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A review by levelstory
The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Peter Enns
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.