Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Pt. 1: Effective teaching -- The church's unfinished task -- How the church has fooled itself about Bible teaching -- The two levels at which Bible teaching can fail -- Strategy and planning problems -- Keys to improved teaching -- Why the problems of Bible teaching must be addressed -- The tasks of the effective teacher -- Fostering active learning -- Motivating students -- Clarity of communication -- Challenging students -- Making the class minutes count -- Focusing on the big idea -- Making the truth personal -- Building a constructive class atmosphere -- Distinguishing between major and minor issues -- The Ideal teacher -- The teacher : the human element in teaching -- The teacher as a means of grace -- The teacher as spiritual liability -- The well-rounded teacher -- The passions of the effective teacher -- Three myths about the effective teacher -- Understanding the life cycles of teaching --

Pt. 2: The methods of effective bible teaching -- Teaching the big idea -- The big idea : topic and theme -- Illustrations of formulating the big idea -- Bridging the gap -- The journey to the world of the Bible -- From the Bible to our own world -- Discovering the unity in biblical passages -- Thematic unity -- Structual unity -- Principles of biblical interpretation -- The purpose of biblical interpretaion -- The nature of the Bible -- The language of the Bible -- Rules for individual passages -- Interpreting a text -- Understanding the methods of inductive and directed Bible studies -- What is inductive Bible study? -- The methodology of inductive study -- Directed Bible study -- Leading inductive Bible studies -- Preparing to lead an inductive study -- Writing questions : the heart of the inductive method -- Conducting an inductive Bible study --

Pt. 3: The Bible we teach -- What kind of book is the Bible? -- A collection of books -- The unity of the Bible -- A book of encounter -- Types of writing in the Bible -- An overview of biblical genres -- The Bible as literature -- Teaching the stories of the Bible -- The challenge and necessity of teaching the stories of the Bible -- The descriptive level : setting, characters, and action -- From story to meaning -- Avoiding some common pitfalls -- Teaching the poetry of the Bible -- Thinking in images -- A language of comparison -- Poetry as a form of fiction -- How poems are organized -- Teaching other genres of the Bible -- The proverb -- Satire -- Visionary writing -- The Epistles -- The parables.