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How the Bible Actually Works
- In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers - and Why That's Great News
- Narrated by: Peter Enns
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
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The Bible Tells Me So
- Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Trained as an evangelical Bible scholar, Peter Enns loved the Scriptures and shared his devotion by teaching at Westminster Theological Seminary. But the further he studied the Bible, the more he found himself confronted by questions that could neither be answered within the rigid framework of his religious instruction nor be accepted among the conservative evangelical community.
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An excellent honest Evangelical look at Bible
- By Shen Chiu on 2018-04-18
Written by: Peter Enns
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The Sin of Certainty
- Why God Desires Our Trust More than Our "Correct" Beliefs
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of "once for all delivered to the saints".
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worth the listen
- By Leah Johnston on 2019-09-02
Written by: Peter Enns
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Genesis for Normal People
- A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible (Second Edition w/ Study Guide) (The Bible for Normal People)
- Written by: Peter Enns, Jared Byas
- Narrated by: Peter Enns, Jared Byas
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Given the fever-pitched controversies about evolution, Adam and Eve, and scientific evidence for the Flood, the average person might feel intimidated by the book of Genesis. But behind the heady debates is a terrific story—one that anyone can understand, and one that has gripped people for ages. If you are not a Bible scholar but want to be able to listen to Genesis and understand its big picture, this brief, witty book is the guide you've been waiting for.
Written by: Peter Enns, and others
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Curveball
- When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God)
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Peter Enns
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Life throws us “curve balls”—from devastating personal losses to world tragedies. These events often leave us doubting God, the Bible, and our faith. But instead of pushing away our reservations, we should embrace them, Peter Enns argues. A leading biblical scholar and Christian mentor, Enns has never been afraid to question the Bible or Christian beliefs. Such thoughtful inquisitiveness, he argues, is part of God’s plan. He wants us to question, because doing so actually leads to a stronger, lasting faith.
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Listened to it Twice
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-03-13
Written by: Peter Enns
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Do I Stay Christian?
- A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned
- Written by: Brian D. McLaren
- Narrated by: Brian D. McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Do I Stay Christian? addresses in public the powerful question that surprising numbers of people—including pastors, priests, and other religious leaders—are asking in private. Picking up where Faith After Doubt leaves off, Do I Stay Christian? is not McLaren's attempt to persuade Christians to dig in their heels or run for the exit. Instead, he combines his own experience with that of thousands of people who have confided in him over the years to help readers make a responsible, honest, ethical decision about their religious identity.
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An Encouraging, Reassuring, Provoking, and Challenging Read
- By Brian G. Felushko on 2023-02-04
Written by: Brian D. McLaren
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Evolution of Adam
- What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say About Human Origins
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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Story
This thought-provoking audiobook helps listeners reconcile the teachings of the Bible with the widely held evolutionary view of beginnings and will appeal to anyone interested in the Christianity-evolution debate.
Written by: Peter Enns
-
The Bible Tells Me So
- Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trained as an evangelical Bible scholar, Peter Enns loved the Scriptures and shared his devotion by teaching at Westminster Theological Seminary. But the further he studied the Bible, the more he found himself confronted by questions that could neither be answered within the rigid framework of his religious instruction nor be accepted among the conservative evangelical community.
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-
An excellent honest Evangelical look at Bible
- By Shen Chiu on 2018-04-18
Written by: Peter Enns
-
The Sin of Certainty
- Why God Desires Our Trust More than Our "Correct" Beliefs
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of "once for all delivered to the saints".
-
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worth the listen
- By Leah Johnston on 2019-09-02
Written by: Peter Enns
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Genesis for Normal People
- A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the Bible (Second Edition w/ Study Guide) (The Bible for Normal People)
- Written by: Peter Enns, Jared Byas
- Narrated by: Peter Enns, Jared Byas
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Given the fever-pitched controversies about evolution, Adam and Eve, and scientific evidence for the Flood, the average person might feel intimidated by the book of Genesis. But behind the heady debates is a terrific story—one that anyone can understand, and one that has gripped people for ages. If you are not a Bible scholar but want to be able to listen to Genesis and understand its big picture, this brief, witty book is the guide you've been waiting for.
