Customer Reviews

Making Senses Out of Scripture: Reading the Bible as the First Christians Did

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I echo the words of a previous reviewer: this is a "fun" read. Not only is Shea bright and funny, but the tools with which he equips you in this book (almost without you even knowing it) will stay with you forever, and drastically change the way you read the bible.

Borrowing from the wisdom of the early Church Fathers, Shea shows us how to read the bible with a new pair of eyes, eyes that will penetrate deeper and deeper into these all-too-familiar texts.

As a newcomer to Catholicism, I've been absolutely reveling in this revolutionary (if something 2,000 years old can be called such) way of reading Scripture. I've begun to host bible studies using this method, and the attendents are loving it! I had one girl say, "I've never read the bible like this - this changes everything."

Let Shea introduce you to the early Christians, and let him show you how to read and learn the bible.

Building on the success of his earlier works, Mark Shea has written yet another easy- and enjoyable-to-read work that sheds light on the faith.

Shea teaches the reader the art of looking at Scripture in the way that the Apostles did. While Shea draws upon Old and New Testament resources and the riches of the Catholic faith, Shea's style of writing makes it easy for non-theologians to learn what he has learned.

Readers will come away from this book able to look at everything from Genesis to Revelation with newly opened eyes.

This is the second of Mark Shea's books that I've read (the first being "By What Authority? An Evangelical Discovers Catholic Tradition," which I loved even though I'm not now and have never been an evangelical)--and I can attest that his relaxed style, witty approach and--most important--breadth of knowledge of his subject shine through once again. This is a fun read! And yet it's also a serious overview, consistent with the Catechism's remarks on how to read Scripture and chock full of turns of phrase that both delight and make one say "Of course!" I highly recommend it.

What a wonderful book! Every Christian should read it! If you're a Bible reader, you'll love his down to earth, witty insights. If you're leery about opening up the Bible (language is too difficult, too deep, etc.) this book makes you want to take your Bible off the shelf dust it off and dive in.

Everyone from high schooler up will learn and enjoy!

Thank you Mark Shea and keep your books coming!

Mark Shea gives us a very excellent method for reading the Bible. This book also contains an easy to understand, simplified explaination of the six covenants God has made with man through the ages. It really makes the Old Testament easy to understand and relevant.

It may seem odd that the Bible would be a point of contention for Christians since it is usually the one thing they agree upon. Yet with the proliferation of churches and movements within churches has come a proliferation of methodologies for Scriptural interpretation. Various Christian and pseudo-Christian groups devise whole theologies at variance with the historic position of the Church by applying moderninst and post-modernist assumptions to the study of the ancient Biblical texts. Usually they end up telling us more about themselves than God.

Into this morass steps Catholic apologist Mark Shea with a "new" way of looking at the Bible. His new way presented in Making Senses Out of Scripture is to go back to the old way and use the interpretive structure of the earliest Christians. Of course, one may see an ulterior motive in this by guessing that Mr. Shea believes this will place the Catholic position in a favorable light. This is likely the case but there is nothing here that other Christians should find objectionable. If indeed they believe the exegesis of the early Christians would result in Catholic belief, it suggests, to borrown from Shakespeare, that they doth protest too much.

Shea's study is divided into two parts. The first outlines the progressive revelation of Jesus Christ throughout salvation history in the covenants God made with His people. The key here is that the revelation becomes clearer through time and comes into its fullness in the New Testament. Those who attempt to interpret the Old Testament in itself without seeing how it points to and is fulfilled in the New Testament will inevitably result in faulty exegesis.

The second part of the book examines the four senses in which scripture can be understood: literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical. Each of these has its strengths and the application of each must be understood and applied within the parameters of the specific literary genre. We should not read an apocalyptic books like Daniel and Revelation in the same manner as the Gospels.

One of the great strengths of this book is that Shea takes topics normally covered within more academic studies of the New Testament and makes them accessible to a general audience. The layman need not fear either drowning in a sea of theological jargon or being subjected to the latest trendy challenges to their faith that rise and fall in academic circles.

