The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible by Scot McKnight

Feb 18, 2009 Tim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Scot McKnight is my homeboy. I am really thankful that the emerging/missional/whatever-name-we'll-have-next-week movement has him as a friendly yet challenging theological voice. True to form, this book is full of both encouragements for the church to move forward, as well as cautions to the places where we might go off the rails. It’s provocative and very helpful, and I recommend it.

Here is a quick summary of the book:

“Blue parakeets” are oddities we come across in the Scriptures that we don’t...more Scot McKnight is my homeboy. I am really thankful that the emerging/missional/whatever-name-we'll-have-next-week movement has him as a friendly yet challenging theological voice. True to form, this book is full of both encouragements for the church to move forward, as well as cautions to the places where we might go off the rails. It’s provocative and very helpful, and I recommend it.

Here is a quick summary of the book:

“Blue parakeets” are oddities we come across in the Scriptures that we don’t quite know what to do with. The metaphor comes from an incident Scot witnessed in his backyard when a blue parakeet wandered in and upset the other birds there. At first they were scared of it and tried to shoo it away or silence its squawking, but after some time passed they grew accustomed to it, and life went on as it had before, only now with some befriending and others ignoring it. In the same way, McKnight argues, we tend to take difficult passages in the Bible (read here: passages that don’t fit our current understanding of the Bible), and react in ways that attempt to silence, shoo away, or ignore their presence. We do this by treating the Bible as a book of laws, a collection of blessings and promises, a big Rorschach blot to read our ideas into, a puzzle in search of a systematized solution through which to read it, or we favor one author over the others and read everyone else through our preferred Maestro (traditionally evangelicals have read Jesus through the letters of Paul, though in the emerging church world many now read Paul through Jesus. Neither way is a good idea). We use these methods (though not always consciously) to master the text and tame the parakeets we find there. One of the greatest strengths of the book is this critique of how we read the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses (“adapts and adopts”) what to apply today, McKnight points out. He simply names the different frameworks we use to pick and choose.

Instead of this, says McKnight, we need to let the “blue parakeets” be what they are so they can challenge and further inform our view of Scripture. In short, his answer as to how we do this is to (a) read the Bible as Story - a series of narratives within an overarching narratives, and (b) develop patterns of discernment that help us faithfully bring the Story to bear in our application of the Bible to our lives. Scot uses the metaphor of a waterslide to help us here: as the church attempts to live in biblically faithful ways (aka slide down the slide), it is aided by the Holy Spirit (the water in the slide), and kept between the rails of the Bible on one side and church tradition on the other (important: we read with tradition, not through it. It keeps us on track, but does not dictate interpretation). We do this well as we immerse ourselves in the text, allow it to master us, and discern with the Holy Spirit and the church how we faithfully live out the Story in our world.

I found his framework very helpful. In one sense it is familiar, as it doesn’t differ entirely from the standard evangelical method of looking for principles from the Scriptures and applying them in our context (he points this out). I find that most Bible readers do this somewhat intuitively, though we often fall into silence-the-parakeet patterns above when we get into trouble. At the same time, in articulating how to read the Bible and discern principles/patterns in light of the Bible’s overarching Story, McKnight invites us to do so in ways that are less haphazard and more faithful to the Scripture. And reading the Bible with the church past and present is also somewhat intuitive, though specifically naming this is also very helpful.

Discerning biblical patterns is messy, McKnight is quick to point out, yet those who pastor churches or teach the Bible academically know this already! The mess isn’t new, and if we are looking for a hermeneutical framework that isn’t messy we’ll be looking for a long time. What we need is a framework that is faithful to Scripture and that helps us make it through the mess well, and I for one think McKnight’s framework is very helpful.

