Are you sure you know what your favorite Bible stories mean?
A surprising number of popular Bible stories are commonly misused or misunderstood, even by well-intentioned Christians. In this book, Eric J. Bargerhuff helps you sort through modern-day distortions of these well-known stories and grasp their meaning and purpose for us today. See with fresh eyes the life-changing truths in stories such as:
David and Goliath
Jonah and the Big Fish
The Woman Caught in Adultery
Zacchaeus, the tax collector
Gideon and His Fleece
Judas, the Betrayer
Filled with fascinating historical and scriptural insights, this concise yet thorough book will help you learn how to read and apply all of God's Word more faithfully.
My review:
This is one of those books where I found myself agreeing and disagreeing with the author. Not every instance he labels as a misuse of a story was one I agreed with, but I did find myself agreeing with him on other misuses of a story.
The book is well written, well researched, and is an interesting and fun read. I enjoyed the author's retelling of these well known Bible stories and also enjoyed his insights into them. I did think he made a bigger deal of some of the so-called misuses of some of the stories, but I still enjoyed those sections.
If nothing else, this is a book that makes you look at some Bible stories in a different light and see some things in them you never noticed before. It is definitely worth reading.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
About the author:
Eric J. Bargerhuff, PhD, teaches in the Bible and Theology department and directs the Honors Program at Trinity College of Florida. He served in pastoral ministry for more than twenty years in churches in Ohio, Illinois, and Florida. He received his doctorate in biblical and systematic theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Eric's passion is to write systematic and practical theology for the purposes of spiritual growth and reform in the church. He is a member of the Center for Pastor Theologians (CPT) and the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS).
Eric is the author of The Most Misused Verses in the Bible and The Most Misused Stories in the Bible. He also wrote Love that Rescues: God's Fatherly Love in the Practice of Church Discipline, which explores the grace and fatherly love of God that should be embodied in a church's efforts to restore a brother or sister in Christ who has gone astray. Eric and his family live in Trinity, Florida.
The Most Misused Stories In the Bible is available from Bethany House Publishing.
Thanks to Bethany House for the review copy.
1 comments:
I'm curious about David and Goliath. Does he mention that David was at least an upper teenager and maybe in his twenties? Does he explain that sling stones were typically the size of billiard balls and would be flying at 50+ mph when it hit Goliath? Does he include David's military experience before the battle with Goliath? Just wondering.
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