Scot McKnightReviews

Summary: In reaction to the embrace by American Christians of “humane” approaches to war and Christian nationalism, calls for an imaginative and improvisational approach to living out the Bible’s vision of a peaceful world.

This book reflects a response of Scot McKnight both to the rise of an aggressive Christian nationalism and an embrace of “humane” approaches to war through high tech precision weaponry. His concern is the embrace by American Christians, of ideas approving war both upon culture and our enemies abroad, justified by saving America for God. But where does the idea of the Bible not being enough come in? He argues that if instead we are to be people following the Prince of Peace, we need a new beginning that our political founding documents can’t offer. He writes:

“The Bible offers some raw materials of a new beginning. But the Bible itself has been become [sic] another tool of the ‘humane.’ The audaciousness of the Bible has been tamed–tamed and then co-opted. All too often the Bible is weighed against itself, allowing extreme to mitigate extreme, sometimes even pushing the other end off the stage. But that is not how the Bible worked or works. The Bible did so because the times called for it. The Bible imagines a peaceful world and then insists upon improvisation to realize that peace” (pp. 5-6).

McKnight then proceeds to assert that peace is fundamental to the Christian’s calling. God has made peace with us through Christ and made peace possible between opposing peoples through Christ, breaking down every human division. Peace shapes the vision of Christians for their lives in the world, calling forth imagination of new possibilities where peace has been absent. Peace calls us to improvise beyond the text of scripture to realize that vision in present day society. The remaining four chapters unpack McKnight’s thoughts of the shape of this imaginative improvisation on the Bible.

First of all, he invites us to a prophetic Imagination. He elaborates the peaceful vision the prophets proclaimed describing the coming of God’s kingdom rule, longed for by Israel in exile, and later under Rome. The coming of Jesus represented a turning point where an imagined future becomes kingdom imagination. In Jesus, kingdom has come. But what kind of kingdom? It is one that precludes war in a call of discipleship lived for others, manifested in the righteousness of the Sermon on the Mount, wholehearted love for God, neighbors, and even enemies, and the cruciform life, a denial of self and sacrificiality for others.

The kingdom imagination is an improvisational imagination. McKnight notes how the law of scripture shows marks of improvisation from wilderness to settlement and kingship to the ministry of Jesus and the life of the church. He addresses divorce law, for example and the laxity that often affected women adversely, the high standard uttered by Jesus, with the Matthean addition and Paul’s further exception. Thus African-American Christians improvised in envisioning their own liberation and so we might improvise in the pursuit of peace, presumably even against structures and ideas rooted in some formulation of biblical law (for example, the use of “just” or “humane” means in war). Finally, this improvisation arises from a peaceful imagination. It is an imagination that refuses to kill either Christian or non-Christian for the sake of the state, that takes up only the sword of enemy love, that imitates Christ in the way of peacemaking as a person of peace in every sphere.

There is much that is compelling in what McKnight writes. The central idea of Jesus as the king of peace and what it means to be a person of peace as one of his followers is a defining character of what it means to call oneself Christian. This is how Christ’s kingdom works and grows. Justifying war or embracing culture war runs against all this. I found myself struggling at two points:

One was, how far are we to be engaged in bringing in the peaceable kingdom? And how much awaits the return of Christ? Sometimes, it seems that McKnight was simply urging us to seek peace and pursue it to whatever extent we can, employing peaceful imagination (and I would argue that this may accomplish far more than we expect). At times, it felt he was suggesting nations act this way. It felt like he was trying to replace Christian nationalism with a Christianized state. Can the ethic of Christians and that of states in a fallen world be the same? If states are ordained to restrain evil by both punishing law-breakers and providing for defense from aggressors, can those who lead and enact these functions abdicate their responsibilities? And must Christians refuse any position, civil or military, where force must be ordered or exercised? I think McKnight would say yes. But this leaves others to do the “dirty work.” I would have liked for McKnight to have addressed these questions.

