About the Bible: Short Answers to Big Questions

by Terence E. Fretheim

Have a child or grandchild being confirmed this year? Want to share your zeal for studying the Bible? Conversational in tone, these brief essays (a collection of articles in the 1996-98 About the Bible series in Lutheran Woman Today) make a great gift for skeptics and believers alike-including yourself! They provide answers to some really tough questions about the Bible in a respectful way that makes the reader say, "I want to learn more!"

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Chad King]

I read this as part of a theology class. It's a nice overview of some of the questions raised by the Bible, such as who wrote the Bible, is it a closed canon, how come different versions of the Bible have different books, why is the God of the Old Testament so different than the God of the New Testament, why do we pray, why is there so much violence in the Bible, etc.

It's a thought-provoking book, especially for anyone that has (or is interested in having) questions about the Bible or Christianity in general.

One note about the Kindle edition: It's terrible. The formatting is wonky and often letters are missing from words. Not sure how this happens, but avoid the Kindle edition if possible.

[Martha Richey]

The first 2 chapters were the best in my opinion. They highlighted why Bibles vary and a detailed map of the flow of scriptures throughout the Bible. The balance of the book was a bit harder to relate to. Overall, A helpful read for those interested in understanding more about the Bible.

[Richard]

Well-written and pithy, this book doesn't necessarily lend itself to cover-to-cover reading, but is great as something to pick up from time to time, or excerpt for people with questions.

[ferguson (winston’s version)]

I guess it was ok. but the multiple different biblical books were confusing. I enjoy the optimistic look at the Bible.

[Joe Skogmo]

3.7

[Linette]

Some good insights. I enjoyed the section on "Can God change his mind." That section was the reason I wanted to purouse the book in the first place. A good read for new Christians. :)

"Human acts [that:] treat the non-human creation simply as the sphere of use-value or market-value, refusing the acknowledgment of its autonomous goodness, are acts of terrorism in direct opposition to the intention of the creator." ~Francis Watson