I am posting below–anonymously and with permission–(1) an Amazon review of TBTMS and (2) an email I received the same day. Both say nice things about me, but that’s not my point (believe me or not). (And if you’re still annoyed, remember that plenty of people say bad things about me, so it balances out.) I’m posting them because they represent the experiences of two of the kinds of readers I am aiming for in TBTMS. The Amazon review is by a graduate... Read more
Today we have an interview with Monte Harrell Hampton (PhD, University of North Carolina), visiting instructor of U.S. history at North Carolina State University and a pastor in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. He’s written Storm of Words: Science, Religion, and Evolution in the Civil War Era. The title sort of gives it away, which means it’s a good title. My in-depth summary: Before the Civil War southern Presbyterianism got along with science quite well. Then…dum DUM DUUUUUM…evolution happened and the old... Read more
Today is the first of three installments of my interview with Brian McLaren. He asked me three questions about my book The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It (which, I can’t remember, I may have mentioned once or twice over the last few weeks). In turn, we thought it would be fun if I asked Brian three questions of my own (and–NO–not about my book; you must think I’m self absorbed or something).... Read more
Today’s blog is by Carlos Bovell, a frequent contributor here. Bovell is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and The Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto. He is the author of Inerrancy and the Spiritual Formation of Younger Evangelicals (2007), By Good and Necessary Consequence: A Preliminary Genealogy of Biblical Foundationalism (2009), an edited volume, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Authority of Scripture (2011), and Rehabilitating Inerrancy in a Culture of Fear (2012). ****** A disturbingly common response from inerrantists to those who ask historical-critical questions about the Bible is that they... Read more
It seems that God is asking humanity to live inside of a cosmic humility, as God also does. In that holding pattern, we bear the ambiguity, the inconsistencies, and the brokenness of all things (which might be called love), instead of insisting on dividing reality into the supposed good guys and the certain bad guys as our dualistic mind loves to imagine. Such non-dual consciousness is our ultimate act of solidarity with humanity and even the doorway to wisdom. With... Read more
I’m not sure how, really, but somehow between yesterday and this evening my books got turned cover out. And notice there is one fewer than yesterday, so I am assuming it was purchased and not needed as a doorstop as they wheeled in the Joel Osteen books (he gets a whole shelf of cover out books to himself, by the way). Anyway, as I was saying, I’m not sure how this happened, though it’s not like me. Yes, I was at Barnes... Read more
Earlier today, “I just happened to be passing by” Barnes and Noble, so I wandered in to see if The Bible Tells Me So would be prominently displayed. And here it is, in the Christianity section, a few feet away from romance novels and sports biographies: I never had a book shelved in a normal (non-college/seminary) bookstore, so this is neat. (Hey there fellas, hope you don’t stay there too long. I’ll check on you later.) I was half hoping, though, that... Read more
More than any other writer of the New Testament, the apostle Paul transforms Israel’s story—beyond even where Jesus and the Gospel writers took it. A centerpiece of Paul’s letters is that the Good News of the Jewish messiah Jesus is for everyone, and by everyone he means Jews and Gentiles. Paul argued that Gentiles could be fully part of the family of Israel’s God just the way they are, as Gentiles, without adopting Jewish laws and traditions first. The idea was... Read more
Here is my second visit with Luke Norsworthy on his “Newsworthy with Norsworthy” podcast–which is a very catchy name, I think. I ramble a bit less in this one than in others, and occasionally I think I actually make some sense. We talked mostly about The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It and touched on my experiences at Westminster Theological Seminary, which seems to be back in the news in light of recent events. While you’re at Norsworthy’s... Read more
The story of Jesus is connected to the story of Israel….Israel’s story began it all, and without it there would be no Jesus story. But the Jesus story also brings with it something utterly new and unexpected that Israel’s story is not set up to handle. Jesus’s story is deeply connected to Israel’s story yet has a surprise ending. If we miss this paradox, we will miss seeing how the earliest Christian writers creatively adapted the familiar language of their... Read more
Peter Enns
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