One potential blind spot that McKnight doesn’t mention is related to one he does - our tendency to silence texts by systematizing the Bible. This is important to point out and I don’t think that by it he means it to disparage systematic theology, only the improper use of it. However, what McKnight doesn’t point out is that our summary of the Bible’s overarching story can function in the same way a systematic theology can – as a means of silencing the parakeets instead of letting them sing. We must be careful that our particular telling of the Story (and I think his is a good one) doesn’t become so calcified that it supplants the Story itself, or that we read the text so much through our particular telling of the Story that it colors what we see in the text.

This occurred to me as I read the last third of the book, which uses the role of women in ministry as a case study to understand his method. This is a great section, and though it is brief he makes a great case for women serving as pastors/elders today. However, having read quite a bit on both sides of this debate, it occurred to me that small changes in one’s particular summation of the biblical Story can have a major effect on the conclusion one reaches. I don’t think it is either possible or desirable to read the Bible apart from the overarching Story. Rather, I think we need to be aware that even this method runs the danger of silencing the parakeets.

This is a great book, and I look forward to recommending it to both lay people and pastoral types. Big thanks to Scot McKnight!
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Jan 19, 2009 Brett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bible-general, theology

“How, then, are we to live the Bible today?” With this question McKnight asks his readers to re-think how they understand and apply the Bible. In the ever-turning waters of theology, philosophy, and popular trends, the Bible as story (a single unified narrative expressed through the “wiki-stories” of each individual author) has often been forgotten or ignored. While McKnight intentionally does not provide a systematic hermeneutic, he does offer three steps towards living the Bible today: identif...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book because it pushes readers of the bible to examine why we read the good book in the way that we do. Specifically, why do we treat different passages of the bible in different way, or more pragmatically, why do we obey different parts of the bible in different ways? Scot McKnight, acknowledges that this reality is actually a good thing but then commends a reading strategy that can help us deal with the passages that are often ignored and especially with the ones that are...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Bryon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Book title: The Blue Parakeet
Author: Scot McKnight
Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2008
Number of pages: 214

How do we determine what we're supposed to do and not supposed to do in the Bible. Circumcise, foot washing, keep the Sabbath (which day?); these were all commanded in the Bible. So why don't we do them. What about all the issues in the Bible that we take further than the bible commands? Some was for then but not now. So then, how do we determine what's for now and what was for then? What about...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. I remember when someone asked me what I thought of McKnight's book The Jesus Creed, I said that it had good reminders of solid truths, but very little new to say. Now he definitely is saying something new. This book is his call for Christians to approach the Bible very differently, as a series of "wiki-stories" all telling one Story. In the light of that method, he feels it becomes possible to come to new conclusions about what scripture means in the world today. The seco...more

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Aug 03, 2011 James Korsmo rated it 5 of 5 stars

McKnight, well known blogger and author, challenges readers to think about how they read the Bible in this great little book. The challenge McKnight lays down to readers is to think about what it means to be "biblical" in our thinking, speaking, and acting. Though we may think we mean simply "doing what the Bible says," he shows us that for almost all of us, that is clearly not the case. Through some simple examples he shows that we all pick and choose what we apply and how. The question explore...more McKnight, well known blogger and author, challenges readers to think about how they read the Bible in this great little book. The challenge McKnight lays down to readers is to think about what it means to be "biblical" in our thinking, speaking, and acting. Though we may think we mean simply "doing what the Bible says," he shows us that for almost all of us, that is clearly not the case. Through some simple examples he shows that we all pick and choose what we apply and how. The question explored throughout the rest of the book, then, is why and how do we do this. He asserts that "adopting and adapting," a more positive spin on the phenomenon, is indeed the right way to read the Bible, as we seek to discern both how God spoke in the past and how God is speaking to us in our day in our way.

