Review: Godbreathed: What It Really Means for the Bible to be Divinely Inspired
Godbreathed: What It Really Means for the Bible to be Divinely Inspired by Zack Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The principle concept presented by Godbreathed is the idea that the literal interpretation of the Bible, largely attributed to fundamentalists, has been toxic to the christian faith and the author is calling for a return to complex and rich exegesis that mines the spiritual truth of the stories that doesn’t depend on the inerrant historical facts there in. This is pitched as a return to Hebrew scriptural tradition … presumable something like a midrash … and may make the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura problematic. If the reader subscribes to a tradition that mandates a literal reading of an inerrant Holy Bible, this book is not for you and is unlikely to change your mind. However, if the reading is struggling with resolving all of the apparent discrepancies and contradictions that a literal interpretation creates, this book provides some cover for the idea that such is actually okay and perhaps even intentional.
The first chapter advances that idea of treating the Bible and God as interchangeable (bible idolatry) and why that is dangerous to the inspired interpretation that comes from “wrestling” with the scripture. The next chapter covers how and when the Bible actually became canon and points to the fact that tradition actually came first. While there was an interesting hint about the conflation of masoretic disciple and the Christian belief of inerrancy, but I think much of that was poorly supported. That said, I thought the problem of using prooftext to weaponize scripture and such being counter productive was a solid observation in the next chapter. Chapter 4 highlights some of the common objections to literal exegesis and how such became the norm (faith vs science). While the title for chapter 5 was wierdly provocative, it also covers the unfortunately need for certitude that warps a lot of biblical interpretation (instead of allowing for the possibility of admitting that we don’t know). Finally the last three (3) chapters harken back to two early church fathers (Origen and Augustine) to examine their approach to scripture to eventually come up with a simple heuristic for Biblical interpretation … if your interpretation doesn’t not end with love … you got it wrong. Ultimately that is a sentiment I can get behind.
A Word About Words
1. Stop Worshiping This Book!
2. Richard Kiley Wrote The Bible
3. Born Again On The Boardwalk
4. Icarus
5. Cussin’ For Jesus
6. What If The Bible Is Wrong
7. The Bull Stamp
8. Can These Bones Live?
Acknowledgement
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#Godbreathed #NetGalley
View all my reviews
The principle concept presented by Godbreathed is the idea that the literal interpretation of the Bible, largely attributed to fundamentalists, has been toxic to the christian faith and the author is calling for a return to complex and rich exegesis that mines the spiritual truth of the stories that doesn’t depend on the inerrant historical facts there in. This is pitched as a return to Hebrew scriptural tradition … presumable something like a midrash … and may make the Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura problematic. If the reader subscribes to a tradition that mandates a literal reading of an inerrant Holy Bible, this book is not for you and is unlikely to change your mind. However, if the reading is struggling with resolving all of the apparent discrepancies and contradictions that a literal interpretation creates, this book provides some cover for the idea that such is actually okay and perhaps even intentional.
The first chapter advances that idea of treating the Bible and God as interchangeable (bible idolatry) and why that is dangerous to the inspired interpretation that comes from “wrestling” with the scripture. The next chapter covers how and when the Bible actually became canon and points to the fact that tradition actually came first. While there was an interesting hint about the conflation of masoretic disciple and the Christian belief of inerrancy, but I think much of that was poorly supported. That said, I thought the problem of using prooftext to weaponize scripture and such being counter productive was a solid observation in the next chapter. Chapter 4 highlights some of the common objections to literal exegesis and how such became the norm (faith vs science). While the title for chapter 5 was wierdly provocative, it also covers the unfortunately need for certitude that warps a lot of biblical interpretation (instead of allowing for the possibility of admitting that we don’t know). Finally the last three (3) chapters harken back to two early church fathers (Origen and Augustine) to examine their approach to scripture to eventually come up with a simple heuristic for Biblical interpretation … if your interpretation doesn’t not end with love … you got it wrong. Ultimately that is a sentiment I can get behind.
A Word About Words
1. Stop Worshiping This Book!
2. Richard Kiley Wrote The Bible
3. Born Again On The Boardwalk
4. Icarus
5. Cussin’ For Jesus
6. What If The Bible Is Wrong
7. The Bull Stamp
8. Can These Bones Live?
Acknowledgement
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#Godbreathed #NetGalley
View all my reviews
Popular posts from this blog
Dominican Inquirer
Technically speaking, this is really more of an independent, unstructured, investigation of a particular Lay Dominican Fraternity, where you can attend meetings as a guest with no particular commitment ... sort of a "try it before you buy it" approach to see if you and the fraternity members are even remotely compatible. Given some of the conflict within the American Church today ... this might not be a given. As might be expected, there can be strong personalities and intense beliefs about how to approach the faith within the fraternities that can reflect the same divisions that are seen in the Church at large. However, there are also some additional questions to contemplate to see if you might be a fit for the Dominican Family in general. Each of the Major Orders that have tertiaries (third orders) share their specific charisms (gifts) with their lay members, so in addition to a general desire for a deeper spiritual devotion to the faith, there are elem...
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Lectionary: 150 Reading 1 - Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 [sic] Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23 Reading 2 - 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Alleluia - 2 Corinthians 5:19 Gospel - Luke 18:9-14 '... for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.' In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. This story is closely connected to the one which comes just before it about the persistent widow who secures a just decision from a dishonest judge. While the first encourages us to pray and never give up. The second reminds us how, and in what manner, we ought to pray. However, to fully understand the example Jesus gives us, we should look more closely at first the century audience that He initially spoke to. A faithful Jew at that time would have assumed two things: That the Pharisee was a very holy and devout man. And that...
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)
Word of God Sunday Lectionary: 67 Reading 1 - Isaiah 8:23—9:3 Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14 Reading 2 - 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 Alleluia - Matthew 4:23 Gospel - Matthew 4:12-23 The Promise of Salvation Under a New Davidic King. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light … In the first act of creation, God created light and “saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:4) … However, light and darkness are more than just opposites; they are symbols, metaphors, and emotional currents that have shaped our understanding of the world around us for centuries. Within the stories we tell each other, we find a natural contrast between what is seen and what is hidden, between safety and the unknown, between clarity and mystery. This duality of light and dark exists because of one’s relationship to the other … and our experiences of the two. For those of us who have spent any time on the w...
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Lazarus and the Rich Man (Dives) Lectionary: 138 Reading 1 - Amos 6:1a, 4-7 Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 Reading 2 - 1 Timothy 6:11-16 Alleluia - Cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Gospel - Luke 16:19-31 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.' Justice, both socially and spiritually, is at the heart of today’s readings. Social Justice is about seeing the “unseen”… remembering the “forgotten” in our society. It’s about the men, women and children who only want a better life in a world that God has given to all of us, just not a select few. In our first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, we hear from Amos, the prophet of social justice. God called him to speak to the rich of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The country was about to be destroyed by the Assyrians while the wealthy “lie on beds of ivory” and “drink wine from bowls,” confident that “the ruin of Joseph” ...
Comments
Post a Comment