I also wonder about his improvisational approach to the Bible. How would he differentiate his improvisational approach to the Bible from that of Christian nationalists? I think this language is actually not helpful. The Bible, rightly handled, is enough to persuade me that the call of Christians is a call to peace, to shalom. McKnight makes that point for me by pointing to biblical texts, not by improvisation. Applying those texts in daily life certainly does take a biblically informed imagination but I think the language of improvisation, of the Bible not being enough, is reckless, and might open doors McKnight and I would rather see remain closed.

What McKnight challenges is our love of war and neglect of peace. If we are serious about Jesus, McKnight asks to what is our imagination devoted–to peace or to war, to defeating our enemies or loving them, to making one nation great, or proclaiming the Prince of Peace to the nations? And I would propose that the Bible is enough to answer that question.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

"Reading Romans Backwards" by Scot McKnight serves as a blueprint for a lived theology of Christoformity: being loved by God and loving God. As the title suggests, McKnight proposes that the traditional reading of Romans from beginning to end might not be the most effective way to grasp its message. His thesis is that starting from the conclusion and working back to the beginning allows readers to appreciate the overarching themes and arguments of the letter. Beginning at the end, with the practical implications of Paul's theology, readers can better understand the context and purpose of his teachings comprising the earlier passages. Using his deep knowledge of biblical scholarship, McKnight encourages readers to engage with the text in a more critical and nuanced manner. It’s lived theology, pure and simple. "Reading Romans Backwards" offers valuable insights into one of the most significant and complex texts in the New Testament and its relevance for contemporary Christian life.

Excellent resource for challenging you to be more intentional when reading the Bible. It helps you understand what you're supposed to be doing when you read, what you're supposed to bring to and take from your reading.

Also an excellent discussion about women in leadership in the church.

Only criticism: those willing to pick up this book are probably already willing to accept its thesis; those who need to hear this thesis probably won't be interested in this sort of book (ie, it preaches to the choir -- though the choir does still need to hear this sermon!)

ACTS, New Testament Everyday Bible Study by Scot McKnight.
A daily read, or every few days, of reading Acts of the Bible. At the end of each chapter, there is a comment about the verse, suggested further readings, and "Questions for Reflection and Application". A book for a reader's group or for an individual.
I won a complimentary copy from Goodreads. I want to thank the author and publisher, Harper Christian Resources. The opinions are my own.
A 5 star rating. A book to keep on a table near you.

CONTENTS:
General Introduction to the Series...ix
ACTS
Introduction: Reading the Book of Acts
The Mission of Jesus'/ Acts 1:1-14
Missioners in Jesus' Mission/ Acts 1:15-26
The Spirit of the Mission/ Acts 2:1-13
The Gospel of the Mission/ Acts 2:14-41
The Response to the Mission/ Acts 2:42-47
Audience-Sensitive Mission/ Acts 3;1-26
Courage in the Mission/ Acts 4:1-22
Prayers in the Mission/ Acts 4:23-31
Generosity Marks the Mission/ Acts 4:32-5:11
Ups and Downs of Mission/ Acts 5:12-42
Ethnic-Sensitivity in the Mission/ Acts 6:1-7
Martyr for the Mission/ Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-8:3
The Unexpected in the Mission/ Acts 8:4-40
Conversion in the Mission/ Acts 9:1-19
Questions about Converts in the Mission/ Acts 9:19b-31
Ministering like Jesus in the Mission/ Acts 9:32-43
God's Timing in the Mission/ Acts 10:1-23a
Gentiles in the Mission/ Acts 10:23b-11:18
Fellowship in the Mission/ Acts11:19-30
Powers Defeated in the Mission/ Acts 12:1-25
Patterns in the Mission/ Acts 12:25-14:28
Unity in the Mission/ Acts 15:1-35
People in the Mission/ Acts 15:36-16:10
Household Conversions in the Mission/ Acts 16:11-40
Launching the Mission/ Acts 17:1-34
God's Episodes in the Mission/ Acts 18:1-23
The Hub of the Mission/ Acts 18:24-19:41
Travel in the Mission/ Acts 19:1, 21-22; 20:1-16
Witness in the Mission/ Acts 20:17-38
Determination in the Mission/ Acts 21:1-16
Acts in the Mission/ Acts 21:17-36
Witnessing to the Authorites in the Mission/ Acts 21:37-22:29
Apologies and Provocations in the Mission/ Acts 22:30-23:11
Plots and Escapes in the Mission/ Acts 23:12-35
In Court Before Roman Power in Mission/ Acts 24:1-25:12
In Court Before Roman Power in Mission/ Acts 25:13-26:32
Promptings in the Mission/ Acts 27:1-28:13
Mission Accomplished in the Mission/ Acts 28:14-31