Written by: Peter Enns, and others
-
Curveball
- When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God)
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Peter Enns
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life throws us “curve balls”—from devastating personal losses to world tragedies. These events often leave us doubting God, the Bible, and our faith. But instead of pushing away our reservations, we should embrace them, Peter Enns argues. A leading biblical scholar and Christian mentor, Enns has never been afraid to question the Bible or Christian beliefs. Such thoughtful inquisitiveness, he argues, is part of God’s plan. He wants us to question, because doing so actually leads to a stronger, lasting faith.
-
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Listened to it Twice
- By Amazon Customer on 2023-03-13
Written by: Peter Enns
-
Do I Stay Christian?
- A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned
- Written by: Brian D. McLaren
- Narrated by: Brian D. McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Do I Stay Christian? addresses in public the powerful question that surprising numbers of people—including pastors, priests, and other religious leaders—are asking in private. Picking up where Faith After Doubt leaves off, Do I Stay Christian? is not McLaren's attempt to persuade Christians to dig in their heels or run for the exit. Instead, he combines his own experience with that of thousands of people who have confided in him over the years to help readers make a responsible, honest, ethical decision about their religious identity.
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An Encouraging, Reassuring, Provoking, and Challenging Read
- By Brian G. Felushko on 2023-02-04
Written by: Brian D. McLaren
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Evolution of Adam
- What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say About Human Origins
- Written by: Peter Enns
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This thought-provoking audiobook helps listeners reconcile the teachings of the Bible with the widely held evolutionary view of beginnings and will appeal to anyone interested in the Christianity-evolution debate.
Written by: Peter Enns
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Faith After Doubt
- Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It
- Written by: Brian D. McLaren
- Narrated by: Brian D. McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Sixty-five million adults in the US have dropped out of active church attendance, and about 2.7 million more are leaving every year. Faith After Doubt is for the millions of people around the world who feel that their faith is falling apart. Using his own story and the stories of a diverse group of struggling believers, Brian D. McLaren, a former pastor and now an author, speaker, and activist, shows how old assumptions are being challenged in nearly every area of human life, not just theology and spirituality.
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Love wins
- By pathlight on 2021-01-28
Written by: Brian D. McLaren
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Searching for Sunday
- Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church
- Written by: Rachel Held Evans
- Narrated by: Rachel Held Evans
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn't want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals - church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back. And so she set out on a journey to understand the Church and to find her place in it.
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Every Christian needs to read this
- By Sharon Polisi on 2023-02-03
Written by: Rachel Held Evans
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Jesus and John Wayne
- How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
- Written by: Kristin Kobes du Mez
- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate's staunchest supporters? Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last 75 years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism.
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Fascinating
- By Kindle Customer on 2021-01-27
Written by: Kristin Kobes du Mez
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Wholehearted Faith
- Written by: Rachel Held Evans, Jeff Chu
- Narrated by: Daniel Jonce Evans, Jeff Chu, Jamie Wright, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Rachel Held Evans is widely recognized for her theologically astute, profoundly honest, and beautifully personal books, which have guided, instructed, edified, and shaped Christians as they seek to live out a just and loving faith. At the time of her tragic death in 2019, Rachel was working on a new book about wholeheartedness. With the help of her close friend and author Jeff Chu, that work-in-progress has been woven together with some of her other unpublished writings into a rich collection of essays.
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Beautiful beyond words!!
