I grew up in a conservative religious environment where the Bible was treated like a rule book: God’s policy manual. But college-level Bible courses taught me to see that academic and even mystical ways of reading the Bible can enhance our appreciation of its ancient wisdom. I’ve been a lay/amateur student of the Bible ever since, and that has paired well with my longstanding interest in Christian Mysticism and spirituality—I’ve learned over the years to appreciate the Bible as a work of art, not some legal code. I love sharing my appreciation of the Bible with others who want an honest and contemporary understanding of scripture.
I’ve read a number of books about the Bible over the years, from academic monographs to commentaries to popular and devotional reads. Hands down, Rohr’s Things Hidden is my single favorite book about scripture.
It’s accessible—not academic, although clearly informed by good scholarship. It celebrates the Bible for its spiritual meaning, rather than getting mired in dogma, philosophy, or moralism.
Most important of all, it provides insight into how the Bible tells a centuries-long story of how people (first, the Jewish community, and later on, the earliest Christians) over time grew to understand God as an infinite, loving creator.
Sacred Scripture and Christian spirituality belong together.
In this exploration of the central themes of Scripture, Richard Rohr transforms the written word, discovering in these ancient texts a new and vital meaning, relevant and essential to all believers. He uncovers what the Bible says about morality, power, wisdom and the generosity of God in a manner that inspires in us a life-changing response.
Rohr's Christian vision of abundance, grace and joy - counteracting the scarcity, judgement and fear we know in our world - has the power to revolutionize how we relate to ourselves and all around us.
I truly was inspired by Jennifer Bird’s intelligent yet inviting introduction to the Bible—and her explanation of why ordinary people can read it for personal spiritual benefit.
For many years, I felt intimidated by Biblical commentaries because they were written by brilliant scholars and researchers who devoted their entire lives to the Bible. How could I ever reach their depth of knowledge?
But along came Jennifer Bird, who reminds readers like me that it’s okay to bring a layperson’s perspective to scripture. As her title indicates, she gives everyone permission to mind our own ways of relating to this ancient text.
She’s not promoting fundamentalism, but rather gives us permission to balance an academic appreciation of Biblical knowledge with a personal encounter with the Spirit of love who truly inspired the Biblical writers.
Millions of people around the world look to the Bible as a source of encouragement and faith formation, a reminder that God is love and is in control, and a guide to living one's life the way God desires. But this treasured book has also been misused and manipulated by many, placed on a pedestal of untouchability, and protected from questioning and honest engagement. In Permission Granted, Jennifer Grace Bird encourages people of faith to explore the texts on their own, freed from long-held myths and misconceptions; experience the Bible anew; and appreciate this holy book for what it isaEURO"not…
As a Veteran, I once dismissed Christianity, viewing it as outdated and irrelevant.
But as I witness the West sliding into chaos, I realize how wrong I was. It is no accident that Christianity is under assault while the West is being overwhelmed by a cultural virus that sows discord…
I grew up in a conservative church in the American South, the home of evangelical fundamentalism—but Marcus Borg offered me a great pathway out of the narrow-mindedness of literalistic, authoritarian religion.
The subtitle of this book says it all: there is a path to taking the Bible more seriously (as a spiritual book) when we stop insisting on reading it literally. Borg combines quality scholarship with an almost mystical appreciation of the wisdom encoded in the ancient scripture.
For me, reading his book was an invitation not only to read the Bible anew, but to fall in love with it all over again.
Many Christians mistakenly believe that their only choice is either to reconcile themselves to a fundamentalist reading of scripture (a "literal-factual" approach) or to simply reject the Bible as something that could bring meaning and value into their lives. In Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg shows how instead we can freshly appreciate all the essential elements of the Old and New Testaments—from Genesis to Revelation—in a way that can open up a new world of intelligent faith.
In Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, Borg reveals how it is possible to reconcile a…
Growing up as a Christian, I learned a Christian understanding of the Bible, but my appreciation of scripture took a quantum leap when I was exposed to Jewish perspectives, including this brilliant study of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian “Old Testament”) as a guide to meditation.
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan unpacks how instructions for meditation are often carefully encoded in the ancient writings, thereby revealing not only how the Bible supports a meaningful spiritual practice, but also how it is filled with subtle mystical teachings.
I’ll never accept the criticism that “mysticism isn’t in the Bible ever again”—this book shows how that perspective is based on misunderstanding Biblical wisdom.
A highly radical interpretation of the Bible demonstrating the methods of meditation used by the Prophets to attain their unique states of consciousness. First English translation from ancient unpublished manuscripts, with commentary.
As a Veteran, I once dismissed Christianity, viewing it as outdated and irrelevant.
But as I witness the West sliding into chaos, I realize how wrong I was. It is no accident that Christianity is under assault while the West is being overwhelmed by a cultural virus that sows discord…
Just as Aryeh Kaplan helped me to read the Old Testament through Jewish (mystical) eyes, Amy-Jill Levine introduced me to a new understanding of Jesus and the New Testament, which once again completely revolutionized my understanding of the Bible and my appreciation for its wisdom.
Levine reminds us that Jesus lived and died as a Jew; his words and his teachings come alive in new and surprising ways when we take seriously his Jewish identity.
What I love about this book is not only how much it enriched my understanding of Jesus, but it also helped me to see how context is crucial for a careful reading of the Bible: knowing the social and historical background makes it so much easier to appreciate the spiritual wisdom in the sacred text.
In the The Misunderstood Jew, scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine's humor and informed truth-telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other.
This book invites you to learn a new way of understanding and appreciating the Bible, which has unfortunately been used in negative ways—to justify slavery, for example, or to reject some of the findings of modern science. Because of this, many people reject the Bible as a hopelessly superstitious, sexist, and homophobic book. Even so, it remains overall a priceless treasury of spiritual wisdom.
By following the example of ancient mystics—people who read the Bible not as a kind of legal code, but as a poetic expression of divine love—we can recapture the real wisdom of scripture, without having to deny its problems or how it’s been abused. Read the Bible Like a Mystic can help anyone who wants to rediscover an honest but spiritually affirming understanding of the Bible.