From Amazon.com:
. . .Join Aksel and Finley as they discover how to live out the Jesus Creed throughout their day at home and school, remembering: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Wonderful overview and explanation for what fasting should be in the Christian experience. Clarifies the difference in Biblical fasting and the fasting that - unfortunately - tends to happen today, if it happens at all.

I resisted buying this book for quite a while because it was written by someone who was involved with a megachurch. I don't trust megachurches at all. I finally relented when someone I trust recommended this book.

This book tells how to spot a toxic church culture and how to spot a good church culture as well as how to create a toxic church culture and how to create a good church culture that won't allow toxicity to grow. The concept applies to all organizations, whether or not they are churches.

Toxic church culture will do some or all of these when evil things are done by those in power: discredit the critics, demonize the critics, spin the story, gaslight the critics, make the perpetrator the victim, silence the truth, suppress the truth, and/or issue a fake apology. "Toxic, flesh-driven cultures breed a lust for power, success, celebrity, control through fear, an emphasis on authority, and demands for loyalty."

A goodness culture will actively create a safe environment by nurturing empathy (resisting narcissism), nurturing grace (resisting fear culture), putting people first (resisting institution creep where the institution is more important than the people in the institution), telling the truth (resisting false narratives & observing Yom Kippur -- group repentance & confession of sins), nurturing justice (resisting loyalty culture), nurturing service (resisting celebrity culture), nurturing Christlikeness (resisting leader/CEO culture where a pastor acts like a businessman.)

I very recently read Charity Detox by Robert Lupton. He encourages churches/non-profits to think like a corporation in judging the effectiveness of their charitable efforts. I'm trying to figure out how to merge these two ideas since Tov is against a business model. I think that measuring the results of a church shouldn't focus on raw numbers. Definitely not on the number of parishioners, the quantity of financial support, and the money spent on programs. I think that it should be human-oriented. You need a list of parishioners or people that the charity had contact with over the course of time. You sit and ponder if each person is in a better position overall now than at previous points in time. If you need to have numbers, you rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 with 5 being no change. If someone is in a worse place in life or unchanged, the organization might have failed that person. If your average and median are less than 5 (if a 1 is bad), your organization is probably failing. But the evaluation needs to be person-centric. I think that these 2 books can be compatible with each other.

I believe that this book can be applied to churches, non-profits, and businesses. Businesses can be personality cults just as much as churches can. (I'm thinking of Apple which is failing post-Steve-Jobs and Microsoft which protects Bill Gates from the fallout of his affairs with employees.) Businesses need to nurture empathy, nurture grace instead of fear, tell the truth, put people first, nurture justice, nurture service, and resist authoritarianism/rule-following. So very many companies need to put people first and profits much lower in priority.

In my personal experience with multiple toxic churches and parachurch organizations, the red flags of toxic culture have been flying loud and proud. For 20 years, I was in a denomination that has made toxic culture its modus operandi, and everything in this book rings so very true. Every sign of a toxic culture was there and none of the signs of a good culture were there.

This book is definitely worth 5 stars. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially anyone who is a member of a church, and even more especially to anyone in a leadership position in a church. If you aren't a Christian, you will probably be annoyed with all of the many references to the Bible, God, Jesus, and examples from churches, but creating a culture of goodness applies to every group of people that wants to prevent their organization from being abusive.

Rating: 5 stars of 5

A Church Called Tov is perhaps one of the most important books I have read this year. I encourage everyone who considers themselves part of the body of Christ to read it and take its wisdom to heart.

Scot begins by talking about how we create toxic cultures in our church environments and what contributes to the formation of and sustaining of those types of environments, as well as why they are harmful. After presenting the bad news, he transitions to what we can focus on to create church environments that reflect the heart of Jesus for people. It’s such a good book. Practical, relevant and sound. Highly recommend.