- By Lynn Mills on 2023-01-01
Written by: Rachel Held Evans, and others
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Faith Unraveled
- How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask Questions
- Written by: Rachel Held Evans, Sarah Bessey
- Narrated by: Rachel Held Evans
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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From New York Times best-selling author Rachel Held Evans: a must-listen for anyone on the journey of doubt, deconstruction, and ultimately faith reborn. Eighty years after the Scopes Monkey Trial made a spectacle of Christian fundamentalism and brought national attention to her hometown, Rachel Held Evans faced a trial of her own when she began to have doubts about her faith. Rachel recounts growing up in a culture obsessed with apologetics, struggling as her own faith unraveled one unexpected question at a time.
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Permission granted
- By Sheila on 2022-04-15
Written by: Rachel Held Evans, and others
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A More Christlike Word
- Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way
- Written by: Bradley Jersak
- Narrated by: Boyd Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
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The scriptures are an essential aspect of the Christian faith. But we have often equated them with the living Word himself, even elevating them above the One to whom they point. In doing so, we have distorted their central message - and our view of God. Tragically, this has caused multitudes of people unnecessary doubt, confusion, and pain in their encounters with the scriptures.
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a helpful guide to a better reading of scripture
- By Anonymous User on 2021-10-27
Written by: Bradley Jersak
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The Making of Biblical Womanhood
- How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
- Written by: Beth Allison Barr
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
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Biblical womanhood - the belief that God designed women to be submissive wives, virtuous mothers, and joyful homemakers - pervades North American Christianity. From choices about careers to roles in local churches to relationship dynamics, this belief shapes the everyday lives of evangelical women. Yet biblical womanhood isn't biblical, says Baylor University historian Beth Allison Barr. It was born in a series of clearly definable historical moments.
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So poignant for such a time as this!
- By Kindle Customer on 2021-05-08
Written by: Beth Allison Barr
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Love Wins
- A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
- Written by: Rob Bell
- Narrated by: Rob Bell
- Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins
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Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news"? Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance.
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It is worth every moment of your time to listen.
- By GeoGeoff on 2018-02-25
Written by: Rob Bell
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Embodied
- Transgender Identities, the Church, and What the Bible Has to Say
- Written by: Preston Sprinkle
- Narrated by: Preston Sprinkle
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Compassionate, biblical, and thought-provoking, Embodied is an accessible guide for Christians who want help navigating issues related to transgenderism.
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thoughtful review of a sensitive subject
- By Rick Bartel on 2022-09-20
Written by: Preston Sprinkle
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Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again
- Written by: Rachel Held Evans
- Narrated by: Rachel Held Evans
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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If the Bible isn’t a science book or an instruction manual, then what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she began a quest to better understand what the Bible is and how it is meant to be read. What she discovered changed her—and it will change you too.
Drawing on the best in recent scholarship and using her well-honed literary expertise, Evans examines some of our favorite Bible stories and possible interpretations, retelling them through memoir, original poetry, short stories, soliloquies, and even a short screenplay. Undaunted by the Bible’s most difficult passages, Evans wrestles through the process of doubting, imagining, and debating Scripture’s mysteries. The Bible, she discovers, is not a static work but is a living, breathing, captivating, and confounding book that is able to equip us to join God’s loving and redemptive work in the world.
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AMAZING
- By Jamie on 2020-09-23
Written by: Rachel Held Evans
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Falling Upward
- A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
- Written by: Richard Rohr
- Narrated by: Richard Rohr
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first half of life, we are naturally preoccupied with establishing ourselves; climbing, achieving, and performing. But as we grow older and encounter challenges and mistakes, we need to see ourselves in a different and more life-giving way. This message of falling down - that is in fact moving upward - is the most resisted and counterintuitive of messages in the world's religions. Falling Upward offers a new paradigm for understanding one of the most profound of life's mysteries: how those who have fallen down are the only ones who understand "up".
