Some help for those who find Holy Scriptures hard to understand

January 29, 2013

Why are Holy Scriptures so Complicated?
In his Religion Q and A blog for Patheos, Richard Ostling answers a question referred to him from a prison inmate who wonders why so much that is written in the sacred writings of various religions seems obscure and hard for the ordinary person to understand. Ostling provides a quick and helpful overview of basic facts about Scripture, although his reply addresses only the writings of the major monotheistic Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The resources he recommends for further study are all from within Christianity. He requests other suggestions from readers. Ostling writes on religion for the Associated Press and was for many years a religion writer and correspondent for Time magazine.

Letha Dawson Scanzoni is an independent scholar, writer, and editor, and is the author or coauthor of nine books. In 1978, she and Virginia Ramey Mollenkott wrote Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, one of the earliest books urging evangelical Christians to rethink their views on homosexuality (updated edition, 1994, HarperOne). More recently, Letha coauthored (with social psychologist David G. Myers) What God Has Joined Together: The Christian Case for Gay Marriage (HarperOne, 2005 and 2006). Another of Letha’s most well-known books is All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, coauthored with Nancy A. Hardesty (Word Books, 1974; revised edition, Abingdon, 1986; updated and expanded edition, Eerdmans, 1992). Letha served as editor of Christian Feminism Today in both its former print edition (EEWC Update) and its website for 19 years until her retirement in December 2013.

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