I am myself profoundly indebted to this historical work and draw upon it daily in my teaching. Nonetheless, in the present intellectual climate, I believe the Bible is often read “too historically”—that is, too narrowly so. Many students in mainstream Protestant seminaries study the Bible as if its aim were to give us insight into ancient ideologies and events. Yet a confessional reading sees in the Bible a different aim: first of all, to tell us about the nature and will of God, to instruct us in