Making God’s Word Accessible: Hermeneutics and The Theological Book Club
This Viewpoint blog post is a companion to the March 31 episode of the Theologically Speaking podcast featuring BJU Seminary Professor Andreas Köstenberger and hosted by Dr. Ken Casillas, Professor and editor of the Seminary’s Journal of Biblical Theology and Worldview.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Believers have the opportunity to be part of a “theological book club,” immersing themselves in the Word and related resources in order to handle Scripture accurately.
- The key to accurately handling Scripture is sound interpretation, a discipline called hermeneutics. BJU Seminary trains its doctoral students in this discipline through a book club/community learning approach in which they read and then discuss the most influential works on the topic.
- A sound hermeneutical approach focuses first on the author’s intent (the ultimate Author being God), then the text (historical and cultural background, literary structure and theology) and ultimately on the reader and his/her ability to draw out timeless truths.
- Two new works by Andreas apply interpretational principles to instruct ministry workers and other believers on the appropriate complementarian approach to male/female roles in the family and church and to confirm the four canonical Gospels and draw out the real Jesus from their texts (linked in Resources below).
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Critical to BJU Seminary’s “value proposition” to seminarians—and the conservative Christian community as a whole—is “accessibility.”
And one approach to making the Word accessible to everyone from seasoned ministers to sincere seekers is to appropriate a longtime cultural marker now back in fashion: a “theological book club.”
The Starting Point: “Hurrying” to God’s Word
The #1 book in this Club for all believers is, of course, the Bible. Every Christian has a serious responsibility—and privilege—both to spend time in and to properly understand and share the truths of Scripture, as underscored in 2 Timothy 2:15:
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The Greek word rendered “study”—spoudazō—actually means to hurry or make intense effort. That intensity stems from the primary importance of Scripture in preaching and teaching, but also in life application.
The concept of “presenting ourselves approved by God” has a sacrificial undertone, of giving oneself fully to the “work.” And not being “ashamed” implies accountability to accurately handle—(orthotomeō)—literally make a straight cut and thereby to dissect correctly—the true Word of God.
The failure to apply such self-sacrificing diligence and submission to the Word explains much of the false teaching and practice even in Christ’s Body today.
The good news: prodigious resources are available to help individuals at all levels of maturity to engage in this task. Our theological book club seeks not only to present, draw from and sift truth from these helps, but also to humbly add to the corpus.
Hermeneutics: Principles of Accurate Interpretation
Key to accurately handling Scripture is applying sound approaches to interpretation, a discipline called hermeneutics. And the “book club” approach undergirds the format of the Seminary’s rigorous doctoral studies in this field, led by Andreas in “modular” form.
Students learn best in community, and that’s especially true when the students and theologians participating have so much to add from their previous studies and real-world experience. After engaging in six weeks of extensive distance study of the field’s most influential books, the seminarians come together for their book club in guided, in-depth, “iron-sharpens-iron” discussions, sharing insights and working through disagreements with the authors of the books they read.
These influential books can include non-Christian authors whose insights help establish fundamental principles, such as E. D. Hirsch and his Validity in Interpretation. This former University of Virginia humanities professor properly focuses on authorial intent—the starting point in arriving at a valid interpretation of a given text.
Authorial intent is especially critical in interpreting Scripture because its Author is none other than God, using human writers “carried along” by the Holy Spirit. Taking 1 Corinthians as an example, it’s no surprise that Paul, the first-century missionary, aligned with the missionary God’s resolve to get the Corinthians past petty divisions over flamboyant preachers, as well as improper practices, in order to preach Christ crucified.
A proper hermeneutical approach next focuses on the text:
- Historical and cultural background (Corinth as a wealthy seaport given to shocking sexual excess)
- Literary structure (six chapters on divisions followed by an extended “Q&A” for Paul), and
- Theology (focused again on the cross, culminating in a rich doctrinal presentation of the Resurrection’s centrality to our faith).
The final hermeneutical element considers the reader—our 21st-century theological book club—and our ability to draw out from the historical and cultural context the unchanging truths that the ultimate author, God, intends us to receive and relate to our own beliefs and experience.
A Hermeneutical Approach to Male-Female Roles in the Family and Church
Which brings us to a second audience and issue Andreas is seeking to address—and which 1 Corinthians also deals with in both chapters 7 and 11: a proper complementarian approach to the roles of, and relationships among, men and women in the church and family. A complementarian interpretation of Scripture holds that God’s creation purpose for man and woman entails equality of individual value but also distinct roles.
“Male and female” is a foundational concept from the first chapters of Genesis, and for which biblical principles do not change despite being established in different historical and cultural contexts. These principles include:
- Men’s responsibility to lead in marriage and the family, as well as in the church as God’s family
- God’s purpose for marriage as a lifelong, faithful, intimate union between one man and one woman; and
- Parents work to equip children both by example and by instruction.
Yet the culture has moved in a contrary, confused direction: pursuing leadership roles for women; same-sex “marriage”; transgenderism; and more recently, women increasingly abandoning marriage as a life choice.
Moreover, in training future pastors, Andreas has found that many came from dysfunctional families and need sound guidance on spiritual leadership at home to prevent marital and parenting issues from hindering effective ministry.
It’s why Andreas and his wife Marny are now adding to the theological book club by embarking on the third edition of their book God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation.This updated version, slated for publication in late 2026, is intended to provide a thoroughly Bible-based, hermeneutically sound resource for current and potential couples in facing current cultural challenges to sustaining a lifelong relationship and raising godly children.
Finding the Real Jesus in the True Gospels
A third audience for our theological book club is young believers and even unbelievers who have been exposed in our culture to false, misleading depictions of Jesus—if the latter are aware of Him at all—along with the fallacy of alternative Gospels.
The truth: the four canonical Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—have no rivals as witnesses to Jesus, His ministry and His message. Andreas has demonstrated this in a just-released book on the subject—Introducing Jesus: The Fourfold Gospel.
The book takes a hermeneutically sound look at key questions to make these works and their subject accessible to young believers and seekers:
- Author: What did each Gospel writer intend to convey about Jesus?
- Text: What historical backgrounds help us understand Jesus better? Theologically, what aspects of Jesus’s life and teaching do the Gospels emphasize?
- Reader: What does Jesus mean to people living today?
RESOURCES:
- Information on BJU Seminary’s PhD Program in Theological Studies
- By Andreas Köstenberger
