Controversial evangelical Bible scholar, popular blogger and 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
rulebook 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
readers, 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 the Bible. Moving us beyond the damaging idea that "being
right" is the most important measure of faith, Enns's 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.