Overall, Making Senses Out of Scripture is one of the best popular works on scriptural exegesis. Shea succeeds in his purpose of making sense by utiliaing the common sense of the earliest Christian writers. As a study tool for private use and as preparation for leading a group in the study of the Holy Scriptures, it is essential reading.

This book is the only one I know of that presents the sense of scripture in detail on a popular apologetics level, and for that reason, it is a must read for Catholics. Shea unravels the different levels of scripture that we as Catholics must keep in mind when reading the bible.

Shea makes some very clever observations. For example, points out towards the beginning of the book how many people these days say that there is nothing special about humans. Humans are just more evolved animals, and nothing special- a pig is a rat is a boy is a dog. A little bit later, Shea discusses the "conflict" between fundamentalist interpretation of Genesis vs. "scientific" interpretation of Genesis. He argues that we interpret Genesis from a 21st (or 20th) century point of view. He then mentions how the modern skeptic will mock the fact that God was trying to "partner" Adam with all the animals; that no animal was fit for Adam. Did God really think a porcupine would be a suitable partner for Adam? But here is where Shea makes a great insight; pointing out that this is a silly thing for God to do is PRECISELY the point of the Genesis narrative. During the time Genesis was written, people told truths not through philosophical reasoning. but through stories with a message. The message was exactly to illustrate that God made man FUNDAMENTALLY different than animals and that man could find no joy with an animal.

The first part of the book goes through salvation history; specifically the 6 covenants from Adam to Jesus and how they are made. While this is very important stuff and crucial to the book as a whole, it is fairly standard. However, it is the second half of the book that is not usually discussed in great detail in other Catholic books. This is where Shea spends a whole chapter on each of the senses of scripture. As far as I know, this is the only lay-level apologetics book that goes into great detail concerning the 4 senses. There are many excellent and insightful points that Shea makes. For example, the chapter on the allegorical sense of scripture points out that the Old Testament prophesies of Jesus aren't "obvious." They aren't simply a check-list that any first century Jew should have been able to identify and see if Jesus fulfilled them or not, as we so often see in many apologetics books these days. The prophesies of Jesus almost have to be read anachronistically. Unfortunately, atheists like John Loftus have noticed that a proper reading of the Old Testament doesn't lend itself to obvious Messianic interpretations and points it out in books like "Why I Became an Atheist." So it must be said that prophesies which we now know are about Jesus should not be thought of as "obviously about the Messiah to the mind of a first century Jew." This is a very important point, and I'm glad Shea mentions it in the chapter on the allegorical sense of scripture. Of course, the other chapters on the senses of scripture are very good as well, complete with many examples, but this chapter specifically stuck out in my mind as having made a particularly important point.

The book is a fairly quick and easy read. As I've mentioned twice already, this book is important for the Catholic to own and understand because of its uniqueness among the literature. Catholics needing to understand their bible can not be emphasized enough. This book is a great way to continue that process of understanding.

My small group study focused on this book for about the last 8-10 weeks, and we found it very easy to read, yet very thought- and discussion-provoking! Mr. Shea has a wonderful style of prose that we all appreciated very much! Would heartily endorse this title for anyone wanting to learn a bit more about how the bible was originally intended to be read.

Shea writes primarily for Protestants considering conversion to Catholicism - this book is no exception. The book itself is divided into two parts: 1 provides a history of salvation as presented through the six covenants (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Christ) 2 provides an introduction to the traditional four senses of Scripture (literal, allelgorical, moral and anagogical). The material is presented in a deliberately casual manner. At times the language is delightful and effective ("Bullwinkle syndrome"), at other times it approximately the padding of oral speech, occasionally it verges on an insult to the readers' intelligence. Put another way, Shea knows the audience that he intends to reach and writes specifically for them.

For this same reason, the book contains comparatively little detail on its subject. Rather, it presents a commonsense argument for the validity of the approach, building the case in small increments few could deny and providing multiple instances to support each incremental argument. This approach works well for individuals with little knowledge of the Bible or with a bias against the traditional form of interpretation.

In short, Shea does an excellent job of reaching a very specific audience. If you fall within that audience, I recommend the book. If you do not, there are more informative texts available.

this is my all time favorite book on scripture. after reading you'll wonder why this is'nt manditory for all christians to read. I will never look at the bible in the same way again.