McKnight proposes a three-stage process in our reading and applying the Bible: Story, Listening, Discerning. The first case he sets out to make is that the Bible is fundamentally a Story, or more properly, a variety of retellings of the one Story: Creating Eikons; Cracked Eikons; Covenant Community; Christ, the Perfect Eikon, redeems; Consummation. That, in a nutshell (and in Scot's own distinctive terminology) is the story of the Bible. The 66 books of the Bible then make up "wiki-stories," retellings in often distinctive ways, with varying emphases and language in different times and settings, of this one overarching story. And here is one of McKnight's core assertions, these "wiki-stories" are tellings of God's truth "in Moses' days in Moses' ways . . . in David's days in David's ways . . . in Jeremiah's days in Jeremiah's ways . . . in Jesus' days in Jesus' ways . . . in Paul's days in Paul's ways . . ." He concludes that we are "called to carry on that pattern in our world today" (28). The key to this movement into our own days and ways is Story, as we recognize the story and its retellings in the Bible and seek to enter into that same story in our day.

The second section of the book takes up the second stage in our reading and applying the Bible: Listening. McKnight emphasizes that we listen to the Bible because we have a relationship with the God of the Bible. That relationship forms the ground and purpose of our reading and listening. He seeks to get past abstract discussions of the Bible's authority, past having a "view" of the Bible, as legitimate as these things may be, to focus on having "a 'relationship' to the God of the Bible" (95). This understanding then shapes our listening, as we listen attentively to and for God, we are attentive in recognizing God speaking, we absorb what God says and we act on what we hear (99). This puts a helpful emphasis on the way the Bible must shape us as we listen. We aren't just mining the Bible for "truth" or theology but we are encountering God speaking to us, and must act and react accordingly.

The third stage we encounter is Discerning. After we have recognized the story in the text and have listened attentively to God speaking through his Word, we must discern our part in the story, we must discern what we are then to do. Here he argues that the "adopt and adapt" strategy that all Christians implicitly or explicitly espouse is in fact the right idea. We must recognize that "that was then and this is now." But this is not simply a personalistic anything goes reading of Scripture, but is a discerning, with (as opposed to through) tradition, in community. We need to recognize that the Bible itself points toward a strategy of discernment, and that the church has likewise passed on this legacy of a "pattern of discernment" (118). McKnight acknowledges the messiness of the process, and that it means there will be disagreements. But, he writes, "it is the attempt to foist one person's days and ways on everyone's days and ways that quenches the Holy Spirit" (143). It is because of the gospel that we strive to adapt, just as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9. We, like Paul, should be governed by what furthers the gospel the most (142). Thus, "Living out the Bible means living out the Bible in our day in our way by discerning together how God would have us live" (143, italics in original).

These three stages sketch McKnight's proposal for how we should approach and appropriate the Bible in our own day. The fourth part of the book provides an extended case study in this method, using the question of women in ministry as an example of "adopting and adapting." In this fourth part, he lays out a careful argument, beginning with what women did in the Old and New Testament times and in the Early Church, and with what the Bible says about women and ministry. He looks at how we can recognize the cultural distance between these past times and our own, but also focuses on how we can recognize the "story" in the Bible that spoke powerfully in past days and again in our own. Through this process, he makes the argument that discerning God speaking in the story of the Bible and discerning how God would have us act today, with a focus on the message of the gospel, leads to the full participation of women in the life and ministry of the church.

I thoroughly enjoyed this very readable introduction to how we read and apply the Bible. I have no doubt that almost all Christians could benefit from a book like this, as all too often we assume that we're being "biblical" without recognizing the complexities involved in our own positions. This little primer on hermeneutics is a great way for people in the pews to begin to come to terms with these important issues. But, importantly, this isn't a cause for consternation but for hope. Instead of being paralyzed by fear of the messiness of discernment, we should be energized by the gospel and our part in the story as we acknowledge the God of the Bible speaking to us even down to our own day. This book is clearly at an introductory level, as McKnight acknowledges along the way, but I think it agreeably whets the appetite for further study into these important questions. And I think it is a helpful introduction into the Bible as "Story," as we recognize the great divine drama into which we are called. I also enjoyed his case study on women in ministry. His arguments and his own personal journey make for very compelling reading. I think he shows beyond doubt that the church, at the very least, has restricted women beyond even the restrictions they faced in New Testament times, and he points toward a fuller inclusion of women in all areas of the church. While he obviously doesn't engage with the vast array of scholarship or the serious technical issues involved in the debate, his case study provides a great "egalitarian" introduction into the debate.

