But he communicates them to a general audience with clarity and verve, and parts of the book are a joy to read. Admittedly, Enns is far from the first scholar to tackle these themes. He explains what the editor of the Exodus story is up to, links Eden to the exile, and connects three texts about the separating of waters (Creation, Flood, Red Sea). He traces the youngest-son theme through Genesis, and explains its significance in light of the rift between Israel and Judah. He shows how Kings and Chronicles are narrated in completely different ways, because of the different situations they are addressing.

And we need to let the Bible be the Bible, rather than what we want it to be (chapter 7).Įnns also brings some sparkling insights to the table, and the book is strongest when he is illuminating particular books (rather than telling us what the Bible isn’t). Paul read the whole Bible afresh, in light of Jesus (chapter 6). Jesus didn’t read his Bible in the same way we often do (chapter 5). The Old Testament narrates different stories in different ways, with specific circumstances in mind (chapter 3), and it offers different perspectives on all sorts of things, including the nature of God (chapter 4). God lets his children tell the story, and what they mean isn’t always what we assume it means (chapter 2).

Those points, in brief: The Bible is, and functions like, an ancient book (chapter 1). More important, although the overall message of the book-that the Bible isn’t a rulebook-is a somewhat overdone attack on a straw-man, his seven chapters each make important points evangelicals have often missed. And despite his troubled personal history with conservative evangelicalism, he critiques it without rancor. His writing is easy to understand, and he lays out his case clearly. He is creative, scholarly, witty, and at times hilarious.

If you already know that the Bible isn’t a cookbook, wonder whether anyone really thinks it is, feel like you’ve heard dozens of writers making this point before, and roll your eyes involuntarily at phrases like “ancient spiritual journey,” then you probably won’t. If you’re sick of seeing the Bible as a legal, formulaic, contractual book of rules and recipes-if you prefer the idea of a complex, challenging story full of puzzles, paradoxes, and plot development-then you will probably love it. Your response to those two sentences will probably determine your overall response to the book. “When we open the Bible and read it, we are eavesdropping on an ancient spiritual journey.” “The Bible isn’t a cookbook,” explains theologian Peter Enns in his latest book, The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It.

The bible tells me so enns