Summary: In an effort to foster understanding between the two disciplines, a biblical scholar outlines five areas for theologians to understand about biblical studies.

A common challenge in the academic world is the need for specialization, which promotes careful research in one’s field, but also increasing ignorance of other related fields. This is true in the world of theological studies as well, and disciplines like biblical studies and systematic theology operate in separate silos. Yet both concern the story of God. In this work, and a companion volume, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (review forthcoming), Scot McKnight and Hans Boersma engage in a conversation that seeks to foster greater understanding between the two disciplines.

So here are the five things McKnight wishes theologians knew, and a few of the highlights of each:

1. Theology needs a constant return to scripture. While McKnight would not adhere to sola scriptura, he proposes an expansive model in which creeds, denominational beliefs, major theologians, and church and culture all figure into our reading of scripture, and yet always beginning with scripture (prima scriptura). He also distinguishes between good biblicism (Bebbington) and bad biblicism (Christian Smith).

2. Theology needs to know its impact on biblical studies. Here, McKnight asks the question of whether it is possible for the church to interpret scripture apart from church dogma and interacts with a number of contemporary examples around Christology where this is evident.

3. Theology needs historically shaped biblical studies. Often theology is done without awareness of the historical context of scripture in which a doctrine arises. He notes John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift as an example of where historically shaped study is modifying the theological paradigm.

4.Theology needs more narrative. Theology is often creedally or topically framed, yet most of the Bible is narrative and arguably, individual narratives are part of a larger, over-arching story. Should the fact that God has disclosed God’s self in this way shape how we do theology? McKnight would say yes.

5. Theology needs to be lived theology. Theology is often divorced from ethics or practice. McKnight argues that scripture itself doesn’t permit this, cites Ben Witherington, III and Beth Felker Jones as good contemporary examples, and offers a treatment of Romans 12-16 in context of the whole book of Romans as doing theology with practice in view.

Boersma in his forward largely agrees with McKnight. He does contend that even McKnight’s prima scriptura inadequately recognizes the influence of tradition on interpretation, which McKnight himself seems to flirt with in his second chapter. I’d love a longer conversation between the two and look forward to reading Boersma.

I think McKnight hits the key issues and offers constructive examples of theological work informed by biblical scholarship. The discussion on scripture and tradition shows the work critically needed here. McKnight’s proposal that specialists in seminaries regularly offer updates in all-faculty meetings of key contributions to their field just ought to be the case everywhere.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

In sharp contrast to abusive churches and celebrity pastors, the authors challenge churches to become more tov (good) or Christlike. They look at a variety of characteristics that would exemplify this focus and highlight cultivating these characteristics, not through specifics programs or functions but a continual return to the pursuit of being Christlike.

A introduction to the life of Junia the Apostle in Romans 16:7 and how for centuries Greek New Testaments changed her name to Junias, a non existent male name. McKnight builds on this to agrue that the church has ignored gifted women in ministry throught the centuries. Too brief for an indept discussion of women in ministry but serves as an interesting introduction to the subject.

This was chosen as a title to be taught at a Christian based leadership college. I was asked to create a syllabus for classroom discussion -- but I couldn't do it -- I kept trying to read it but after the third try I gave it up.

NOTE: The instructor said this one was much better than the one they were previous using (title unknown). This is one book that I'm not keeping.

A collection of essays exploring the current lines of thought in New Testament scholarship, "updating" a previous work doing the same type of thing for a previous generation.

The work begins with NT context: the Roman empire, and the standing of women in Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian culture. It then explores various issues relating to interpretation: exegesis, the OT, Gospels, and Greek. Jesus, Christology, Paul, Paul's theology, eschatology, and ethics are then considered. The rest of the work considers lines of thought regarding many books of the NT: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Hebrews, James, 1/2 Peter and Jude, and Revelation.

This book is a lot to take in. A lot of good information; a lot of challenging information. Gorman on Pauline theology really stood out as exemplary. In general, though, this is a work to consult regarding the various topics, and mostly directed at scholars.