In all, I think McKnight's Blue Parakeet is an important guide to seeing the Bible as it really is and to recognize how we do and how we should read and apply it.(less)

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Jul 23, 2011 Paul Mullen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Scot McKnight argues that we should read the Bible neither as a cookbook, nor as a rule book, but as a story. He uses the metaphor of Wikipedia, with each of the Biblical authors as a contributor, but all consistent in a 6-point meta-narrative. He then tests his approach to reading the Bible by tackling a number of tough issues, most notably (but not exclusively) the role of women in Church leadership. In the end, he argues for a much broader and prominent role for women than seen in many evange...more

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Nov 19, 2009 David rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bible

This is a very helpful book on how to read the Bible. Directed to a wide audience, rather than just to pastors and theologians, this book could be read by any Christian interested in understanding how the Bible should be read. McKnight argues that we must view the Bible as a whole story. When it comes to "blue parakeet" passages, that is parts of scripture that do not seem to easily fit into our beliefs, we must interpret them in light of the whole story. More often than not though, Christians s...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: hermenuetics

A clear and readable book on how we ought to read the Bible. McKnight uses illustrations from his years of teaching at two separate institutions to describe a better way for us to read our Bible.(Hint: "Story", he doesn't mean "made up". "Story" refers more to plot. Although a collection of books, letters, and poems there is an overarching narrative of creation, fall, covenant, redemption, and consummation that guides our reading.)

The second half of the book examines how this might look when app...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Michael Cremin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, religion

This is a short and excellent book about how to read the Bible. The Bible is enormously complicated, horrifically abused, and--sadly--ignored by many people who have been hurt or marginalized by those who believe the Bible condones their own prejudices and hatreds. The author--an evangelical Christian professor--has clearly given Biblical interpretation a great deal of thought, and arrived at some remarkable, interesting, and insightful conclusions.

For Professor McKnight, the whole goal of read...more This is a short and excellent book about how to read the Bible. The Bible is enormously complicated, horrifically abused, and--sadly--ignored by many people who have been hurt or marginalized by those who believe the Bible condones their own prejudices and hatreds. The author--an evangelical Christian professor--has clearly given Biblical interpretation a great deal of thought, and arrived at some remarkable, interesting, and insightful conclusions.

For Professor McKnight, the whole goal of reading the Bible is to discern what God wants us to do. God has not 'spake' thousands of years ago and left us a Rubic's Cube to puzzle over. Instead, God continues to speak through the Bible to contemporary people about contemporary issues. The Story (as the author calls it) is made up of many smaller stories about the Story. In other words, whoever wrote "The Book of Jonah," or "The Letters to the Galatians" or "Exodus" or whatever is telling their point of view about the larger story about God. In some instances, the authors are telling their story and their thoughts about another author's story about the Story (think of the Gospel of Matthew, for example, and his dependance on Isaiah). I think the term I'm looking for here is meta-narrative: there is the great, overarching story of God, creation, fall, redemption, etc., and a lot of little stories about that main story.

So how, then, do we discern what is important and what is not? One way is through the lens of the New Testament, and through the words of Jesus. In other words, reading Leviticus is a fairly harsh experience unless you are using the words of Jesus as your guide. Realizing further that much of what the Bible says was intended for a people, and for cultures, that no longer exist. The Bible, in other words, spoke to people in a certain time and in a certain way. It still speaks to us...but not in the same way.

