I wrote the following mini review for EG, the quarterly magazine produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
Glenn R. Paauw, Saving the Bible from Ourselves: Learning to Read and Live the Bible Well (Downers Grove: IVP, 2016).
The Bible needs saving, according to Glenn Paauw, not because of any defect in itself, but because our small, fragmentary readings of it neuter it, distort it, minimise it, and individualise it.
His response is this passionate and energetic plea to engage with the Bible on its own terms: to de-clutter it of chapter and verse numbers, section headings, cross references and study notes, and approach it as a book to be read, one which captures the imagination; to stop snacking on ‘Scripture McNuggets’ and instead feast on its totality; to move away from the search for ‘timeless truths’ and read it as immersed in history and as speaking to real people; to read it with others and not just by ourselves and for ourselves; above all, to read whole books of the Bible sensitive to their place in its big story.
Like me, you might not agree with everything said here, but you will come away invigorated by the experience, encouraged to read Scripture again with fresh eyes.
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