**--galley received as part of early review program

One of the main beliefs of most churches is that we can read the Bible and understand it ourselves. However, reading the Bible is not always easy. How do best read the Bible? This is a great book to start sharpening your skills in reading the Bible.
As a birdwatcher, McKnight once found that a blue parakeet had joined the other birds in his backyard. Although the other birds were originally uncomfortable with this stranger, they soon adjusted. As McKnight says, “They let the blue parakeet be a blue parakeet.” He uses this as an analogy – the Bible has “Blue parakeet” passages that make us uncomfortable or leave us scratching our heads. How do we let these “be blue parakeets”? To explain this, McKnight (who is a professor of New Testament) explains that She believes we should read the Bible as story. When we read this way, we can see how the parts we don’t understand fir into the bigger picture.
Reading the Bible is not always easy, and if we are going to be faithful and really grow in our relationship with God, we need to explore and understand how to read the Bible. You will have a better grasp on understanding what God wants for you once you finish (and start applying) this book.

This book is relatively easy to read and would be a great book to discuss in a group. Note: While generally a book on how to read the Bible, the major example used – women in ministry – can be controversial. If you are not comfortable with being challenged on this issue you will probably want to skip this book

Essential reading for any student of the Bible. How to read and understand the Bible. The author is a seminary professor and writes very well with compelling approaches to the hard stuff in the bible. Especially important with anyone who wants a way of making sense out of what Paul said about women in the church and it's contradiction with that women actually did both in the old and new testaments.

Fasting isn’t a popular spiritual discipline. It’s not the sort of thing people get excited about: feasting, yes; but fasting, no. Particularly at this time of year!
This excellent book by Scot McKnight, part of The Ancient Practices Series under the general editorship of Phyllis Tickle, takes a fresh look at fasting.
Is fasting a form of trying to twist God’s arm? Is it a way of showing God how serious we are? No. McKnight stresses that fasting isn’t a manipulative tool that guarantees results. Indeed results are not important. This approach is refreshingly contrary to many other books on fasting that focus on the benefits and rewards of fasting. McKnight rightly stress that fasting is a response - a response to a grievous 'sacred moment'. These moments include death, grief, impending or actual disaster, the absence of justice, a lack of holiness and so on.

The book is in two main parts: Spirituality and fasting and Wisdom and fasting. The first looks at different aspects of fasting as ... the second at fasting and... . He notes that fasting is not something we should do lightly as it is potentially damaging to the body. The first part looks at the theology of fasting and the second the practice of fasting.

For many fasting is a way of denying the body so they can focus on the so-called ‘spiritual’; it is for many an outworking of a nature/ grace dualism. However, McKnight contends that that fasting is not popular because we have exiled the body from spirituality. He is wanting an embodied form of spirituality. A spirit/ body dualism has denied the body and so fasting, a bodily function, has been ignored. Rather than denying the body, the kind of fasting that McKnight stresses is one that embraces the body.

There is a brief study guide and a list of recommended reading.
This is certainly the best book I've read on fasting.

Sorry, this book just didn't do anything for me. It was a slog trying to get through his various reasons for fasting. For me, there are two reasons to fast. Fasting is quite simply a way to get closer to God through turning my attention from physical things to spiritual things. The other reason is to exercise control over appetite. All those myriad reasons might be meaningful to others, but to me they seemed to belabor and distract.

Summary: Explores how reciting, reflecting upon, and living the Greatest Command can transform the lives of disciples.

"Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind and with all your strength."
The second is this: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
There is no commandment greater than these.

Scot McKnight proposes that this response by Jesus to a teacher of the law regarding what was the greatest commandment was not merely a response of Jesus, but reflected the creed Jesus recited. Certainly the first part, drawn from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9), was a creed every devout Jew recited and professed. Jesus response did something revolutionary. He added Leviticus 19:18 concerning love of neighbor. Jesus sums up the spiritual life, and all the teaching of the law as love of God and neighbor.

McKnight, who came from a non-credal background, made this a personal creed, reciting it morning and evening. In this work, McKnight offers a series of reflections on a life lived around the Jesus Creed, a life lived around loving God and others. After encouraging the use of this creed in prayer, McKnight explores the God we are to love and the powerful truth that we address Abba, the Father who first loves us, even when we were prodigals. The table he invites us to is an open table, a place where a new society is created. This sacred love, exemplified by John Woolman, manifests in transformed worship and transformed relationships.

