Informed - Destructive Interpretations of Scripture
Informed - Destructive Interpretations of Scripture
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As with the labyrinth of ancient mythology, finding our way can be confusing. Douglas Jacoby and Joseph Harris tackle the most common distortions and misunderstood teachings of the Bible.
- Clergy & Laity - The Most Common False Construct
- Health & Wealth- The Gospel of Materialism
- Signs & Wonders- History and Hysteria
- Fear & Fascination - Futile Speculation
- Rapture & Tribulation - Exiting Earth?
- Predestination & Perseverance - God's Good Pleasure?
- Sex & Pleasure - The Pursuit of Happiness
- Heaven & Hell - Instant Rewards?
- Zion & Palestine - Israel and the Church
- Visions & Dreams - It's All About Me
- Bow & Pray - The New-Fangled Doctrine of 1835
- Gospel Plus - When Guidelines Undermine Scripture
Watch the video review from Malcolm Cox:
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We used this book as midweek lessons and it was helpful to identify where we get trapped in our misunderstanding of doctrine.
Glad to know that.
Joey and I wrote it so that each lesson is short, adaptable for a teaching series.
We're encouraged.
Great book. Very informative and helpful.
Happy you liked the book. It's possible in a couple of years Joey and I will add some chapters (covering a few more unhealthy doctrinal systems). But one step at a time. Thanks for your review. Please consider posting at Amazon and Good Reads, too :-). daj
Informed helps us identify some of the weeds growing in our culture. Douglas and Joseph address current and relevant philosophy . Many of these subtly grow within denominations such as clergy/role or predestination. They teach us about cultural shifts to materialism, and to pleasure. This book truly develops awareness of alarming spiritual issues. However we will be able to “pull weeds” with gentleness and respect.
Happy you like our book. We've tried to approach doctrine from the angle of unhealthy systems of interpretation more than isolated verses—passages that area typically mistaught. You are right, unhealthy ideas are rife in our culture, and these tend to seep into the church.
Doug and Joey offer a fresh way of approaching doctrine that begins with understanding that "doctrine" means instruction on how to live more than teaching on the intricacies of one group's theology. If we are ever to live out Jesus' teaching on unity, it will have to start with emphasizing what we have in common with other Christians -- our belief that Jesus is the Messiah and that our lives are to reflect his teachings more than our words. Then, as we approach each theological topic, we can focus on how poor theology leads us away from following Jesus rather than just arguing that our understanding is the correct one. This book is a great first step in that direction. May we all become more gracious in how we approach our differences and work to build unity with other believers based on our common "doctrines"!
This is one of those books you want to keep on your bookshelf so you can come back to it and reference topics when you or someone you know has a question. It's also one of those books you want to give people and point people to when they have their own questions.
The book is punchy, clear and contains enough information to give a well–rounded picture of an issue without going into extraneous detail.
As Lamb points out, "we come to a text informed by a tradition of reading and interpretation. All of this informs and shapes our own reading and interpretation." (Lamb, William R S. Scripture: A Guide for the Perplexed. Bloomsbury Publishing) We are already informed and shaped by our background, our culture and our context in general. Occasionally we need authors like Douglas and Joey who can show us where we might be unintentionally misinformed.
I published a podcast (https://www.malcolmcox.org/informed-douglas-jacoby-and-joey-harris/) and Youtube review of the book (https://youtu.be/MoLIQN2SX80) back in 2019. You can find more of my thoughts there.