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Scripture
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Written by: Richard Rohr
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A Burning in My Bones
- The Authorized Biography of Eugene H. Peterson, Translator of The Message
- Written by: Winn Collier
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Encounter the multifaceted life of one of the most influential and creative pastors of the past half century with unforgettable stories of Eugene’s lifelong devotion to his craft and love of language, the influences and experiences that shaped his unquenchable faith, the inspiration for his decision to translate The Message, and his success and struggles as a pastor, husband, and father. Author Winn Collier was given exclusive access to Eugene and his materials for the production of this landmark work.
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Spirit filled
- By Dan carty on 2022-03-16
Written by: Winn Collier
Publisher's Summary
Controversial evangelical Bible scholar, popular blogger, podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, and author of The Bible Tells Me So and The Sin of Certainty explains that the Bible is not an instruction manual or rule book but a powerful learning tool that nurtures our spiritual growth by refusing to provide us with easy answers but instead forces us to acquire wisdom.
For many Christians, the Bible is a how-to manual filled with literal truths about belief that must be strictly followed. But the Bible is not static, Peter Enns argues. It does not hold easy answers to the perplexing questions and issues that confront us in our daily lives. Rather, the Bible is a dynamic instrument for study that not only offers an abundance of insights but provokes us to find our own answers to spiritual questions, cultivating God’s wisdom within us.
“The Bible becomes a confusing mess when we expect it to function as a rule book for faith. But when we allow the Bible to determine our expectations, we see that Wisdom, not answers, is the Bible’s true subject matter,” writes Enns. This distinction, he points out, is important because when we come to the Bible expecting it to be a textbook intended by God to give us unwavering certainty about our faith, we are actually creating problems for ourselves. The Bible, in other words, really isn’t the problem; having the wrong expectation is what interferes with our reading.
Rather than considering the Bible as an ancient book weighed down with problems, flaws, and contradictions that must be defended by modern listeners, Enns offers a vision of the holy scriptures as an inspired and empowering resource to help us better understand how to live as a person of faith today.
How the Bible Actually Works makes clear that there is no one right way to read or listen to the Bible. Moving us beyond the damaging idea that “being right” is the most important measure of faith, Enns’ freeing approach to Bible study helps us to instead focus on pursuing enlightenment and building our relationship with God - which is exactly what the Bible was designed to do.
What listeners say about How the Bible Actually Works
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christopher J. Roth
- 2022-10-17
Just a human book
I am an Anglican priest, so I am dealing with the Bible a lot. I have studied it formally as a student in a secular university and in an Anglican seminary.
Enns is funny, and very down to earth. I found him to be quite cynical, as well. His intended audience seems to be former fundamentalists who are no longer willing to view the Bible as a having descended from the clouds in the King James Version. He is reacting against a view of the Bible that presents it as a monolithic rule book, or as presenting a unified image of God.
He is basically using the methods of Historical Criticism that have been used throughout the 19th and 20th century. This method studies the Bible as an historical human document. It is interested in the original human authors, and the cultures that shaped them. But, it ignores any sense of divine influence.
Throughout the book, Enns points out ways that the people have changed their understanding of God. He suggests that just as writers of the Old and New Testaments have changed their views of God, so we should feel free to change our view of God as well, guided by wisdom. We are informed by the writers of the Bible, but we are not needing to imitate what they have done, nor should we. We are invited to modify our view of God for our culture just as Bible authors modified their view of God for their culture.
NT Wright has written something similar on the authority of Scripture that uses the idea of a lost 5 act play by Shakespeare, but the last act is missing. Wright suggests the Bible functions similarly. We have to improvise the 5th act in a way that it is still in continuity with the other four acts without simply repeating them. I think Wright’s image is more helpful to Christians than what Enns is presenting here.
I think what Enns is missing is a discussion about hermeneutics. How do we recognize the ‘wisdom’ that is supposed to guide us to our understanding of God? I know we can't do this with certainty, but what are the signposts? Wisdom is what is supposed to guide us into an accurate view of God for our culture, but how do we know when we are on the right track? As we seek to modify our view of God for our culture how do we know if we aren’t just being merely fashionable?
