100 Books Like Permission Granted

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.

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.

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.

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.

As a writer of fantasy fiction, I know the importance of asking the “what if” questions.

And, as a reader of the Bible, I often read scripture and wonder what life was really like for some of the people, what they felt like, or what drove them to do the things they did. That’s why I love a well-written biblical fiction novel, and Eden is the perfect book to feed my often-insatiable curiosity.

Brennan McPherson is the perfect fit for a job like this. His understanding of the Bible and the intricacies of human nature give him the ability to bring us a unique look into the lives of people like Adam and Eve.

Imagining the life of Adam and Eve was at the center of the story of my novel. More importantly, this story personalized Earth’s first couple and made me evaluate my relationship with God.    

I never understood how cool it was to read more than one version of the Bible until I lived with a friend who had a bookshelf full of them.

As I wrote my papers for seminary, I used every single one.

The Message always makes me pick up another to compare the passage. Often, I choose the King James because it's more literal. The writers of that version aimed to translate the Bible word for word from the original languages.

It's not that the translations say anything different like they've sometimes been accused of doing. No, it's that the Amplified Bible's list of synonyms partnered with the word pictures in the Message expand on the simplified words of the Contemporary English version makes it easier for us to understand.

Reading several versions helps me come to a new and deeper perspective.

Try it and see what you think!

When I was seeking God for some things greater than I felt I deserved, I began to search for reading material that could strengthen my faith and help me understand some of the things shared in the Word of God pertaining to faith. Well, the late Dr. Fredrick Price became my go-to-author. In this book, he really dissects some of the greatest stories pertaining to faith found in the Bible and helps his readers to get a full and complete understanding. I am recommending this book because it’s definitely an easy but informative read that you won’t soon forget.

Every time I read this workbook, I notice that a lot of people ask, “You say you hear God, but how do you hear God?” 

They do that because when I apply the practical steps the workbook teaches, I end up with a lot of stories that start with, “This is what God’s been showing me...”

I don’t know about you, but practical instructions really help me! 

This book not only shares information and testimonies, but it also teaches you how to converse with God and that's exactly what I wanted to learn how to do.

If you’ve been wanting to hear God, this book is for you!

I loved this book because it was such an easy read, but still somehow managed to really capture the whole story of the Bible.

The author also did something that was really unique. After the first chapter, he began to write a summary of the entire Bible. Then, at the end of every other chapter, he simply added to it. By the end, the reader is left with a very concise, but complete summary of the Bible. That was quite ingenious!

Recommended for anyone!

Believers in God see him as the creator of man and women in his own image. Firm believers tried throughout history to model themselves as they imagined God. But God, the author says, evolves through his relationship with man, and man becomes rival to God. So believers and non-believers discover that God, the protector of the poor and weak, becomes a warrior who nearly destroys all humans and animals he created by causing the flood. So rational people realize that God is a tribal chief who gets angry, kills, destroys, loves some and forgets many more. This book is a must-read for all believers and non-believers. I found this book unusual in telling amazing stories about God and his actions and reactions.