Another way to discern what is crucial and what is...let's say less crucial is reading along with a tradition. Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodox, and any myriad of other Christian communities can help us to understand and contextualize what we are reading. But there is a difference between reading with a tradition (reading St. Augustine's commentaries on the Bible, or example) and reading through a tradition (say, the Calvin's systematic theology). Traditions are not the Bible. As I read this book, I couldn't help but think about my own Catholic tradition, where the Church likes us to believe that they have the one and only Truth revealed in the Bible, and that we are free to "think with the Church" so long as we arrive at the same conclusions as the Church. I'm sure it's the same way for Lutherans or Calvinists or whomever. McKnight tells us what an error this is, and I agree. The Bible, he also tells us, is not God (the Church is not God, either, I would add). God is God. The Bible is God speaking to us, but it is not God.

If we abandon the certainties of tradition, then, where does that leave us? Professor McKnight points out several bad lenses through which people read the Bible: as a Rorschach test ("I'm a Republican/Socialist/Anarchist/Social Gospeler...and that's what the Bible says!"), a puzzle master ("if I just divide the number of horns on the beast by the number of stars on the angel's shield, then multiply by the number of abominations.."), a law giver ("Thus Sayeth the Lord!"), a blessings and promises reader ("Isn't everything I read in the Bible so warm and reassuring?") or a Maestro reader ("Paul is my light and my salvation.") Instead, we should read the Bible as a story about a Story, and recognize that we are a part of the story, that parts of the story have no meaning for us, and that much of what the Bible says has everything to do with who we are, where we are, and what we are today.

For myself, I think the Bible speaks to each of us as individuals. Yes, tradition matters. Yes, scholarship matters. Yes, there are good and bad readings, but think of it like this: the Bible is a piece of music, and we as individuals are instruments, each unique, and each able to play the song in our own way. We can join together with other instruments and create an orchestra, or a chorus. It will all sound quite different, but the song is the same.

What I am thinking about now is the non-negotiables. What are the bare minimum, irreducible parts of the Story, the parts that we can't ignore or contextualize or write off as inapplicable? That will require much more thinking on my part.

As you can tell by this lengthy review, I liked this book very much. My big take-away: discernment. It is my goal to discern what the Bible says to me, in the year of our Lord 2013. That should take me awhile. (less)

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Mar 20, 2013 Cassandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-life, nonfiction, religion

I'm not sure what to rate this book (2.5 stars?). It's an interesting read but far too short. I wanted something more in depth. The case study of women in ministry was supposed to illustrate how to read the Bible according to McKnight's suggestions but didn't illustrate the principles thoroughly enough. I'm not certain that I could take these ideas of Bible reading and apply them correctly.

There are a couple items that definitely made me think but that didn't get addressed fully.

1 - "The quick...more I'm not sure what to rate this book (2.5 stars?). It's an interesting read but far too short. I wanted something more in depth. The case study of women in ministry was supposed to illustrate how to read the Bible according to McKnight's suggestions but didn't illustrate the principles thoroughly enough. I'm not certain that I could take these ideas of Bible reading and apply them correctly.

There are a couple items that definitely made me think but that didn't get addressed fully.

1 - "The quick answer to this question [if God's rules change] is that while God's holiness doesn't change, his will for his people does. This, then, leads to one of my favorite questions: How do we know which of those commandments change and which ones don't? How do we choose? Who gets to choose?" (117).

My question: How do we know that God's will changes even though His holiness doesn't? McKnight proposes that God's will changes, thus some of the OT rules/commands are no longer valid. But McKnight does not offer Biblical support for the assertion that God's will (and rules/commands) changes over time.

2. "All genuine Biblical faith takes the gospel message and "incarnates" it in a context... It is unlikely, since it is clear that each of these persons [Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Ezra, Jesus, Peter, and Paul} adapted the Plot and the Story for their day, that their message or manner of life will be precisely the same as our message and our manner of life. We are called, as they were, to learn the Plot and the Story, to listen to God, and to discern what to say and how to live in our day and in our own way. We will speak to our world only when we unleash the gospel so that it can speak in our day and in our ways" (143).