For example, to use an overused image, German theologians in the early 20th century were modifying their view of God such that it paved the way for churches to accept, rather than criticize, the Nazi government. What allowed Bonhoeffer to view God in a way that made him and the Confessing Church critical of the Nazi movement? Would Enns’ view of the Bible and of continuously adapting our image of God in relation to our culture lead to a Bonhoeffer who can be critical of a mass movement in his culture? Would Enns’ understanding of Scripture produce a Francis of Assisi, who tried to live out the Sermon on the Mount, embracing poverty, in the face of an ostentatious church?
I’m not denying that our view of God modifies over time. Enns knows this is a sticky situation for each generation, More discussion how on we might be guided through this would have been helpful. In reading the book I had the sense that a changing view of God was the norm, and that was good, But how do we avoid adopting bad changes in our view of God?
I think the major piece that is missing from this book is God’s side of our understanding of Scripture. How is it that God uses Scripture? Does God use it? Why not ditch it and seek after wisdom without the baggage of the Bible? As Christians, we believe that God speaks to the Church through the words of the Bible? How? I would like him to engage with some of the theologians doing work regarding figural reading.
Enns sees the authors of Scripture as reaching out to understand God in ways appropriate to their culture. But the same could be said of many of the ancient myths through human history. Is Christian Scripture no more valuable for understanding God than the Epic of Gilgamesh? Or the Greek myths? This isn’t to say there isn’t something to learn in these writings, but do we really want to hold these on the same level?
I would like to see Enns write a book for an atheistic audience about why the Bible is a valuable thing to study.
I think the book is a good read, but I think there are significant oversights. I’m not completely sure I see how his method is “good news”. Perhaps it is good news for those deconstructing their faith and trying to escape a more fundamentalist view of Scripture. But I think someone could easily feel that the Bible is not worth dealing with after reading this book. It could easily be used by an atheist to show why the Bible should be left behind with other myths of history.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-07-12
Thank You
Such beautiful and wise insights to understanding the simplicity and complexity that is The Holy Bible. Thank you so much, Peter Enns for writing this book.
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- CAM
- 2022-05-19
Informative, challenging and lots of humour
It's great to learn some new critical facts about the Bible while still feeling that the author respects the scriptures and is trying to help others have a deeper more honest relationship with them.
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- Paden
- 2022-03-31
Biblical seeker beware
This book is not a good book to read if you are looking to understand God and the Bible better. Please do not read this if you Love God. Love Thy Body by Nancy R. Pearcey is a great book for a better world view understanding of God and the Bible. God bless.
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- Clayton Thomas
- 2021-02-23
Oddly written
interesting read, intriguing content, somewhat distractingly informal writing style. Lot's of cheesy "Dad humour".
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- Adam Shields
- 2019-03-08
The subtitle matters
I first read Peter Enns in 2011 as part of a discussion of his Inspiration and Incarnation. I was very frustrated with the book. But after processing and in context of spending about a year reading about and thinking about hermeneutics, I basically agree with his main points. The three follow up books to that, all more focused on the lay reader than the academic reader, have been helpful.
I think How The Bible Actually Works is where I would suggest most people start with Enns and his project. In an overly simplistic summary, Enns is suggesting that the best way to read the bible is to pay attention to how it works internally and historically and how early readers read it. And that means we acknowledge that the bible speaks with diverse voices. That it is often ambiguous and sometimes contradictory. And that the point is not to give us clear rules of life, but to help teach us wisdom.
“Reading the situation—not simply the Bible—is what wisdom is all about. It’s also, as we’ll see, what the life of faith is about. Sometimes it’s best to answer a fool, sometimes not. Which option is best at this unscripted moment depends on all sorts of factors that are impossible to anticipate, and so each time I read a nasty comment, I have to decide in the moment what the best way forward is in this situation.”
