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alexjstewart's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
kahawa's review
3.0
I don't think he's really up to discussing something of this depth. I thought he had a few good points and ideas, but it was so unscholarly, and I left it wondering why he even bothers with Christianity since he doesn't seem to believe much about it. There are some good points in it though that I think Christians need to face, and I agree that an over-emphasis on the written message has prevented many Christians from hearing a living and active message.
levelstory's review
5.0
I find it very amusing when I see one-star reviews stating that they only watched a movie or read a book or listened to an album purely to bash it in a review. I mean, don't get me wrong, as a critic, I think this can be healthy. But when a reviewer takes it to a personal level, they step away from being a critic and become a troll. A few trolls were in the reviews section of The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns, and I couldn't help but laugh. One reviewer outright stated that he read this book to point out what was wrong with "liberal" Christianity. What is mind boggling to me is that this book is nowhere near as liberal as some other books I have read in the past. I just had to laugh, especially because it is clear he didn't so much read this book but grazed over it and gave it his own preconceived script. It is like a parent wishing that one day he will have a child who will grow up to be a football player but instead they want to be a ballet dancer. The parent isn't seeing the child, they are seeing only what they want to see.
This concept can also be applied to another book. THE BIBLE! Which is what this book is all about.
Peter Enns poses the thesis that Jesus is bigger than the Bible and that the Bible is not a book set in stone but was shaped by it's time period, like all books. He argues that we spend too much time defending Scripture with modern eyes and should aspire to understand the Biblical time period and culture so that we can properly read and absorb the authors' intent. If you think about it, this concept isn't "liberal" as some reviewers say. In fact, as an English major, we did this same thing with multiple texts every single day. We study why an author wrote a text and the time period in which they wrote it so that we may understand the significance in today's world. Or take a look at the show American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. O.J. didn't just get off because he was a celebrity. His case was made into a race issue. The TV show perfectly encompasses the tension in America in 1994/1995 with police brutality and it makes sense why the case ended up the way it did. Some people who weren't alive during that time or were too young to understand (like myself) would not know that. Context is extremely important.
And what about adaptation? The Bible is a book adapting true events. It isn't going to be perfect and each author is easily going to have their own interpretation. Once again, look at American Crime Story. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrays O.J. He plays the character in a very specific and emotional way. But say this story is brought to the screen again with another actor who makes O.J. look stony-faced and has zero emotion. Who is correct? The truth is, both actors portray something that is the truth - it just isn't 100%.
But I think the biggest takeaway from this book is the idea of being open minded. Often times we are too busy defending the Bible to hear the questions people are asking. We are so set in our ways, believing we are right, and so we leave no space open to allowing the idea that we could be wrong.
That being said, while I found the first half of this book very engaging and sound in its logic, the second half sort of book sort of teetered. I found it to be a bit wishy-washy, which isn't to say I didn't agree with what Enns was saying, I just couldn't get behind it like I did with the first half of the book. All in all, the book was well written and refreshing. I highly recommend it.
Technically, I give it 4.5 but GoodReads will only let me use 4.
This concept can also be applied to another book. THE BIBLE! Which is what this book is all about.
Peter Enns poses the thesis that Jesus is bigger than the Bible and that the Bible is not a book set in stone but was shaped by it's time period, like all books. He argues that we spend too much time defending Scripture with modern eyes and should aspire to understand the Biblical time period and culture so that we can properly read and absorb the authors' intent. If you think about it, this concept isn't "liberal" as some reviewers say. In fact, as an English major, we did this same thing with multiple texts every single day. We study why an author wrote a text and the time period in which they wrote it so that we may understand the significance in today's world. Or take a look at the show American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson. O.J. didn't just get off because he was a celebrity. His case was made into a race issue. The TV show perfectly encompasses the tension in America in 1994/1995 with police brutality and it makes sense why the case ended up the way it did. Some people who weren't alive during that time or were too young to understand (like myself) would not know that. Context is extremely important.
