Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible

This is a book for people who teach the Bible―for people who seek to interpret and apply the Scriptures with confidence. Do you want to remind yourself of familiar principles? Organize scattered methods? Prepare for a teaching ministry? Learn more about what exegesis entails? This serious but nontechnical introduction to Bible interpretation will meet you where you are and help you to hone critical skills. Professor, author, and former pastor Daniel Doriani presents six steps of interpretation in the order in which students of Scripture use them: context, analysis, problems, themes, obligations, and reflection. He also presents the steps for a topical Bible study, discusses available resources, and offers suggestions for getting started. Since its original publication in 1996, Getting the Message has been used by teenagers, college students, and seminarians and by Christian leaders on each inhabited continent. This new edition has been revised with a global audience in mind.

Daniel M. Doriani (MDiv, PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary; STM, Yale Divinity School; Research Fellow, Yale University) is professor of theology at Covenant Theological Seminary. He is the founder and president of the Center for Faith & Work, St. Louis, and a member of the Council of The Gospel Coalition. He was a lead pastor for fifteen years and also served as interim senior pastor at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.