodness of God
George Fox: Learning to Follow the Light of Christ Within
John Wesley: The Role of Our Religious Experiences in Knowing God
Friedrich Schleiermacher: Making Sense of Our Experiences of God
PATH SIX: ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION
John Cassian: Balancing the Active and Contemplative Life
Benedict of Nursia: Learning to Live by a Rule
Gregory the Great: Living the Active Life Contemplatively
PATH SEVEN: DIVINE ASCENT
Pseudo-Dionysius: Loving God Through the Threefold Way
The Cloud of Unknowing: The Sharp Darts of Longing Love
Teresa of Avila: Entering Christ’s Mansion
John of the Cross: Illuminating the Dark Night
Rockbridge Seminary students who have completed the fully online course “Practicing the Spiritual Disciplines” may want to add this book to the course’s optional reading list. For MDiv and MML students who have not taken the course (an elective for both programs), it is usually offered in the January Term each year.
While reading Ed Stetzer’s blog interview with Jared about his book, I was struck by Jared’s response to one of Ed’s interview questions.
Ed:
You survey quite a few false Jesuses from contemporary culture in the Introduction–Grammy Award Speech Jesus, Hippie Jesus, ATM Jesus, etc. Which one do you think is most prevalent in the church right now? And what is the book’s response to it?
Jared:
I don’t have the research resources that you do, so I can’t put a figure on this, but I can tell you that my biggest concern is actually about an Invisible Jesus. Jesus, the Best Supporting Actor. Cameo Appearance Jesus. The “Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain” Jesus.
In way too many churches – just one would be too many, but I know this is a larger problem than that because I have experienced it myself and I hear from many others across the country who have as well – Jesus barely or rarely shows up. He may make an appearance in an illustration or something, but he is not the point of the message. Sometimes his name is never mentioned. Perusing church websites or pastor’s blogs or Twitter feeds, they hardly ever mention him.
It’s bizarre. It’s distressing. But it makes sense given the current state of evangelicalism.
Wow! Something to think about. Is your church hiding Jesus?
One way to track innovative church trends is to read blogs that are written by innovative church leaders. Here is a list suggested by D J Chang of Leadership Network:
You may be interested in Brian McLaren’s perspective on today’s “Calvinists.” Here are excerpts from a recent post he made to his blog:
The terms Calvinist and Reformed can have wildly different meanings, depending on who uses them.
When people tell me they’re Calvinist or Reformed, I generally ask them what they mean. One line of response goes to TULIP (an acronym for five points of a type of deterministic Calvinism) and the Westminster Confession and a list of things they’re against. Folks in this camp seem eager to repeat and redo faithfully in the 21st century exactly what Calvin said and did in the 16th.
The other line of response refers to the Lordship of Christ over all of life, the priesthood of all believers, the absolute importance of God’s grace, and the integration of faith with every dimension of human enterprise … seeming more eager to imitate Calvin’s general example, seeking to translate into our times what Calvin generally sought to do in his times, even when that means disagreeing with specific things Calvin – and many Calvinists – have said and done.
The TULIP/WC group tends to include my most passionate, persistent, and grandiloquent critics. I, of course, am not alone in finding myself in the polemical cross-hairs of these energetic folks who have rightly earned the nick-name “Machen’s warrior children.”
The other kind of Reformed Christians are much more irenic and include many of the wisest and most thoughtful Christians I’ve ever met. A great example of this tribe’s Reformed thinking can be found here. I hope and pray many in the former camp will migrate to the latter camp in the years ahead.
Since discovering Sacred Space (daily prayer online) from Tony Jones’ book The Sacred Way, I’ve found my personal worship helped by following online-directed prayer and worship pathways (but only after some intial skepticism).
That’s why I was particularly interested to learn more about a new online devotional website called Examen.me.
What I found is a personal worship tool that offers more function than Sacred Space- the ability to type devotional thoughts and prayers that can be stored and reviewed later.
“Examens” (prayer and meditation pathways you can choose) are offered for Scripture (Gospel, NT, OT, Psalm), Prayer (prayer of examen, center out prayer), and Journal.
The best review I’ve read of The God I Don’t Understand by Christopher J. H. Wright is from Michael Spencer (IMonk), who says the book contains “first class examinations of some of the most troubling issues and questions that Christians face and ask.” Here are excerpts from the IMonk review:
Wright’s approach is not the traditional apologetic approach of defending the faith or presenting an answer to unbelieving challengers to the faith. He’s quite aware of that dialog, but he’s also very open about the problems these issues cause for Christians. Wright is not selling answers. He deconstructs inadequate answers in each section, an exercise that may perplex some readers who will be annoyed that their favorite shortcut answers are found to be inadequate.
Wright is very willing to live with some unresolved issues in scripture regarding God’s sovereignty and the issues of evil and violence. He does not conclude that the best thing to do is force a reconciliation of issues that aren’t syncing up easily. He wants to hear out all the different parts of what is a Biblical conversation, give weight to all of it and resist turning faith into some form of rationalism.
Wright will stir up some dust with Calvinists of the A.W. Pink variety for his decision to not play “this text trumps that one,” but to listen to all of them and confess that God’s relation to evil and suffering is sometimes beyond our ability to understand. He will also irritate those who consider the extermination of the Canaanites to be a matter which ought not to give any Christian pause, but Wright is aware of how this subject is used by the new atheists. He’s also aware of how troubling the slaughter of women and children is to many Christians. With some rich Old Testament study and a balanced, humbler approach to entire subject of God-commanded violence than some will appreciate, Wright proves to be a solid teacher, more concerned with honoring God in the study of scripture than in playing God by our own arrogant answers.
In the third section, Wright also undertakes a substantial examination of the atonement, particular the critique of some in the emerging church in rejecting the penal substitutionary atonement. Wright shows that some of the emerging critique is helpful, but that many on both sides of the issue get drawn into “either/or” approaches to the issues of the atonement that are not Biblical. Wright creates a solid endorsement of penal substitutionary atonement without perpetuating the usual and predictable back and forth between emerging and reformed views.
I appreciated this book as the kind of topical Bible study we need more of in evangelicalism. Wright’s commitment to the Bible, the mission of the church and the seriousness of the Gospel is obvious, but he does not simply join one of the prevailing shouting matches. He creates a model of fair Bible study and shows how being a judicious, comprehensive scholar devoted to the Bible is far more useful than simply adding another echo chamber or avoidance strategy to the evangelical response to these questions.
The God I Don’t Understand has an excellent resource site, with a complete study guide and a full set of video “warm ups” with Dr. Wright for the entire book. This would be a meaty small group study that would be satisfying to new Christians with serious questions and Christians with a more mature appreciation of the Bible. Those doing pastoral care would especially find the first half of the book useful.
The book is not available on Kindle, so I’m holding off purchasing it for now.
The more Christians reject the biblical claim that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, the more hell will seem unnecessary and unlikely. (Read The Pew Forum report, “Many Americans Say Other Faiths Can Lead to Eternal Life“) How do you preach about the hell of Scripture to a postmodern culture?
Hear Erwin McManus, senior pastor of Mosaic Church (Los Angeles, CA), address postmoderns’ questions about hell. First, a YouTube snippet. Second, a message he preached at Mosaic titled “Is There a Hell?”
Rockbridge Seminary students who have completed the online course “Christian Worldview & Theology” may find Erwin’s approach an interesting addendum to your learning in Unit 7 on how the gospel message can be communicated to a postmodern culture.
Posted by Sam Simmons 
Posted by Sam Simmons 
Posted by Sam Simmons 
One way to track innovative church trends is to read blogs that are written by innovative church leaders. Here is a list suggested by 