My question: Is it clear that each of the persons listed adapted the gospel message to their world? I believe the principles in the Bible are timeless but that their application can be adapted to various cultures. But I also believe this is something that should not be taken lightly but be done with an honest heart, searching for God's will, instead of dismissing Bible commands simply because "that was then and this is now." I believe the church can change over time, that culture can cause a lifestyle to evolve, but that it's important not to rush forward and dismiss old truths simply because they are from the OT or from 2,000 years ago.

The best summation of my feelings on this book is that it's interesting but shallow. It needs more explanation, more time spent explaining the Bible and drawing out examples that illustrate the suggestions/applications. (less)

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Mar 04, 2010 Adam Ross rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: church-and-culture, theology

It would have gotten two stars, except for the last five chapters, which were a defense of women's ordination.

Generally the book was okay (hence two stars). It has all of the same flaws that I find in other run-of-the-mill evangelical books; poor-to-terrible analogies and metaphors, pedestrian prose, shallow thought, etc. It did have some good things to say, mostly in part two (chapters 6-8). Chapter 8 was especially good, in which he points out that St. Augustine said that any interpretation w...more It would have gotten two stars, except for the last five chapters, which were a defense of women's ordination.

Generally the book was okay (hence two stars). It has all of the same flaws that I find in other run-of-the-mill evangelical books; poor-to-terrible analogies and metaphors, pedestrian prose, shallow thought, etc. It did have some good things to say, mostly in part two (chapters 6-8). Chapter 8 was especially good, in which he points out that St. Augustine said that any interpretation which leads us into living a life of love has been interpreted "goodly" even though not correctly. A misinterpreted verse that leads to our living a life of love is like someone who is on the journey and gets lost along the way but ends up in the right place anyway. Augustine believed that was a legitimate interpretation, though certainly not the right one. McKnight springboards off of that idea to argue that the goal of the Bible is to get us to live proper lives and love others, and if our theology becomes so dry we're not applying it, we don't really have a right theology. Great stuff and I agree completely.

But then he spends the rest of the book, nearly the entire second half of it, defending an indefensible position on how women should be ordained to leadership in the church, and that lost the book a whole star. He does his best to get around the obvious meaning of 1 Tim. 2 and 1 Cor. 14, but in the end they were nothing but excuses. He clearly does not understand the traditional argument of the church on this point. The Bible nowhere says that women as a created group are inferior to men as a created group. As far as creation goes, men and women are equal in stature. But God did designate the role of husband and wife, and the wife is to be in submission to her own husband. Not to anybody else's husband, and not to "men" in general. Some women can be--and let's face it, often are--superior to some men.

McKnight goes through a whole chapter talking about what women could do in the Old Testament, and points out a lot of true things. They were judges, they ran kingdoms, they had large businesses (Prov. 31) and so on. Totally agreed, and nobody's trying to keep women from exercising their gifts. And the Bible even says that women can teach people. They can teach children and younger women, and they can write and talk about theology. Sure. They can hold degrees in theology. The only thing they are prohibited from is ordination as a leader of the church. The NT is staggeringly clear on the subject, both negatively by saying what women can't do (1 Tim. 2; ! Cor. 14) and positively about the qualifications of elders, which are to be men (1 Tim. 3:1-13, etc.). All the things which women did in the OT and even the NT can't prove a thing for ordination. Why? Because Israel was a nation of priests (Ex. 19:6), and this included the women. As a corporate body, a community, Israel was a nation of priests. Yet women were not permitted to serve in the Temple as Levites or Priests. We find the same thing in the NT. The Church is the new Israel, the new corporate priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Women are priests through baptism, just like men. But in the formal worship women are not permitted to be ordained. I've sat under the teaching of women before, and our church encourages everybody to participate in theological conversation and discussion in Bible study and such. I've learned a lot from women in these areas.(less)

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Feb 17, 2012 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-thought

Sometimes I wonder about how we (they?) decide what passages in the Bible are commands and others are not. I also find that sometimes asking these questions makes people very uncomfortable. He had my respect the moment he sait hat no one today follows the Bible literally, 100%, no matter what they say. God bless Scot McKnight for encouraging these uncomfortable questions and deeper thinking!

