current reading projects

I'm continuing to plow through The Contemporary English Version. Today I completed Deuteronomy, and thus The Pentateuch. It is enjoyable to read through such a simple version quickly, having been taking the slow road in the ESV Study Bible for over a year.

At times the CEV is disappointing, because it sometimes takes a rather peculiar line and often it knocks off the edges of the biblical language, in an effort to make it contemporary and comprehensible.

I am also reading through John Sailhamer's The Meaning of the Pentateuch and am pleased to have reached the half-way mark. It is a great book, though longer than it needs to be and very repetitive. But it is a stimulating book to ponder.

And a few days ago I began Robert Culver's Systematic Theology. This is worth reading, but over 1100 pages. I am aiming to read about 20 per day, so that I can get through it in about 4 months. I haven't been good at keeping up such projects previously, though I am on my 9th read-through of Holy Scripture.

The Meaning of The Pentateuch

I'm reading through John Sailhamer's The Meaning of the Pentateuch, after
reading so many good comments about it. It is every bit as good as I had been
told. The author has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about the Old
Testament and the Pentateuch in particular.

I assume that the Google Books link will include some of the book, but probably not all. The cheapest place I've found for the book [after buying it for $50 Australian from my local Christian bookstore, where I was able to have a good look at it] is The Book Depository, which lists it for $33 Australian.

Sailhamer deals with a lot more than the meaning of the pentateuch in his book, and writes in an easy style that gets me intrigued.

Warmly recommended.

David McKay
www.gontroppo.blogspot.com