Peter Enns, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It (HarperOne, 2014).
Review by Caleb Miller
As a student of theology and the scriptures, I read hundreds of books on the topics of biblical studies and hermeneutics. Few authors catch our attention when writing varying thoughts on reading the bible. For my own tastes, too many are often too “literal” in their approach and ignore a broader meaning to be found by reading things a little more openly. What Peter Enns has managed to do in his new book “The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture has Made us Unable to Read It” is nothing short of a miracle. Enns held my attention from page 1 with humor, history, and heart. Where many fall flat by simply making derogatory remarks about the scripture, Enns manages to keep the scripture in high regard as well as read it openly—no small feat. This book needs to be on the shelf of every serious student of the bible, referenced often, and re-read as frequently as possible. From cover to cover this book holds the attention of the reader. It made me laugh out loud on several points, take a second look at texts I thought I knew well, and reinvigorated my passion for studying the texts of the bible. I don’t often recommend that everyone “rush out an buy this book” but I can say with full assurance, you will not be disappointed if you do.
Preview by Peter Enns
My next book is coming out at the end of August and the title is The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It.
I lobbied for Pete Enns Tells Me So: Why Arguing with Pete Enns Is Futile (by Pete Enns), but the legal team at HarperOne would have none of that (using words like “sales figures,” “stupid,” and “get help” in their email).
The book is just over 65,000 words long, and I am proud of each and every one of them. All that remains for me now is to arrange them in the right order and make sentences out of them (at which time I will give an exerpt or two).
Until then, here are some of the words that will appear in the book, some more than once.
