Sweeter Than Honey, Richer Than Gold: A Guided Study of Biblical Poetry

This is the second of a projected six-volume series called Reading the Bible as Literature (the first volume being How Bible Stories Work). An expert at exploring the intersection of the Bible and literature, Ryken shows pastors and students and teachers of the Bible how to appreciate the craftsmanship and beauty of biblical poetry and how to interpret it correctly. Dr. Ryken goes one step further than merely explaining the genre of poetry-he includes exercises to help students master this rich literary treasure.Speaking of the entire series, Ryken says that ＂the niche that these volumes are designed to fill is the literary approach to the Bible. This has been my scholarly passion for nearly half a century. It is my belief that a literary approach to the Bible is the common reader’s friend, in contract to the more specialized types of scholarship on the Bible.＂

Leland Ryken (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is Professor of English Emeritus at Wheaton College, where he has taught since 1968. He is the author of more than 30 books, including How to Read the Bible as Literature (Zondervan), Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible (Baker), Windows to the World: Literature in Christian Perspective (Wipf & Stock), Effective Bible Teaching (Baker), A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible (Crossway), and co-editor of Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (IVP).