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A review by divinawest
The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Peter Enns
3.0
3.5/5 stars!
Favorite quotes:
“Knowing god is a form of not knowing god”
“An unsettled faith is a maturing faith.”
“If your present community sees your spiritual journey as a problem because you are wandering off their beach blanket it may be time to find another community
Not impulsively, but if after a time you are sensing you don’t belong, that you are a problem to be corrected rather than a valued member of the community, maybe god is calling you elsewhere and that “they” aren’t so bad after all.”
I will say, I didn’t love the audiobook version. The narration was monotone and I found myself losing focus. But I enjoyed the content. I believe the author accomplished what they set out to do with this book. It was informative, in terms of hermeneutics it was simple enough to understand, and I enjoyed the bits of comedic relief in there even if it was a bit corny at times. It was redundant at times and likely could have been even shorter. But I still enjoyed it.
These are my take aways:
This book gave me a greater understanding of the Bible as an ancient and historical text. Not in a way that lessens it’s value as holy and spiritual but that compliments it. And is also confusing. But this book reminds us that we honestly should be confused. The Bible is not a Sunday school book or children’s story. It is complex and ancient.
This book gave me greater perspective on the Old Testament as it was written but deeply tribal people that we cannot put our 21st century lens on.
Furthermore, the Bible is not an owners manual. We actually cannot find answers to everything in there. The Bible is a lens through which we look at God and Jesus. It is a tool, efficient in some ways but ultimately written by men. My favorite part of this book was when he breaks down the gospels and other books within the historical context of the author of each book. He points out how each author skewed the story to serve their own story telling. Realizing this doesn’t mean we throw out the whole book. But we do need to read and interact with it different.
We shouldn’t expect of the Bible what we don’t expect or see in Jesus.
Jesus did not behave and we should not expect the Bible to. The Bible is not orderly and simple, just as Jesus was not.
I appreciate the author and it’s validated my spiritual journey so much. It honestly makes me more comfortable with the Bible and evangelical religion in that it has affirmed my deconstruction.
Favorite quotes:
“Knowing god is a form of not knowing god”
“An unsettled faith is a maturing faith.”
“If your present community sees your spiritual journey as a problem because you are wandering off their beach blanket it may be time to find another community
Not impulsively, but if after a time you are sensing you don’t belong, that you are a problem to be corrected rather than a valued member of the community, maybe god is calling you elsewhere and that “they” aren’t so bad after all.”
I will say, I didn’t love the audiobook version. The narration was monotone and I found myself losing focus. But I enjoyed the content. I believe the author accomplished what they set out to do with this book. It was informative, in terms of hermeneutics it was simple enough to understand, and I enjoyed the bits of comedic relief in there even if it was a bit corny at times. It was redundant at times and likely could have been even shorter. But I still enjoyed it.
These are my take aways:
This book gave me a greater understanding of the Bible as an ancient and historical text. Not in a way that lessens it’s value as holy and spiritual but that compliments it. And is also confusing. But this book reminds us that we honestly should be confused. The Bible is not a Sunday school book or children’s story. It is complex and ancient.
This book gave me greater perspective on the Old Testament as it was written but deeply tribal people that we cannot put our 21st century lens on.
Furthermore, the Bible is not an owners manual. We actually cannot find answers to everything in there. The Bible is a lens through which we look at God and Jesus. It is a tool, efficient in some ways but ultimately written by men. My favorite part of this book was when he breaks down the gospels and other books within the historical context of the author of each book. He points out how each author skewed the story to serve their own story telling. Realizing this doesn’t mean we throw out the whole book. But we do need to read and interact with it different.
We shouldn’t expect of the Bible what we don’t expect or see in Jesus.
Jesus did not behave and we should not expect the Bible to. The Bible is not orderly and simple, just as Jesus was not.
I appreciate the author and it’s validated my spiritual journey so much. It honestly makes me more comfortable with the Bible and evangelical religion in that it has affirmed my deconstruction.