In the second of four parts, McKnight leads us in reflecting on stories of people in the New Testament transformed by their embrace of Jesus and his creed: John the Baptist, Joseph, Mary, Peter, John, and the women around Jesus. I was particularly taken by his treatment of Joseph as a righteous man, who in taking Mary as his wife when she was pregnant with Jesus, lost his righteous reputation with a woman perceived as adulterous, and with an illegitimate child. McKnight observes that in his decision to love God and Mary and the baby, he loses his reputation and gains an identity as the husband of Mary and the Father of Jesus.

The third part explores a vision of the society of the Jesus Creed, It is a society that transforms life in the now. It is a mustard seed society in which small beginnings have far-reaching results. It is a society for justice, one devoted to setting things to rights. It is a society of restoration, that tears down walls of protection to spread the infectious purity of Jesus. It is a society of joy, where yearnings met by glimpses of joy become the full-blown joy of feasting with God and each other. It is a society of perspective, where we discover that "the end is the beginning," where our communion now with God in scripture and in prayer in Christian community is shaped by what we expect to be our eternal destiny.

Finally, McKnight considers what it means for us to live the Jesus Creed. He summarizes this as:

*Believing in Jesus
*Abiding in Jesus
*Surrendering in Jesus
*Restoring in Jesus
*Forgiving in Jesus
*Reaching Out in Jesus

All of these were challenging chapters, and certainly the challenge to forgive is one many of us wrestle with. Another, that I do not hear much of these days, is that of surrender. McKnight speaks of surrendering both mind and body and gets very specific about each. Here is part of what he says about physical surrender:

A disciple of Jesus recognizes the significance of what is physical. As Dallas Willard makes clear in several of his books, "the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life." The challenge for spiritual formation is for our bodies to love God and others so that they "honor God." While some people need to discipline the body more than others, the extravagances of some forms of monasticism, however well intended, express a fundamental misconception of the proper place of the body in spiritual formation. Having said that, however, the disciplines of the Christian life are "body acts of love" and cannot be set aside if we are being spiritually formed. In fact, the body cries for the opportunity to surrender itself to the Jesus Creed (p. 207).

No gnosticism here. McKnight explores how our bodily love for God and others works out in everything from our use of power to our quest for agelessness to our acceptance of the gift of our sexuality, while guarding from the misuse of this gift.

McKnight's book is so valuable in calling us back to the heart of following Jesus. When asked about what we believe, at best we often stumble to offer theological, explanations, or at our worst, declare all the things we are against. McKnight invites us to reflect, and by saying this creed morning and evening, to center our lives on what Jesus thought most important. I suspect that we often get distracted from loving God and neighbor because it is simply hard. On the one hand, this is uncompromisingly simple--love God with all you are, and when you find a neighbor--love that person as you would be loved. On the other hand, it is hard, and that, I think is why we turn to other things. It is scary to give ourselves wholeheartedly to God. And we worry what will become of us if we give ourselves wholeheartedly to the neighbor. But does this not take us into the place of surrender, of trusting the love of Abba-Father, as we day by day pray the Jesus Creed?

A blue parakeet is an unexpected or uncomfortable part of the Bible
The author stresses the need to read the Bible as a story as God's words to us. We need to discern the overall message and let it guide us in living as God wants us to.

I'm a pastor on the lookout for books to recommend to parishioners on reading the Bible. This one, while far better than Reading the Bible for All It's Worth, is not the book I'm looking for. At best, Blue Parakeet might have eaten the book I'm looking for, and added to it acronyms (WDWD? = What Did Women Do?); clunky slang (the book's title; Biblical stories as "wiki-stories of the Story) that already feels dated (at only 8 years old); and a long case-study section on women in ministry which is basically a different book. Also, McKnight's exegetical methods never allow him to even discuss the question of Pauline authorship (even in 1 Timothy) or how McKnight's take on reading "with Tradition" could lend itself to an LGBT-inclusive church. I don't know if that was to not lose part of the intended evangelical audience, but that's my best guess.

