I’ve always been a thinker, asking big questions and playing around with crazy ideas. That’s why I’ve been fascinated by the Bible since I was fourteen, reading it cover-to-cover multiple times and studying it academically for—approaching four decades now. It’s a classic for a reason! At first, I read it because I became a Christian, and it’s part of the package, but within a short time, I was hooked. I was especially interested in the tough parts, the bits I didn’t like or couldn’t make sense of. They were invitations to explore, think, and learn. It never ceases to surprise me with new ideas and inspirational insights.
I wrote
The Biblical Cosmos: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Weird and Wonderful World of the Bible
Is God a genocidal maniac? Like many people, I have struggled for years with the dark and troublesome texts in the Old Testament that seem to approve of violence, killing, and even, on occasion, genocide. I’ve read a lot on the subject, and this is unquestionably the book I have found most helpful.
I really value the authors’ careful attention to detail, the insights gained when reading OT texts in their ancient Near Eastern context, and especially the intelligent and nuanced approach to reading the Bible.
It’s not a light read, and it is detailed in places, but it is not hard to follow. It’s hard to sum up the argument, so I won’t try. The upshot is that God isn’t a genocidal maniac. In brief: eye-opening, educational, and a blooming relief.
Word Guild Award Shortlist ― Biblical Studies Word Guild Best Book Cover Award Association of University Presses Design Show ― Book, Jacket, and Covers
Christians cannot ignore the intersection of religion and violence, whether contemporary or ancient. In our own Scriptures, war texts that appear to approve of genocidal killings and war rape―forcibly taking female captives for wives―raise hard questions about biblical ethics and the character of God. Have we missed something in our traditional readings?
In Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? William Webb and Gordon Oeste address the ethics of reading biblical war texts today. Theirs is a biblical-theological reading…
In which I discover that St Paul’s was not a misogynist! It is easy to see why we might think otherwise. His first letter to the Corinthians has had a profound and often negative impact on the place of women in Christianity. And just when I thought there was nothing left to say about it, along comes Lucy Peppiatt, and blows my mind!
I loved the complete left-of-field interpretation she offers and the fact that she turns traditional interpretations on their head. She plausibly argues that Paul was not for forcing women to veil and be silent in church. According to Peppiatt, Paul argued against the domineering men who insisted on such things. Wowza! And, by Jove, she could well be right! Invigorating stuff! (The author’s academic version is her Worship and Women at Corinth)
Whether people realize it or not, the ideas in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 have had a huge impact on the role of Christian women in the church through the centuries. These fifteen verses have shaped worship practices, church structures, church leadership, marriages, and even relationships between men and women in general. They have contributed to practices that have consistently placed women in a subordinate role to men, and have been used to justify the idea that a woman should not occupy a leadership or teaching position without being under the authority or "covering" of a man. It is strange, therefore, that…
It turns out that the “God hates fags” folk are wrong (and not simply unkind). So often, modern debates in churches on homosexuality assume that one either (I) believes the Bible and rejects same-sex relationships as sinful or (II) rejects the Bible to embrace the rainbow.
What I love about this carefully argued book from a NT scholar is that he throws a spanner in the works and makes us think again. (And, dude, a wee bit of thought could go a long way in these poisonous waters.) Brownson argues that the teachings of the Bible do not, contrary to popular opinion, exclude same-sex relationships.
I found his clear and careful examination of all the “troublesome texts” and how we’ve misunderstood them to be enlightening and helpful.
Grapples conscientiously with biblical texts at the heart of the church's debate over same-sex relationships
This thought-provoking book by James Brownson develops a broad, cross-cultural sexual ethic from Scripture, locates current debates over homosexuality in that wider context, and explores why the Bible speaks the way it does about same-sex relationships.
Fairly presenting both sides in this polarized debate — "traditional" and "revisionist" — Brownson conscientiously analyzes all of the pertinent biblical texts and helpfully identifies "stuck points" in the ongoing debate. In the process, he explores key concepts that inform our understanding of the biblical texts, including patriarchy, complementarity,…
To my mind, this one is a game-changer. It seems a niche subject—the ways that Jesus’ death is interpreted in NT texts as a sacrifice—but, Man Alive, it was one of the most eye-opening and engrossing books I’ve read in years.
Rillera argues that many Christians have significantly misunderstood Jesus’ death. All that stuff about Jesus taking the punishment for our sins and dying so we don’t have to, he says, is not in the Bible! Sounds nuts, right? That’s why I found it such an arresting book.
And the resulting teaching on Jesus’ death makes a heck of a lot more sense to me. I love books that make me rethink stuff I took for granted. This is one. (Warning: a tightly argued book, so demands some concentration.)
Lamb of the Free analyzes the different sacrificial imagery applied to Jesus in the NT in light of the facts that (a) there is no such thing as substitutionary death sacrifice in the Torah—neither death nor suffering nor punishment of the animal has any place in the sacrificial system—and (b) there are both atoning and non-atoning sacrifices. Surprisingly, the earliest and most common sacrifices associated with Jesus’s death are the non-atoning ones. Nevertheless, when considering the whole NT, Jesus is said to accomplish all the benefits of the entire Levitical system, from both atoning and non-atoning sacrifices and purification. Moreover,…
I like hugging trees, so this is my kind of book! It’s based on a PhD, but I found it very readable and blew me away! Its basic idea is that the OT sees the whole cosmos—including animals, plants, mountains, stars, rivers, and land—as alive and as “persons” in some sense.
The Bible is brimming with such language, but we always dismiss it as “mere” poetry. Nope, says Joerstad, ancient Israelites were animists. What the flump! That conclusion turns much of the OT scholarship upside down. I was so intrigued with this one that I read it three times.
It's such a novel interpretation, but to my mind, it makes sense! I am still not sure how it should affect the way we see the cosmos today, but the mystic within me likes it.
The environmental crisis has prompted religious leaders and lay people to look to their traditions for resources to respond to environmental degradation. In this book, Mari Joerstad contributes to this effort by examining an ignored feature of the Hebrew Bible: its attribution of activity and affect to trees, fields, soil, and mountains. The Bible presents a social cosmos, in which humans are one kind of person among many. Using a combination of the tools of biblical studies and anthropological writings on animism, Joerstad traces the activity of non-animal nature through the canon. She shows how biblical writers go beyond sustainable…
When we read Scripture, we often imagine that the world inhabited by the Bible's characters was much the same as our own. We’d be wrong. The biblical world is an ancient world with a flat earth that stands at the center of the cosmos, and with a vast ocean in the sky, chaos dragons, mystical mountains, demonic deserts, an underground zone for the dead, stars that are sentient beings, and, if you travel upwards and through the doors in the solid dome of the sky, God's heaven.
This book takes readers on a guided tour of the biblical cosmos and then seeks to show how this very ancient way of seeing the world contains deep, relevant insights for our modern world.
From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list.
When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?
Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…
"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author
When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.
With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…