Like Enns’ other books, I think How the Bible Actually Works is going to be misread by many. First, the title is tongue in cheek. There is a lot of humor in the book. Enns’ podcast is called, “The Bible for Normal People” with the tagline, “The only God ordained podcast”.
Second, while Enns is trying to help the reader think about the bible differently, he is not reducing the bible to only wisdom literature or as in the quote below, reducing Jesus to just a sage. He is introducing those ideas, not reducing them to only those ideas.
If Jesus’s main goal were to be crystal clear, he wouldn’t have introduced thick layers of ambiguities and possible misunderstandings. But that’s what he did. Because he is a sage.
Enns is focusing on the bible as wisdom because it has for much of the last couple centuries been looked at as a rule book with very simple straight answers or a history book with a modern understanding of history, or a pro-science book. To counter that narrative, Enns is focusing on the wisdom aspects. At the start of Fleming Rutledge’s book Crucifixion, she talks about the importance of Historical-Grammatical work on scripture. But she also talks about how, now that we have introduced those aspects to the conversation, we need to return to the theological reading of scripture. I think that is really what Enns is doing here.
Because I have read three previous books by Enns. And because I have read quite a bit about hermeneutics more generally, this was a very quick read, or actually listen. Enns is narrating the audiobook and his humor and lightness come through well. This was a book I could put on in the background while I did chores. But I do think that for people that are less familiar with either Enns or hermeneutics it will be more challenging.
I do not agree with all of Enns conclusions. But I do think that the larger point, that Christianity is to teach maturity and wisdom, not rule following, is right. But that point necessarily means that we will not end up with the same solutions because we have different thought processes once we start working through the issues.
I also think that you really need his book The Sin of Certainty along with How the Bible Also Works. The Sin of Certainty focuses on trusting Christ and loving others as the primary call. This does not mean he views doctrine as unimportant, but that doctrine (knowledge) apart from practice in love distorts what Christianity is about. I think the Sin of Certainty will balance some of the focus here and to move the conversation from the individual to the communal.
What Enns is pushing us toward is maturity. Maturity is about obligation to others, not just freedom. Mature adults know that while their own desires and needs are not unimportant, that they have an obligation to both their (or other) children and their community. Reading scripture through the eyes of wisdom, in the pursuit of virtue and character, for the service of others, rooted in love, is a call to maturity.
34 people found this helpful
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- RECESS LAUGHTER
- 2019-02-19
Love hearing the author read his own book!
I first stumbled upon Peter Enns in connection with his Telling God’s Story series for children, which I really appreciated. Rather than first introducing our children to strange (although familiar to many of us) and difficult to understand Bible stories from the Old Testament, his reasoning went, let’s introduce them to Jesus, the way any other Gentile would have started out. My husband and I used these books with our children, started reading Pete’s other books for adults, and have been following him ever since. I don’t always agree with him, and I sometimes think he leaves big questions (of mine!) unanswered, but I have always appreciated what he adds to my understanding of the Bible and my walk with God.
I was pleased to be included in the launch team for How the Bible Actually Works, which meant I received a free advanced copy. I have happily scribbled in the margins all the way through to the end, on the eve of the actual release of the book, and have concluded that it’s well worth reading, for all sorts of reasons.
Today I purchased the Audible version, because the voice Pete uses as an author is very much particular to him—jokes, sarcasm, and all—and I thought it would be nice to hear him read it.
Enns says, “This book is for the frustratedly Christian—who have seen that the Bible doesn’t meet the expectations they have been taught to cling to and who are having trouble seeing a better way forward.
“This book is for the barely Christian—who are hanging on to some semblance of faith because they are worn out from having to defend a rule-book Bible.
“This book may even be for the formerly Christian—who have had the courage to leave their faith behind when it ceased having any explanatory power for their reality because of what they were taught the Bible had to be.”