A well-done collection of case studies and analysis of on people who underwent religious conversions. It's divided into four parts: Christian to atheist, Jew to Messianic Jew, Roman Catholic to Evangelical, and Evangelical to Roman Catholic. I'm really surprised that the topic of religious conversion is so neglected. I wish there were many more books like this, detailing a wider range of religions, as I find the subject fascinating.

I wrote a review of this book and published it here: http://wp.me/p382tY-uR
Check it out!

In this book, McKnight tackles the difficult issues of contextual reading and spiritual discernment in a way meant to make these difficult concepts understandable for the average reader without specialized training in or familiarity with the discipline of biblical hermeneutics. He succeeds admirably, I think, in making the book accessible to a wide range of readers, though those of a more scholarly bent might find some of his explanations and/or examples a bit simplistic.

I agree with McKnight that it is important to properly qualify our claims of "literal" application and obedience to Scripture; we are often more selective in this than we would care to admit. However, even some of McKnight's readings, especially of the rules related to modest clothing and hairstyles on women in II Timothy 2 reflect the very subjectivity that he is critiquing. (He reads these texts with no acknowledgement of how they have been read and understood within the Holiness and Mennonite strands of the Christian tradition.)

Most concerning of all to me though, was this statement on pg. 143 related to the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15: "Was the Jerusalem council messy? Yes, it was. Did they discern what to do for that time? Yes, they did. Was it permanent, for all time, for everyone, always, everywhere? No." I wonder if that means McKnight feels there will ever be a contemporary context in which Christians SHOULD become Jewish proselytes in order to be a part of the Church... I would hope not, but that statement seems to leave that as a logical possibility at least.

I think that illustrates both the importance and the challenge of addressing the "contextual" nature of Scriptural interpretation. There is a constant tension between discerning what is "universal" and what is "particular." And I couldn't agree with McKnight more that it is this interpretive tension that necessitates an active role of the Spirit in our reading of Scripture.

Finally, McKnight spends several chapters addressing the perennial issue of the role of women in church ministry as his kind of "test case" or "working example" of the kind of contextually-sensitive/discernment-oriented hermeneutic he is promoting. Though he doesn't break much new interpretive ground in his work on the so-called "silence passages" (1 Cor. 14:34; 2 Tim. 2:9-15), he does nicely pull together a coherent and compelling response to the traditional prohibition of women holding roles of spiritual and/or teaching authority within the church. (Having already been convinced of a strongly egalitarian view, McKnight only confirmed what I already thought.) Just this section alone might be worth the price of the book.

McKnight's book is really most valuable in that it is such an easy read. He keeps the tone conversational rather than didactic, and peppers the book with enough personal observations and stories to maintain the reader's attention. I think the book has value as a way to introduce some of the thornier questions of hermeneutics to beginners. There is much more than can (and must!) be said than what McKnight says here, but at the very least, he provides a book that helpfully frames some of the most important questions we as followers of Christ will ever have to answer.

The book is written in two halves:

I had hoped for more conclusions from Venema, but he had a lot of good insights about the conclusions of genetic biology about what DNA can tell us about the relationships between species, the age of the modern human race, and the size of the emerging human population at that time. 3/5 for a bit too much explanation that didn’t seem relevant.

McKnight’s half of the book was excellent as he explored the different ways that Adam has been treated historically, in both biblical and extra-biblical literature, with special attention to Paul. He concludes that Adam is overwhelmingly literary and typological, also becoming viewed genealogically. The main question I was left with was why/how Adam would have moved from a literary to a genealogical figure. I saw Dr. McKnight shortly after finishing the book and asked him about this. The dissatisfying but honest answer is that we don’t know. 5/5

The New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) is based on careful study of the Greek text and reflects serious work in technical areas -- such as linguistics, textual criticism and historical concerns. The NICNT series flourished under the editorship of several New Testament scholars -- first Ned Stonehouse (Westminster Theological Seminary), then F. F. Bruce (University of Manchester, England) and Gordon D. Fee (Regent College, Canada) and now Joel B. Green (Fuller Theological Seminary). Newer volumes in the NICNT account for emergent emphases in biblical studies and their theological significance for God's people.