I've enjoyed and learned something from every Pete Enns book I've read, and this is no different! He delves into how our perspective on God has changed over the centuries and what that means for us and the Bible. Particularly focuses on the Bible as a tool to teach us wisdom, which I think is a wise (lol) approach! ( )

This books has given me a lot to ponder. ( )

For most of my life, I have had an uncomfortable, conflicted relationship with the Bible. I love it and am constantly frustrated by it. Taught by "people of the book," from birth I was given all sorts of preconceived notions for what the Bible ought to be. This meant that as I've studied it more, I continually am having to deal with unmet expectations, which has felt like repeated faith crises.

Reading Enns' How the Bible Actually Works was a breath of fresh air, and truth be told, I had a hard time putting it down. He starts by sharing the questions he has heard on repeat from his students, namely: "What is the Bible, exactly? Who cares? What do I do with it?" And especially: "How does this ancient, distant, and odd book work for people who look to it today for spiritual guidance?" In his previous book - The Bible Tells me so - he argues that it's a mistake to see the Bible as an instruction manual, or a rulebook. In short, the "problems" of scripture that have to be explained are due to the baggage we bring to the text, expectations the Bible wasn't meant to meet.

His main point, the focus and oft-jokingly-repeated thesis is this: rather than seeing scripture as an instruction manual, or information to be downloaded, "the Bible holds out for us an invitation to join an ancient, well-traveled, and sacred quest to know God, the world we live in, and our place in it." The quest, in a single word, is wisdom. And he makes that point again and again and again looking at all the different parts of scripture to repeat it. As a friend put it, (and this phrase has stuck with me), his conclusion and thesis is "painfully obvious" and I so wish it had been drilled into my head as a youngster instead of all the religious baggage I carried for years. On all accounts, God is not a helicopter parent. As Rohr puts it, God is the "great-allower."

Of note, the book isn't written for conservative Christians. It's written for frustrated Christians - those "who have seen that the Bible doesn't meet the expectations they have been taught to cling to." It's for the barely Christian - hanging on to a thread of faith. And it may 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."

If any of those identifiers resonate with you, I can't think of a better book for understanding the Bible. ( )

The author’s approach of using examples from the Old Testament to demonstrate how Judaism evolved over time makes a lot of sense. Well done! ( )