McKnight explains that the Bible is meant to be read as God's Story with each writer telling a bit of it f...more

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Dec 26, 2008 Pat rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone looking for more authenticity in the Church.

Excellent, excellent book. The author articulates what I have longed believed -- Christians need to be more honest about their beliefs and admit those things that are traditions versus those things that are biblical. Or as the author says, we "adopt and adapt" (a nice way of saying we pick and choose what part of Scripture we will obey).

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Apr 02, 2009 Bobby rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who own/read a Bible

Shelves: favorites

Excellent book! If you have to read or study the Bible, if you own one, I highly recommend it. A Blue Parakeet is "those passages that are oddities in the Bible that we prefer to cage and silence rather than permit into our sacred mental gardens" (pg 208). McKnight's book is basically an introduction on how to read the Bible as story and why one should. He speaks of how people need to read the Bible with tradition rather than through tradition or even in just a read-to-retrieve mentality.

The su...more

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Jul 04, 2010 Juliet rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Juliet by: Laura J B

Any review I do isn't going to do this book justice. Just read it & then let me know if you'd like to discuss it.

Some highlights for me: rather than get bogged down in controversy (i.e. evolution vs. creation) focus on the story, a story of God's love; humans created, humans distanced themselves from God, God created a covenant community, Jesus came to restore what was lost in Eden, covenant community as church and a return to what was in Eden eventually.

Another highlight, McKnight uses th...more

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Nov 24, 2008 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal-library

A tremendously well-written book on Biblical interpretation - probably the best I've read. Even better - it's accessible to non-theologians.

Note: McKnight's honesty & willingness to follow the truth where it leads will make liberals & conservatives uncomfortable - that's a good thing!

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Sep 25, 2011 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful little book that engages Christians (primarily evangelicals) in how they read the bible. McKnight emphasizes the variety of ways that readers engage the scriptures, and then makes a convincing case for reading the bible as Story. The "blue parakeet" of the book's title is a reference to "problem" passages that are largely ignored by average evangelical readers in their attempts to read the Bible. McKnight demonstrates that as one engages scripture as story then the awkward "b...more

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Jan 28, 2013 Sagely rated it 3 of 5 stars

I just downed this book in a day and a half. I enjoyed it.

McKnight names one of the glaring gaps in how evangelicals style their relationship to scripture: how do we pick and choose what applies and what doesn't. Overall, his reading strategy and undergirding theology are great.

My one wish would be for the book to delve deeper into the theological underpinnings of the "that was then, this is now" reasoning McKnight champions. The book lays this out in a simple, undergraduate kind of way. What I'...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bible-thelogy

Overall a good book, but I really wish I'd read it about 15 years ago when I was young Bible school student trying to figure out what I believed about how to read the Bible and what I believed about the role of women in the church. This book is really written for those who either don't admit that they "pick and choose" which parts of the Bible to follow (and I doubt the book will convince many staunch traditionalists to change their views), or those who are questioning how to read the Bible (for...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Samuel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: spiritual-development

At first I didn't really like this book, but grew to enjoy and respect it a bit more as I went through. McKnight accomplished in me what he sets out to do with this book; challenge my thinking on why I believe what I believe. Pushing me to look at what and why I pick and choose or discern from the bible. I will definitely be more accountable to making sure I know on what basis or foundation I believe what I believe, so in that sense, mission accomplished. I was, however, a little thrown off by s...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Matt Barker rated it 5 of 5 stars

All I will say here is this is a MUST READ for anybody interested in how to actually read the bible and apply it's teachings in our lives today. For my full review, please click here.

