Understanding the Bible requires first, an understanding of the concepts used by those who were divinely inspired to pen it down. Only then can we translate those concepts into our own language of understanding. For example, classification of bats as birds in scripture (Deuteronomy 14:11-18) is not technically correct because the writers of Scripture did not make use of scientific concepts (such as taxonomy; classification of animals or organisms), instead they made use of literary concepts (such as phenomenology; the language of appearance) to communicate the divine inspiration.

This simple difference in conceptualization has become a source of tension and contention for some. Our ability to understand such expressions in scripture can become either difficult or impossible when we lean towards the wrong kind of concepts.

A ‘religious’ man reads that verse where the scripture classifies a bat as a bird and thinks, “the scientist must have gotten it wrong for calling them mammals”. This was the attitude of the churches in the dark ages which led to the martyrdom of several scientists. What a regrettable and avoidable loss.

While the sceptic reads that same verse and shakes his head in disbelief and exclaims, “How ignorant! If truly this book was inspired by the Creator, He would know that bats are not birds”. This too has led to an even greater loss – the loss of faith and the unfortunate rise of atheism.

What both the religious fanatic and the sceptic fail to see is that the contradicting descriptions of the bat are based on different concepts. The scribe of the scripture has based his description on morphology and the scientist on reproduction. To the scribe of the scripture, they are birds morphologically. As far as he is concerned, any winged and flying animal is a bird! But to the scientist, it is a flying mammal since it does not reproduce by laying eggs.

There is a plethora of examples of phenomenological descriptions in the scriptures, like the expressions, “sunset” and “sunrise”, or the scripture using a phenomenological description for stars instead of an astronomical one, but this should suffice to intimate us with the ideas shared by the author in this book.

The author takes us on a journey of exhilarating discoveries and re-discoveries from the pages of scripture. He reignites our faith in the authenticity of God’s word, introduces us to language concepts used in the writing of scripture and the principles embedded in those writings by the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Adams Allison.

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