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    How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News
    How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News
    How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News
    Audiobook7 hours

    How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News

    Written by Peter Enns

    Narrated by Peter Enns

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 19, 2019
    ISBN9780062894816
    How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How An Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers—and Why That’s Great News
    Author

    Peter Enns

    Peter Enns (PhD, Harvard University) is the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, St. David’s, Pennsylvania. He has also taught courses at Harvard University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the host of The Bible for Normal People podcast, a frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias, and the author of several books, including The Sin of Certainty, The Bible Tells Me So, and Inspiration and Incarnation. He lives in northern New Jersey.

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    Reviews for How the Bible Actually Works

    4.5/5

    126 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Enns’ best book in the series yet!

      Whereas The Bible Tells Me So gave a little positive use of scripture in its last section, this book is almost entirely devoted to it. Enns’ wisdom-centered approach is one of the best current articulations of classical christian/ancient hermeneutics. The church must not use its brilliant and shameful past as reasons to avoid its duty to wisely witness to Christ in our day and age.

      If you like this book I recommend reading Chris Green’s Sanctifying Interpretation
    • 5/5
      Great written, excellent information and the narration is great. Clear points to support the Bible as a book of wisdom.
    • 5/5
      This book is amazing! Although I am no longer a Christian, but I learned a lot from this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
    • 4/5
      I appreciate reading a popularising book from a biblical scholar from a faith based perspective. I am not a Christian but am interested in the Bible both as a historical document and a living cultural force. Enns writes to other Christians to familiarize them with what the Bible actually is, so that they know what is there and where its coming from rather than consuming choice feel good snippets. He is doing a great service not just to Christians but to anyone who wants to become familiar with the book and its historical background. His scholarship is extensive but his writing is very approachable. Its also an easy listen. The authors reads the book and does a great job. I always appreciate when authors reads their own books if they can do a good job (not all authors are good readers). I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the Bible, believers and non believers alike.
    • 5/5
      The book is engaging and honest. The book’s theme that the Bible is a book of wisdom rather than a manual or checklist raises the bar on how one comes to reading the texts. The book will make you think. I highly recommend Enn’s it!
    • 5/5
      What Made this book so great? Well rarely can you find a book about the bible that is not disconnected from life and living and that is merely ideology. And on the other hand you get the Bart Ehrman camp with a slightly cynical scholarly approach. The humour and the fantastic narration adds. It adds a lot, tons in fact.
      Dealing with the contradictions
      Of the bible in an honest, intelligent on dismissive overly cynical way is rare. Wisdom... and reimagining God. It is a dialogue and perhaps many of us That do like to read the Bible have not really thought it through what the Bible actually is. How is it inspired? What does that mean? Are all the things written everlasting rules for all future generations? I feel as though I became a ton les stupidness simplistic and I will make sure to read all the other books by the author.
    • 5/5
      Clear, funny, engaging and intellectual stimulating. I love it and think it’s very enlightening.
      I would have loved to know more about the author’s faith and the way he thinks the Devine inspiration actually worked out? Other than that I find this line of thought, this spirituality very conforming and adapted to an ever changing world, an ever searching soul. May God help us all to find wisdom, love and peace. My God’s kingdom come right here and right now in our lives.
    • 5/5
      Enns has done it again. I appreciate his dedication to scholarly integrity and evolution of religious thought while also injecting his considerable sharp wit to make the material understandable and fun.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I enjoyed chapters 1 and 2, but everything after that he blatantly ignores logic and facts to fit his narrative.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Did not always agree but loved how you made me think. Have already recommended you to several people.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      This author, and anyone else considering this author, should study everything produced by Dr. Michael Heiser and The Bible Project (Tim Mackie) to get at the real answers to these questions. Sadly this author seems consumed with pride, resentment, and very western cynicism, and he seems to know little about the heart of God. I got through 5 chapters and had to stop. There was nothing connected to the gospel or Jesus concealed in the old testament, so he's missing the point entirely and his poorly concealed anger is telling. The one and only point I can agree upon with this author is that the Bible wasn't written to the 21st century American. The old testament was written to the Israelite and the new testament to the 1st century Jew and Gentile. Skip this book and start with Heiser's work.

      1 person found this helpful