The Whole Counsel of God

An Introduction to Your Bible

De: Stephen De Young

Narrado por: Stephen De Young

In The Whole Counsel of God, popular writer and podcaster Fr. Stephen de Young gives an overview of what the Bible is and what is its place in the life of an Orthodox Christian, correcting many Protestant misconceptions along the way. Issues covered include inspiration, inerrancy, the formation of the biblical canon, the various texts and their provenance, the place of Scripture within Orthodox Tradition, and how an Orthodox Christian should read, study, and interpret the Bible.

©2022 Stephen De Young (P)2022 Stephen De Young

Brief, informative, unbiased

Informative book, very introductory but full of facts. He doesn't really make strong or surprising arguments or recommendations in this or that direction beyond giving lots of information, so sometimes things went over my head and I didn't quite know what my takeaway should be or how/whether to take a stance. I would have liked for him to go into more depth with certain things but I understand that he focused on giving an overview. Worth listening to for those who haven't yet done much of their own research on the origin of the Bible. He also gives recommended further reading.

Quite revelatory

The book reveals an amazing, complex history that, I suspect, most of us do not realize allows us to open the Bible and read scripture. I am going to be more appreciative of the gift given to me when I do.

A good intro to The Orthodox approach to Scripture

Requires a basic understanding of world and church history, the saints, and the church fathers…. or lots of pausing and googling. However, if you’ve got a basic understanding of that, you can hop right in.

Fr. De Young does do a good job of providing the scriptural basis for the Orthodox understanding and provides good history of the textual development of the Bible and Orthodox. I also appreciated that he was very even keeled when discussing biblical translations, their goals, and biases.

As a Protestant Christian I feel he was very respectful and fair toward the Protestant perspective while explaining the reasons for differing Orthodox perspectives.

Fr. De Young, thank you for sharing your work in such an illuminating and concise volume! It was immensely helpful. Please keep up the good work, and God Bless.

Thoughtful, but brief outline of the Bible’s history

If you are curious about “how the Bible came to be” this may scratch that itch.

Candid but academic reflection on Scripture

I really enjoyed this audio book- though perhaps it would be a book that I would like a hard copy of to take more notes and review the information more thoroughly. Despite that, I found it highly educational and academic without becoming unapproachable. I liked that it had recommendations for particular translations of the Bible and the reasoning why as well as providing practical tips for how to go about reading the Bible. The pace and length of the book were easy to take in, even with my hectic schedule lately.