As a pentecostal Bible College teacher, I’ve been waiting for a book like this for a while. While there are plenty of hermeneutics books on the market, the undergraduate texts lean almost exclusively into historical-critical method. Is there even a role for the Holy Spirit in interpretation? What about the community of faith? Are there ways to read scripture beyond study?

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation answers these questions with a resounding, “yes!” Jacqueline Grey and Paul W. Lewis have created an undergraduate textbook that covers the basics while exploring important topics not always found in undergraduate texts like our own situatedness and the significance of cross-cultural hermeneutics.

Most valuable about this book is its narrative approach to scripture. In a one of the central chapters, “Our Grand Narrative,” Grey and Lewis tell the entire story of the Bible in two pages. I’m eager to use this description in my introductory Bible College courses.

An interesting feature of this book is the artwork. Each chapter begins with a piece of art, curated to engage the students on multiple levels as they think through the content. The aforementioned “Grand Narrative” chapter begins with a stained glass representation of Jesus and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The point, of course, is that Jesus walked these disciples through the entire Bible, showing how it contained a unified story about the messiah who would suffer before his glorification.

The only part of this book that felt a little awkward was the PERSONAL acronym that bookends the volume. When reading scripture personally, the student should:

• Pray
• Evaluate yourself
• Read in context
• Seek meaning
• Observe
• Note
• Apply
• Live and share

While all these points are all important, the acronym felt a little forced. I cannot imagine my undergrads memorizing it.

Sadly, roles at my school have changed and I no longer have the opportunity to teach the introductory hermeneutics course. I if I did, this book would certainly grace the required reading list.

Grey, Jaqueline and Paul W. Lewis. Introduction to Biblical Interpretation: Participating in God’s Story of Redemption. Baker Academic, 2024. Foundations for Spirit-Filled Christianity.