Reading the Bible for All the Wrong Reasons

The Bible can be hazardous to one's health if read with faulty expectations. Writing with compassion and wit, Russell Pregeant shows that reading "without interpretation" is impossible. The right question is which assumptions are appropriate. He addresses the most common and most harmful assumptions about the Bible, beginning with the expectation that it will always "speak" as directly and immediately as a fortune cookie. He moves on to address biblical authority, the Bible and science, "last days" prophecies, and the Bible as rulebook and guide to beliefs. Pregeant insists that we take responsibility for what we do with this powerful book.

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Publisher Fortress Press
Format Paperback
ISBN 9780800698447
eBook ISBN 9781451417944
Age/Grade Range Adult
Dimensions 5.5 x 8.5
Pages 152
Publication Date September 1, 2011

Endorsements

"In this thoughtful and accessible book, Russell Pregeant engages important questions about reading the Bible. He tackles tough contemporary issues ranging from biblical authority to care for the earth, from the rapture to evolution, from sexual and gender issues to the nature of salvation and the doing of ethics. What emerges is the contribution of the Bible to a compelling vision of the common good and of a just life lived in relation to a gracious God."

—Warren Carter
Professor of New Testament
Brite Divinity School

"For much of Western history, the Bible has been the primary source of the wisdom needed to inspire and guide conviction and commitment. Contemporary culture has abandoned that source of wisdom at a time when such wisdom is urgently need for human survival. Some have lost the wisdom by treating the Bible as a sacred object; others, by dismissing it as worthless or worse. Pregeant points the way to recovering and reviving its life-giving power."

—John B. Cobb, Jr.,
Professor emeritus,
Claremont School of Theology

Samples

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1