VideoStudent Discussion Questions:
- What did you already know?
- What is something you discovered?
- What questions does this raise?
For more clips like this one check out the Bites on the Bible unit.
Dr Darrell Bock is Executive Director of Cultural Engagement and Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author of over 40 books, including notable commentaries on the biblical books of Luke and Acts, and several works looking at the historical Jesus. He often speaks in the media on topics related to the New Testament and Christianity in contemporary society.
Transcript
DARRELL BOCK: So, is the Bible relevant for today? Can a book that ancient – I mean, thousands of years old – speak to us? And again, I think if you think about this a little bit, the question is both a good one, and yet obvious in its answer in some ways. The Bible has been a meaningful book to the world – in fact, perhaps the most meaningful book to the world, for thousands of years already. By the time I’m speaking, parts of it are almost, well, 3500 years old. And yet, people who’ve read it have said it says something about the human condition that’s of value. And so, the Bible has shown its relevance because it is what we might call a classic – it is a classic work that speaks to the human condition, in some ways that are sometimes old, and maybe a little bit surprising, and maybe a little bit distant from the way we live, and yet at the same time people have picked up that there’s something here worth pondering. There’s something here worth thinking about.
So, the Bible is relevant, even though our world is very different than the ancient world that the writers originally lived in, because the human condition itself is pretty basic, and our needs are pretty basic, and even though the circumstances around us might change, who we are as human beings and what we ought to be about hasn’t changed very much at all.