Wrestling with Biblical Studies?

Do you wrestle with studying God's word and preparing to preach?

Check out Andy Neselli's review of D.A. Carson's essay,  “The Trials of Biblical Studies” from
The Trials of Theology: Becoming a “Proven Worker” in a Dangerous Business (ed. Andrew J. B. Cameron and Brian S. Rosner; Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2010).

It look's like this is another very beneficial resource from our friend Dr. Carson.

Here are 2 of the five points Carson addresses followed by Andy's bulleted summaries. (You can read the whole review here.)

3. Five facets of pride

• Your desire to be admired and recognized is dangerous.
• The sheer joy you find in your work does not make you spiritually superior to people who work in other disciplines.
• Your academic specialty in an area of biblical studies does not make you a superior pastor.
• Knowing more about the Bible than most people you serve does not make you a superior person.
• You may experience inverted pride (i.e., being threatened because you are insecure and jealous) if successful professionals in secular work think lightly of your job.

4. Pressures to manipulate Scripture

• Avoid the pressure from the right: safe exegesis that reinforces your confessional group.
• Avoid the pressure from the left: clever exegesis that makes you academically respectable.
• Avoid the nonconformist pressure to reach independent conclusions on nearly everything.
• Avoid the pressure to so focus on the history of interpretation that you never decide anything.
• Instead, genuinely and patiently listen to the text with integrity.