Interestingly, I don’t consider myself to fall into any of these categories, and yet I still think the book was for me. (It was also a bit of an eye-opener to consider what this intended audience may have experienced.) I find it completely fascinating and compelling that God would give us a book, of all things, written by humans in particular times and places, through which we can get to know him better. I mean, humans use language and write books all the time. We love stories. It’s so interesting to me that the Bible is so layered and multifaceted—that people were writing for audiences and with intentions that they understood, and yet God was moving through them at the same time. And for thousands of years people have been reading, re-reading, debating, and making sense of it all, in different ways. I find it exciting and mysterious, and endlessly rich and fruitful to study the Bible and think about these things.
According to Enns, the Bible is ancient, ambiguous, and diverse, and rather than being “rough patches” to “deal with,” those attributes are “what makes the Bible worth reading at all.” I heartily agree.
In How the Bible Actually Works, Enns makes a potentially dense topic accessible, intriguing, and even fun. He’s a good teacher. He doesn’t sew everything up, nice and neat, but he raises important and compelling issues, and lets us in on his current thinking. I’m already looking forward to his next book.
15 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2019-08-23
reimagining or rediscovering?
I just finished reading Peter Enns book "How the Bible Actually Works." I like it (hence the 4 stars). Enns has done his homework and brings up many valuable points that need to be considered today. At the end of the book, thankfully, he even identifies Jesus as the "highpoint of Christianity," which, honestly, it wasn't quiet clear where he stands reading the book until then.
Peter Enns keeps using the phrase "reimagine God in the here and now." He says that we as believers have the responsibility to seek wisdom to reimagine God in our current time. Again, I actually do like a lot of things Peter says in the book (besides his supersessionist claims in chapter 11 and his lack of promoting our dependency on the Holy Spirit as the primary source for wisdom). After some pondering, however, I still don't like the word "reimagine." It has the connotation of creating a God that fits my individual imagination. I would rather use the phrase "rediscover God in the here and now." God is God regardless if I see it or not. Nevertheless, different cultural circumstances require me to not stay on the surface but seek for wisdom and revelation from above, and not from within only, to rediscover God for my generation. That can be a painful process, especially if generational revelation clashes with each other. But that reality should never discourage us from going after the rediscovery of the God of old in the here and now. I'm not shaping God, or creating a god that fits comfortably in my cultural context, but I am living in a cultural context and I'm required, out of that context, to rediscover who God is, and how He relates to us (which, of course, requires an understanding of the context in which the Bible was written). This rediscovery only happens when we approach it with a poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:2), humility, teachability, and in the context of the greater Christian tradition, community, and the relentless pursuit of the truth.
To me, this is more than just a matter of semantics. I just simply refuse to believe that the survival of Christianity, or even the survival of God, depends on my ability to reimagine, or shape God in some new way. God is God, and the God of the Bible is the creator, the initiator, the one who gave me the ability to live within the context a reality. He is the one who shapes me and not the other way around. The problem starts when I hold onto the past, traditions, my own ideas, individualistic drive, or any of that, more than walking with God in humility, teachability, open ears, open heart, and open mind for Him to continue to shape me and, for the matter, the greater Christian Community.
I suspect, that one of the reasons why we have a few (not many, like some suppose), primarily young people (even high prolific leaders) struggling or even leaving their faith, is because in some traditions of Christianity this rediscovering of God has been rendered merely impossible because of certain theological convictions, traditional parameters, and unexplained or unscrutinized value systems. My job, however, is not to blame anybody or any conviction, but it is to look at my children and the people under my influence and see how I can help them discover, or rediscover, this great and mighty God.
