Episode 105 Biblical Literacy with Dr. Cory Marsh
Recently, David Capes sat down with Dr. Cory Marsh, Professor of New Testament at Southern California Seminary in El Cajon, CA and scholar-in-residence at Revolve Bible Church in San Juan Capistrano, CA. He’s written a helpful new book entitled A Primer on Biblical Literacy (SCS Press, 2022/ about 120 pages).
Many who listen to this podcast realize that Mark Lanier has been teaching “Biblical Literacy” for decades at Champion Forest Baptist Church (www.biblical-literacy.org). So it seemed this was a good time to talk with Dr. Marsh.
After detailing a bit about himself and the school where he teaches, Cory talks about the big idea behind his book and the big problem he is trying to address.
Over the past 30-50 years the students coming to college and seminary have an ever-increasing level of biblical illiteracy. But this is just a symptom to a greater problem throughout Christian churches.
Gone are the days when you could expect students to know that “God helps those who help themselves” is not in the Bible.
Marsh believes that biblical literacy is achievable by everyone, no matter their age or starting point. He describes in his book how people can go about growing in their knowledge and depth of Scripture.
Biblical illiteracy is a problem for the church for many reasons, but one is this: without biblical literacy it is not possible to spot bad ideas or false teaching.
Today, with all “knowledge” at our finger tips on SmartPhones and computers, people get the idea that they are “knowledgeable.” With a few keystrokes you can find out Bible facts and Bible trivia, but you can’t grow in wisdom or deep faith. So, Dr. Marsh wrote this book to address the problem and provide a solution.
Here is an endorsement from a leading scholar:
“Cory Marsh’s A Primer on Biblical Literacy cogently lays out the why, what, and how of studying God’s Word. Marsh persuasively argues that we need to be aware of what Scripture teaches and proficient in interpreting and applying it. Highly recommended!”
– Dr. Andreas J. Köstenberger
Author of Invitation to Biblical Interpretation
If you want to learn more about the Bible, spend some time on our lecture archive: www.laniertheologicallibrary.org/the-ltl-lecture-series-archive/
There are many great videos on a variety of topics dealing with the Christian Scriptures.
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