Does the Bible Tell Me So?

Reviews / Votes

With this book as their guide, readers-whether in local parishes or university classrooms-will be able to uncover a message of love and inclusion in even in the most difficult and contentious of topics. * Reading Religion * Ralph addresses a clutch of compelling questions in the context of the Bible. . . Ralph finds evidence for her conclusions in the context of literary form; the beliefs at the time of the original author and audience; and the 2000-year process of ongoing revelation that is modeled in Scripture. Her thoughtful book will be of interest to contextualists, fundamentalists, and seekers of every persuasion. * Booklist * All Christians know that reading the Bible is important, but not many of us know how to do it. We pick and choose verses, post them on our social media, and use them to reinforce what we already believe. If scripture is to be a prophetic and transforming text for our age, we've got to learn to read in context-in the perspective of the literary form, the setting of ancient culture, the situation of the author's world view, and the framework of God's whole revelation. Explore the most hotly-contested biblical issues in our day by letting Margaret Nutting Ralph help you determine whether or not the Bible tells you so. -- Stephen J. Binz, founder, Bridge-B.com The concept and approach of this book are brilliant. In a clear, logical manner, Margaret Nutting Ralph makes a compelling case for reading scripture in context and cautioning the reader from discerning messages in scripture that were never intended. In doing so, she empowers the reader to discern rich meaning from scripture that she or he may have missed otherwise. -- Leif Kehrwald, general editor, The Catholic Faith and Family Bible, Harper Catholic Bibles Margaret Nutting Ralph is an excellent pedagogue who has the uncanny ability to help believers to appreciate both the importance and the limitations of scripture for Christian living today. -- Charles E. Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values, Southern Methodist University Ralph's a fixture in Central Kentucky's Roman Catholic community and formerly served as a long-time academic at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she directed the seminary's Catholic studies program.
Her dozen-and-a-half books, most or all of which are about the Bible, have been translated into multiple foreign languages. Several of her volumes remain fixtures on my own bookshelf. The concept of Does the Bible Tell Me So? is engaging. Ralph takes 11 controversial issues on which people often trot out the Scriptures to prove their point, and then discusses what the Bible actually says, and doesn't, about those matters. * Lexington Herald-Leader * This book may be a place to begin the study of some of the more problematic issues of belief and practice confronting believers today. * The Bible Today *