This really fits in with the class I am taking on Hermeneutics. One thing that I think we as Christians need to be doing is really trying to understand how to read the Bible. Though I’ve heard it brought up before, this book really does a fantastic job of explaining the need to read the Bible as story. When I say that (and the author as well), it is not talking about reading it as a fictitious tale, but rather as an accounting of the history of humanity and it’s relationship with God throughout the ages.

So what does that do for us? I think that as we learn to take all things in their appropriate context, we can then better understand how to live the lives that God has called us to. We can then better understand how to share His message with the world – and with that, allow God to speak to us in our ways in our days. There is a part near the end of the book where Scot mentions a conversation he had with a close friend and New Testament scholar. It was in reference to 1 Corinthians 11:6, where Paul talks about women wearing head coverings. His friend said “Scot, some at your church don’t seem willing to ask if insisting on head coverings might do the opposite of what Paul was actually doing.” This is basically saying that demanding a woman wear a head covering today might do as much damage as a woman not wearing a head covering in the first century. Or as Scot puts it in his book:

“If we demand women do something so totally contrary to culture that non-Christians are offended or turned off, we should reconsider what we are doing. Paul didn’t want the dress of Christian women to bring a bad name to the gospel, so he asked them to wear head coverings; by contrast, demanding women to wear head coverings in our world may do the very same damage to the gospel.”

I thought this was a very good point; as we read Paul’s writings to the Corinthians, specifically in 1 Corinthians 9, we find that Paul was more interested in spreading the gospel then he was in exercising the freedom he had in Christ. So while Christian women may very well have had the freedom in the first century to not wear head coverings, it was best that they did so that issue would not affect the real meaning of the gospel message.

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody that reads the Bible. While you may or may not agree with everything the book has to say, it will at least challenge you to read your Bible more effectively while you attempt to discern its meaning.