How to Eat Bread: 21 Nourishing Ways to Read the Bible [9781529364477]

Expand the description and scroll down to view the Preach magazine review.

'a fiercely intelligent theologian and historian' - The Independent

‘Miranda gives us the confidence to sit and taste the Bible’s profound and life-changing goodness.’ – Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York

As a vicar, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is used to being asked to recommend a book on how and why to read the Bible. Filling the gap between popular Bible reading notes and more academic books, How to Eat Bread is the book she'd give to anyone wanting to explore the Bible as part of their faith. Its three main sections delve into the rich heritage of how Christians have read the Bible down the ages:

From the Larder - ways that scripture itself uses other parts of scripture, or models and demonstrates different ways of reading
Grandma's Recipe Book - historical methods of biblical interpretation
Molecular Gastronomy - the insights and methods of modern theological hermeneutics

Encouraging readers to try out a variety of tried and tested ways of Bible reading, experiment with different ingredients and sample the results, How to Eat Bread is a refreshingly hands-on approach to understanding this ancient library of texts.

‘exhilarating and hands-on … Miranda Threlfall-Holmes provides a fantastic guide’ – Fergus Butler-Gallie

PREACH REVIEW:

'Scripture is a river in which a lamb can wade and an elephant can swim' (wrote St Gregory in the sixth century). This book proves the truth of that saying, as it guides us into Bible-reading: there is plenty here to encourage both ‘lambs’ and ‘elephants’, even enough for an occasional deep dive.

There are 21 suggested methods of exploration, cleverly categorised into three sections – Scripture, Tradition and Reason. The first seeks to free readers from a one-dimensional approach. I particularly appreciated chapter 5, tackling the wilderness temptation of Jesus. The author shows the value of following the ‘waymarked trail’ leading to the OT quotations used by Jesus in his answers to the Devil. This reveals so much more from a story which comes round every Lent and which we may feel has nothing more to teach us. Here are inspiration and encouragement for preachers who may be tempted to opt for just the gospel passage; in almost all sermons, there is advantage in linking in Old Testament readings too.

The second section is based on traditional methods from the early and medieval church – not as scary as it sounds, for many of the methods suggested will have a familiar ring. Having formerly discounted as fanciful the fourfold interpretation used by medieval theologians, I was gripped by the author’s exploration of these, and found her suggested scriptures on which to have a go very enjoyable.

The third offers a whole variety of ’modern, specialist or technical approaches’ that might sound challenging, but they include Messy Church-style activities among more intellectual applications. There is an excellent and accessible chapter on Form and Genre – subjects one rarely sees outside a theology degree – and a very helpful and interesting chapter dealing with Liberation Theology.

Most of all, this book encourages Bible reading, and Bible study. The image of the scriptures as the ‘bread’ of the title is encouraging in itself. As the introduction explains, bread is a basic, universal foodstuff, nourishing and sustaining. Scripture similarly has a global, cross-cultural appeal, and it can sustain us eternally. All believers – and many who are not – will benefit from reading this book, and will be encouraged to read the far greater book whose author is God himself.

Review by Susan Thorne for Preach magazine Issue 29. Susan is a published author and long-established Methodist local preacher, passionate about social justice, ecumenism and the environment.

AUTHOR: Miranda Threlfall-Holmes is a well-known writer and public speaker, and is currently Team Rector of the St Luke in the City, Liverpool. She is passionate about popularising and explaining complex ideas for a non-specialist audience and has written for publications including the Church Times and the Guardian. She is the author of five previous books: an academic monograph Monks and Markets (OUP, 2005); two textbooks, Being A Chaplain (SPCK, 2011) and The Essential History of Christianity (SPCK, 2012); and the Prayer Experiment series for SPCK.