Encountering the Living Word:
Relational Inductive Bible Study
The Bible is studied best prayerfully and inductively. In this book, believers are encouraged to make Bible study a time of communion with God. In Encountering the Living Word, the authors introduce an approach to inductive Bible study that takes seriously the Bible's twin nature as the living Word of God and inspired Christian literature. They call this approach Relational Inductive Bible Study (RIBS). In brief, RIBS aims to guide people into personal encounters with the Word of God through an inductive approach to Bible study.
Inductive Bible study is a form of direct, book-by-book study of the Bible. The books of the Bible were written one at a time, and they were initially read and studied as individual books. This suggests that we should give priority to studying them as individual works of literature that have been compiled into one unified Book of Books.
The inductive approach asks three main questions (1) what is actually said in the book, (2) based on what it actually says, what is the meaning of what it says, and (3) how does God want us to respond to what it means? This approach helps guard against reading into the Bible things it does not say. Thus, the mantra of the inductive approach might be “let the Bible speak for itself.”
Encountering the Living Word: Relational Inductive Bible Study is intended to be an introduction to RIBS. It is a manual on RIBS. It is to be followed by study guides for using RIBS to study various books of the Bible. The current plans are to publish study guides for Ephesians, Galatians, Mark, Amos, Jonah, and the Psalms of Ascent.
Inductive Bible study is a form of direct, book-by-book study of the Bible. The books of the Bible were written one at a time, and they were initially read and studied as individual books. This suggests that we should give priority to studying them as individual works of literature that have been compiled into one unified Book of Books.
The inductive approach asks three main questions (1) what is actually said in the book, (2) based on what it actually says, what is the meaning of what it says, and (3) how does God want us to respond to what it means? This approach helps guard against reading into the Bible things it does not say. Thus, the mantra of the inductive approach might be “let the Bible speak for itself.”
Encountering the Living Word: Relational Inductive Bible Study is intended to be an introduction to RIBS. It is a manual on RIBS. It is to be followed by study guides for using RIBS to study various books of the Bible. The current plans are to publish study guides for Ephesians, Galatians, Mark, Amos, Jonah, and the Psalms of Ascent.
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