Synopsis:
The Blue Parakeet is author Scot McKnight's deeply reasoned, compelling statement of how to read the Bible in a new evangelical generation. In re-examining the Bible, McKnight provides an exciting Third Way that appeals to the millions in today's church who long to be authentic Christians, but don't conside...more

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May 14, 2013 Gary Cleveland rated it 4 of 5 stars

We must keep the role of scripture high in importance as we seek to understand the greatest questions of human purpose. Blue Parakeet helps us consider how we approach the Bible. It helps us to own up to the idea that we approach the scriptures in a context. Try as we may to approach the Bible with pure objectivity, we must remain expectant that God seeks to reveal Himself in unexpected and exciting ways often tied to our experiences.

This is a must read for those who are lifetime learners and d...more

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Sep 17, 2011 Callie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-nonfiction

A bit too conversational at times and the section on wikistories confused me (certainly my mom reading this would be lost) But good things to think about; how do we read the Bible, through what lens are we reading? This book doesn't tell you what lens to choose, but asks you to acknowledge and be aware that you are using one. I enjoyed his take on women in ministry, well-reasoned. To remember: Which passages do we allow to trump? The what women did or the women keep silent ones? Are we open to t...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Snow rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kind-of-read

Peppered with thick and repetitive sections, I did a lot of fast flipping through several pages in this book mainly because I didn't want to get into anything too heavy. I wasn't looking for a textbook or required class reading, but rather something that might lay out a clearer approach to reading the Bible. And I think I did get out of it at least that mindset: to give the Bible another shot, keeping in mind to "read it as [God's:] Story" and that "God speaks to [so-and-so:] in [so-and-so:]'s w...more

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May 21, 2012 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the content, but it was quite repetitive. I haven't read his blog, so I can't say this for certain, but I suspect that this was originally a series of blog posts (or maybe lectures), because that's how it reads. There were several times when he alluded to things that he didn't want to get into at that point, and I always thought, "Please do! That's what books are for!" I would have enjoyed reading those things. Instead, he would introduce one new concept and then review all the previou...more

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Aug 12, 2012 Stephanie N rated it 4 of 5 stars

McKnight is a thoughtful writer and thinker, and "The Blue Parakeet" showcases both his gifts quite well.

In line with covenant theology, McKnight champions reading the Bible as a story, rather then simply a guidebook. (Seeing the forest from the trees, if you will). As a seminary grad from a covenant theology seminary, the first part of the book was mostly review for me, so I was a bit bored. But it will be a great book for someone wanting to learn more about how to read the bible properly. His...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

The first few chapters chapters connected with me right away. The bible is all important and essential but can be easily mishandled and be befuddling.

This book provides a foundational perspective for any Bible readers or anyone wanting to live out the Bible. It should be read by any Bible reader/teacher. It poses questions that opened my eyes to assumptions I carried into my interpretation and living out of the Bible. We unconsciously apply principles of discernment all the time.

Scott takes us r...more

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Jan 29, 2010 Suzie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who reads the Bible

I really enjoyed this book. It affirmed how I view the Bible in terms of a story with a begining, a middle and end that includes all kinds of characters, plots and themes. He emphasizes the necessity of reading the Bible in context as we seek to apply it to our lives today, yet he does not take away from its inerrancy or place of priority in our lives. Dr. McKnight urges us to seek God first and know Him (through His word) which will thus give us insight into the story. Many people take the Bibl...more

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Mar 13, 2010 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me a while to finish this book because it is pretty densely written, reflecting McKnight's academic background. But it was definitely worth the effort to read all the way through. McKnight explains a way to read the Bible faithfully, but intelligently. He rejects both inflexible fundamentalist literalism and dismissive liberal antinomianism and relativism with equal fervor. In teaching the reader how to approach the Bible as a grand story, he helps us avoid several common traps he explai...more

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