James L. Nicodem

Book notes: This is by far my favorite of the Bible Savvy series so far (I haven't finished Walk yet). In this volume Nicodem helps Bible readers pay attention to the context of scripture. This means the historical setting, the literary setting (what genre it is), the theological setting (how it makes sense with the wider Canon) and the immediate setting (how it makes sense within the context of the passage or book).

There is some sound advice here for laypersons to apprehend the message of the Bible. The limits of this look at 'context' is that it focuses solely on the context of the Bible without much to say about the context of the reader.

I think I would nuance what Nicodem says here by saying our personal context reveals are biases and our ecclesial context means we read in community (i.e. church, sermons, small groups, commentaries, are ways that our understanding of the Bible is supplemented, challenged, and disciplined).

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This is not so much a review as personal notes for a review of this series (Bible Savvy) I am doing elsewhere. In Epic Nicodem gives a simple overview of the biblical story as the story of redemption. He gives a pretty good and accessible bird's-eye-view of how God's redemption is prompted by human sinfulness, prepared for, prophesied of and purchased by Christ. This redemption is then proclaimed by the New Testament church and culminates in the perfection of Revelations 21,22.

Nicodem is a pastor and is able to explain the Biblical story in a way that is accessible to lay people. I disagreed with him on some of the particulars but I liked the general arc of his explanation.

This is a nice overview of the Biblical story for the non-scholar. Might be nice to go through a book like this with church small-group leaders.

































































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this is the second in the Bible Savvy series.

Nicodem discusses the reality of the Bible by describing the doctrine of Inspiration (and inerrancy), the formation of the Canon, the doctrine of revelation and methods of learning the Bible.

Like the previous volume I thought that this was a nice accessible overview; however I found myself frustrated with places that I thought Nicodem was overly simple in his explanation or dismissive of viewpoints he disagreed with. This may be because I have some theological education and think that the issues are more complicated than what Nicodem suggests and I bristle at points where I disagree with him.

This isn't to say I dislike this book. I think it would be a helpful book in a layperson's hands and may answer some questions they have about the reality of the Bible. I agree with Nicodem far more than I disagree with him. I just expected more from this volume after I read the first.… (meer)

This is the lackluster last volume of the Bible Savvy series. I wanted to like it because this is where it was all leading. And Nicodem says some good stuff. I felt underwhelmed.

Unfortunately he does four things which annoy me:

1. He cites A.J. Jacobs Year of Living Biblically as an example of someone who clearly doesn't understand genre. I disagree with many of Jacobs conclusions but the point Nicodem tries to make with Jacobs book is fairly similar to the point that Jacobs is making through his humorous memoir.

2. He has a short acronymn to help people get the most out of their Bible: COMA. That stands for Context, Observation, Message & Application. I don't have anything against reading with any of these in mind, but when you are trying to get people read the Bible do you really want to associate Bible reading with Coma? Nicodem does not understand the metaphorical power of his word choice.

3. On the four components of COMA, his description of Message is a take away point (he calls a 'timeless principle') based on your observations in the text while you are reading. I don't disagree with this but his primary example was from the fact that David had 30 mighty men and a subset called the three. His principle that he draws out of this is, "No leader can mentor everybody. So good leaders pour time and attention into a handful of followers.(57)"

These wise words about mentoring and leadership are not what 2 Sam. 23:8-39 is about. A close attention to the context of Samuel will reveal that chapter 24, begins with David standing under God's judgement for relying on his military might rather than God. Yes these men are commended as examples to us but I am wary of drawing out principles based on David's good people skills. It seems like a poor reading of context.

4. Nicodem spends a few pages explaining why Bible software just isn't worth it. This is amusing to me being as this book found its way into my hand through the good graces of a friend at a Bible software company and I have found my own Bible software tremendously helpful in digging deeper into the text (not just for knowledge but for life).

Gripe session over. There is a lot here I like and think that Nicodem's four-fold interpretive approach (which should not be called COMA)is helpful for those wanting to read the Bible in a way that changes your life.

As a series I probably would give it three stars. There are some helpful tips and the general approach is great but every volume had elements I thought were wrongheaded.

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