The Story of My Books #22 - 7 Things About the Bible I Wish All Christians Knew

Book # 22 was Seven Things About the Bible I Wish All Christians Knew. As a priest and professor, I get hit with a lot of weird questions about the Bible from the public (Didn’t Constantine invent the Bible?) all the way through to statements from parishioners that I’m a looney liberal (The Bible’s only GENRE is LITERAL TRUTH!). I’m sure many of you can empathize.

So I wrote this book about it, dealing with questions from cranky atheists, to naive biblicists, and everyone in between. This is the stuff I wish all Christians knew about the Bible: where it came from, how it’s true, and why it matters.

It is also, close to being my bestselling book!

The seven things in question are:

1. The Bible Did not Fall out of the Sky.

2. The Bible is Divinely Given and Humanly Composed.

3. Scripture is Normative, Not Negotiable.

4. The Bible is For our Time But not about our time.

5. We should focus on taking the Bible seriously, not necessarily literally.

6. The Purpose of Scripture is Faith, Love, and Hope.

7. Christ is the Foundation of our Faith and the Center of the Christian Bible.

Rob O’Lynn did a very good and very generous review of the book over at Englewood Review of Books.

Each chapter is written with both scholarly acumen and pastoral compassion.  The “things” Bird wishes Christians knew are important—vital—to mature Christian belief.  We need to understand the various components of the Bible, know the different views on inspiration and read the Bible seriously even when we do not read it literally.  While he scales back a bit on some of the more technical aspects, Bird does not hold back on the necessity of these conversations.  Additionally, each chapter provides additional resources for further study.  The tone of the book is conversational, never chiding or condescending.  Bird, who is a joy to follow on Twitter, wants the reader to develop the same love for the Bible that he has.  As I finished the book, I felt encouraged in my own faith and, truth be told, wished there was more to read.  If you want to know more about the Bible, then I heartily endorse this book to you!

There is also a whole podcast series about this book which I did with the Aussie Bible Society.