God's Book
An Honest Look at the Bible's 7 Toughest Topics
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Does the Bible condone warfare and slavery? Isn't the New Testament's teaching on sex outdated? Surely there's not a literal heaven and hell?
These are just some of the questions that popular Bible teacher and theologian Andrew Ollerton asks as he helps us navigate the most challenging topics in the Bible.
Understanding the Bible isn't easy. God's Book follows the biblical plotline from Genesis to Revelation and reveals how to make sense of difficult passages by considering them in their original setting. When we understand the creation story in its ancient context, we won't need to choose between science or the Bible. When we appreciate that the conquest of Canaan was a unique moment in history, these passages won't justify violence today.
The Bible's 7 toughest topics:
• science and evolution versus creation
• slavery and Old Testament laws
• warfare and violence
• suffering
• miracles and exorcisms
• sex
• heaven, hell and judgement
Andrew concludes each chapter with a letter to a young adult, giving practical advice on each topic. God's Book is for anyone who is spiritually curious about Christianity and wants to know how to understand the Bible, and for Christians who want to share their faith more confidently in today's culture.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The Bible was inspired for us, it's not directly addressed to us," argues pastor Ollerton (The Bible: A Story that Makes Sense of Life) in this comprehensive reassessment of core scriptural issues. Employing a nonliteralist lens, he surveys seven topics. These include how life on earth began, which he argues need not be a matter of debunking the creation story, as it's less an objective report than a means of explaining, in a faith-centered way, "the origin and purpose of everything." Instead, he invites readers to find God in the "unimaginably precise" conditions necessary for life to emerge. Elsewhere, he tackles the age-old conundrum of why God allows suffering, writing that God didn't create evil, but can "bring good out of it" in ways that are unknowable within finite human lifespans. Despite a few ill-fitting elements, including the letters addressed to his children that conclude each chapter, Ollerton offers balanced, thorough takes on difficult scriptural issues and generally resists pat explanations in favor of leaving things open-ended. Curious Christians, especially young people, will get a lot out of this.