And what about adaptation? The Bible is a book adapting true events. It isn't going to be perfect and each author is easily going to have their own interpretation. Once again, look at American Crime Story. Cuba Gooding Jr. portrays O.J. He plays the character in a very specific and emotional way. But say this story is brought to the screen again with another actor who makes O.J. look stony-faced and has zero emotion. Who is correct? The truth is, both actors portray something that is the truth - it just isn't 100%.
But I think the biggest takeaway from this book is the idea of being open minded. Often times we are too busy defending the Bible to hear the questions people are asking. We are so set in our ways, believing we are right, and so we leave no space open to allowing the idea that we could be wrong.
That being said, while I found the first half of this book very engaging and sound in its logic, the second half sort of book sort of teetered. I found it to be a bit wishy-washy, which isn't to say I didn't agree with what Enns was saying, I just couldn't get behind it like I did with the first half of the book. All in all, the book was well written and refreshing. I highly recommend it.
Technically, I give it 4.5 but GoodReads will only let me use 4.
jmcphers's review
3.0
Having grown up in churches that view the inerrancy of Scripture as a fundamental doctrine, I always found some of its content a little difficult to stomach. I studied apologetics, which should have helped, but only made it worse (why would God write something in such a way that it seems so contradictory with both itself and science, and requires all this head-twisting logic to sort-of justify?).
The problem [in my mind] was that if you drop scriptural inerrancy on the floor, what are you left with as "authoritative"? If you view the Bible as a bunch of stories told by ancient tribes, how do you keep Christianity from devolving into a bunch of people who get to believe whatever they want based on whatever *they* think is in the Scripture?
Peter Enns does not answer this question, and I was kind of hoping he would.
What he does answer is the question of why it's so very hard to defend Scripture in the way I was attempting to. He explains how a reasonable person might interpret Scripture in its historical context, and while reading this book I think I understood the perspective of more liberal theologians for the first time. There is in fact a middle ground between the view of Scripture as a perfect historical record and the view of Scripture as a bunch of fairy tales, and this book opened my eyes to that view.
While the content was wonderful, personally I really disliked the tone of this book. It's written with lots of jokes and modern pastor-speak (count usages of the words "wrestle", "journey", "process", and "reality"). When I'm having the entire bedrock upon which my Christian faith has been based challenged, I like it done with some gravitas and erudition, not a transcript from the comedy club. But maybe that's just me.
The problem [in my mind] was that if you drop scriptural inerrancy on the floor, what are you left with as "authoritative"? If you view the Bible as a bunch of stories told by ancient tribes, how do you keep Christianity from devolving into a bunch of people who get to believe whatever they want based on whatever *they* think is in the Scripture?
Peter Enns does not answer this question, and I was kind of hoping he would.
What he does answer is the question of why it's so very hard to defend Scripture in the way I was attempting to. He explains how a reasonable person might interpret Scripture in its historical context, and while reading this book I think I understood the perspective of more liberal theologians for the first time. There is in fact a middle ground between the view of Scripture as a perfect historical record and the view of Scripture as a bunch of fairy tales, and this book opened my eyes to that view.
While the content was wonderful, personally I really disliked the tone of this book. It's written with lots of jokes and modern pastor-speak (count usages of the words "wrestle", "journey", "process", and "reality"). When I'm having the entire bedrock upon which my Christian faith has been based challenged, I like it done with some gravitas and erudition, not a transcript from the comedy club. But maybe that's just me.
elia_elizabeth_'s review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
cherokeewinslow's review against another edition
5.0
This is a superb book to stretch, grow, and contemplate our modern 21st century perspective on the ancient text that is the Bible. Enns has a fantastic authorial voice that carries the book with humor as the reader engages in new ways of thinking about the Bible. This is a must read for anybody looking to grow their faith past the pages of the Bible as they seek to understand truth.
samluce's review
3.0
This book was interesting. Not what I expected. I agree with several of his underlying presumptions but very few if any of his applications. Also his attempt at being light hearted came across as condescending but perhaps that was the person doing the audio book more than Enns himself.
macthebrazen's review
5.0
This opened my eyes to a big piece of the puzzle I've been missing in interpreting Scripture. I think I may have even more questions than when I started, but maybe that's not a bad thing.