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John Dominic Crossan

How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation Hardcover – Illustrated, 27 April 2015

by John Dominic Crossan (Author)

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The acclaimed Bible scholar and author of The Historical Jesus and God & Empire—“the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation” (John Shelby Spong) —grapples with Scripture’s two conflicting visions of Jesus and God, one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God, and explains how Christians can better understand these passages in a way that enriches their faith.

Many portions of the New Testament, introduce a compassionate Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But the Jesus we find in Revelation and some portions of the Gospels leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true revelation of the Messiah—and how can both be in the same Bible

How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian explores this question and offers guidance for the faithful conflicted over which version of the Lord to worship. John Dominic Crossan reconciles these contrasting views, revealing how different writers of the books of the Bible not only possessed different visions of God but also different purposes for writing. Often these books are explicitly competing against another, opposing vision of God from the Bible itself.

Crossan explains how to navigate this debate and offers what he believes is the best central thread to what the Bible is all about. He challenges Christians to fully participate in this dialogue, thereby shaping their faith by reading deeply, reflectively, and in community with others who share their uncertainty. Only then, he advises, will Christians be able to read and understand the Bible without losing their faith.

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Product details

Publisher : HarperCollins Religious US; Illustrated edition (27 April 2015)
Language : English
Hardcover : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 0062203592
ISBN-13 : 978-0062203595
Dimensions : 2.79 x 15.24 x 23.11 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 124,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 342 in New Testament Criticism & Interpretation
- 545 in New Testament Bible Study
- 2,805 in Christian Worship & Devotion

Customer Reviews:
86 ratings

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Review

"Crossan, one of the most prolific popular writers among the scholars of the historical Jesus . . . proposes viewing the nonviolent movement of the historical Jesus-and not some apocalyptic bloodbath-as the end or center or climax of Christian time."--Booklist (starred review)

"When studying the Bible, Christians are met with opposing versions for God: one of vengeance and one of compassion. Crossan confronts this conflict and challenges readers to engage in conversations about faith and the historical Jesus."--U.S. Catholic

"Crossan's treatment of the text is nothing short of spectacular, even when I didn't agree with his assertions. With skill, wit, and all the finesse of the intellectual giant that he is, Crossan manages to successfully navigate those troublesome texts and...begins the redemptive process of the text."--The Clarion Journal of Spirituality

From the Back Cover

The Bible introduces us to a loving Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But we also meet a warrior Jesus who leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true Messiah? Should we all follow the nonviolent Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount or the vengeful, sword-wielding Christ of Revelation?

As one of the foremost biblical scholars of our day, John Dominic Crossan re-veals that running throughout the entire Bible--from Genesis to Revelation--are two conflicting revelations of God: one offering a radical, holy vision where every need is provided for and love and grace are extended widely; the other working to domesticate this radical vision by em-phasizing judgment and punishment and by propping up the status quo.

But one thing is clear, argues Crossan: one cannot pretend that the Bible provides a single, unified vision of God or Jesus. If one wants to discover the Bible's best and purest revelation of God, then Christians must measure the Bible by Jesus. And to find the best and purest revelation of Jesus, Crossan concludes, then we must look to the work of scholars who can point us to the teachings of the historical Jesus. Only then will we know how to read the Bible and still be a Christian.

5 star		66%
4 star		17%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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A Gents

Excellent and informative

Reviewed in Australia on 14 March 2019

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Another very good perspective on how the Bible was created and gradually changed over the years. Easy to read and understand.

One person found this helpful

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Helen Goggin

Violence and the Character of God

Reviewed in Canada on 29 July 2015

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Violence is a huge topic to tackle but Crossan does a good job of limiting it to his purpose; that is to seek the reason for both peace-seeking, compassionate, and loving passages in the Bible and the many that describe violence as seemingly God's will. Crossan is an excellent interpreter of both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures but his argument takes a lot of attention to the passages he is using. I will be using this book with two lay study groups this coming Fall and I have told them we will need to read it with the Bible in one hand the newspaper/iPad in the other. Crossan reminds us that there are two kinds of power: "power over" and "power with" which represent two kinds of relationships with each other and with God, coercion and persuasion . He relates the former to evil, violence and oppression and the latter to love, inclusion and respect. His argument for the latter, persuasion, as being God's way of relating to us, is based in the social and cultural realities of the biblical world which sadly have not changed much in ours. Because of Crossan's detailed work on the biblical passages I found the book a little harder to read for members of my study groups but well worth the effort because understanding the true character of God (by whatever name the world religions refer to their supreme being) has never been more important as we view the region of the origin of the three Abrahamic religions in the current turmoil that fills our daily newscasts. It also introduces members of congregations and hopefully some of John Spong's "church alumni" to both the detailed work that goes into biblical interpretation and the different ways of understanding how our Bible is being interpreted by scholars today. It is thus an important book for individual reading and for the stimulation of reading it with a group of seekers and searchers after truth.

4 people found this helpful

James Strachan

A terrific read!

Reviewed in Canada on 5 May 2015

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Typical Crossan! Logical, informative, with enough humour to make you laugh at the foibles of the piously literalistic.A terrific read!

3 people found this helpful

Don Donaghey

... me to think about the Christian faith in a good and positive way

Reviewed in Canada on 4 October 2015

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Once again Crossan helped me to think about the Christian faith in a good and positive way.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on 4 February 2016

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It was a very intense book meant for biblical scholars.

Kindle Customer

This is highly academic, not for a discussion group ...

Reviewed in Canada on 23 February 2016

Verified Purchase

This is highly academic, not for a discussion group. There is so much background packed in, one ends up wondering what the point is.

One person found this helpful

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How to Read the Bible and Still Be a Christian: Struggling with Divine Violence from Genesis Through Revelation Hardcover – Illustrated, 27 April 2015

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