See, reimagining is easy and can lead to conclusions faster. A rediscovery takes effort, digging, relentless seeking, the realization that we as believers really do need each other, and a continuous re-evaluation if what I discovered is actually the real thing. Maybe one of the reasons why some people fall away from the faith today is because we had too much reimagining happening and less rediscovery. A reimagining of God can likely lead to the false notion of the dispensability of God; "I actually don't need some God telling me what to do." God defies individualistic reimagining. However, an earnest rediscovery of the vastness, the power, the holiness, the justice, the reality of God always leads naturally and intelligibly to a full surrender and a realization of my need for a savior. I am in need of knowledge of God, not of my own imagined version of Him. Even Paul, in Ephesians 1, encourages us to not use our own imagination to form a version of God but to go after the spirit of wisdom, revelation, and knowledge of God:
"May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
Ephesians 1:17-19 NASB
The reimagining that Enns described seems to have a lot more to do with historical circumstances and people's creativity in the moment to shape a god that fits the time, than with divine revelation that is shaping us.
Eph 3:21 says the glory belongs to God throughout all generations. He wants to be known and rediscovered by every generation. Re-imagining God puts the emphasis on me and my ability to shape a god that fits my cultural context. Rediscovering God as He is, and as He reveals Himself, gives glory to Him and His wonderful and undeserved generosity in His self-revelation.
Nevertheless, I want to be teachable myself and seek more wisdom, as Enns encourages his readers to do (unfortunately without really pointing us to any real source for it), in order to have growing understanding. I know that my view of things, including God, has expanded (I'm intentionally using this word) compared to when I was younger. Perhaps that's all Enns refers to when he says we ought to seek wisdom and reimagine God.
10 people found this helpful
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- SMW
- 2019-07-31
Engaging and Misleading
I really liked Peter narrating his own book. He did a great job making his text sound like a conversation, and I appreciate that.
The content of the book is troubling. There is so much that could be said, but I'll just leave one comment and let other attentive Christians think for themselves. Peter seems to be holding on to the view that human culture and experiences often trump the very words of the Bible.
Seems more like a book out of his cultural moment than a historical one.
8 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 2021-11-23
Why is it political??
I wanted to read this book about the Bible but I got leftist/woke/political drivel that isolates me as a thinker. So maybe next time write a book on politics if you wanna talk about politics. It’s not necessary to bring up the second amendment in a book about the Bible.
4 people found this helpful
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- Michael T. Jorgensen
- 2019-05-06
Decent performance, questionable book
As an audiobook performance, he has a good pace and tone and a passable-voice. He sometimes stumbles on his own syntax although it is overall helpful to have the author read because he captures his snarky and cynical comments with the intended impact.
As a book it was disappointing. He asks a lot of great questions and misses the mark consistently in his answers.
4 people found this helpful
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- Shannon
- 2019-04-05
Imagined God, for our time, far fetched
Narrator good, excellent points, but overall insight/point is imagined. scripture/bible interpretation seems far fetched. However has some really good points/questions to think about.
4 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2019-08-22
takes verses out of context.
I have to stop listening because the author is taking bible verses out of context. if you really want to explain the bible, use the original meaning from the Hebrew or Greek. example discipline your child. author said this is child abuse. however the word could be interchanged with disciple hence gives the means of teachin them n or disciple them not physical abuse.
the other reference was train up a child in the way they should go. this again does not mean to force a child into learning what you want them to but it means to teach them in they way they are bent, or the way they are made. if you teach them in their learning style. understand them and work with the way they are, dont try to force them to be something they are not. this is the meaning.
3 people found this helpful
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- Bob Stocking
- 2019-06-03
Disagree With Author on Many Points
This Bible is ancient and diverse however it is NOT ambiguous. The author implies God had no idea that people thousands of years in the future, would still be referencing His sacred Word for both wisdom AND answers.
In Chapter three he sarcastically puts down the writings of Paul and lumps the Calvinist with the Neo-Nazis. As a Reformed Theology Christian, I realized this author had nothing I need or want to hear and have purged him from my library. As he points out, he is a PhD. which shows knowledge does not equal wisdom.
2 people found this helpful
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- Eric Kelley
- 2019-05-02
God is not a helicopter parent
Great book really enjoyed reading/listening to it. I received invaluable insights. I would recommend to others.
2 people found this helpful