Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 - A Problematic Book
Chapter 2 - God
Chapter 3 - Angels, Demons, and a Talking Ass
Chapter 4 - Good People Behaving Badly
Chapter 5 - Impossibilities, Normalized
Chapter 6 - Misconception, Misapprehensions
Chapter 7 - And General Befuddlements
Chapter 8 - Arguments Behind Closed Doors
Chapter 9 - Biblical (Im)morality
Chapter 10 - But in the Original...
Chapter 11 - The Perennial Bestseller
Chapter 12 - Ten Commandments for [Best Word Here] the Bible
In Conclusion, Sola Scriputra
Notes
Index
Kristin Swenson is Associate Professor of Religious at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is the author of Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most Talked About Book of All Time and Living through Pain: Psalms and the Search for Wholeness.
"Rather than dismiss the Bible as an outlandish or irrelevant relic
of antiquity, Swenson leans into the messiness full throttle.
Making ample room for discomfort, wonder, and weirdness, A Most
Peculiar Book guides readers through a Bible that will feel, to
many, brand new." -- Church Times
"Alongside the many controversial issues and complexities that the
Bible poses, Swenson has herein brought everything to within a very
fine appreciation of transparent proposal and the most utmost of
appeal." -- David Marx Book Reviews
"Rigorous [and] stimulating... Both religious and secular readers
will benefit from Swenson's illuminating analysis of the Bible's
contradictions and oddities."
--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Do you think you know the Bible? Wait till you read Kristin
Swenson's new book. What if you don't know the Bible at all? Even
better. A Most Peculiar Book is a deeply informed, completely
accessible, and endlessly fascinating explanation of what scholars
know about the Bible and lay people, as a rule, do not. Read this
book and prepare to learn!" -- Bart D. Ehrman, author of Heaven and
Hell: A History of the Afterlife
"One can only truly love and respect the Bible if one is willing to
embrace its complexities, problems, messiness, and just plain
weirdness. Whether you are looking to deepen your relationship with
sacred scripture or are coming to the Bible for the first time,
Kristin Swenson will help you appreciate DL even love DL the Bible
as it is." -- Peter Enns, author of The Bible Tells Me So and How
the Bible Actually Works
"A stimulating and challenging book, which questions all simplistic
'Bible-believing' theories about the authority of Scripture by
showing how complex and contradictory it often is. Kristin Swenson
tackles the problems head on while still making good her claim to
love the Bible." -- John Barton, author of A History of the Bible:
The Story of the World's Most Influential Book
"[Swenson] writes this insightful and instructive book for the
believer, the unbeliever, and the ones in between, since they all
might have interest in its methods of interpretation." --Library
Journal
"Swenson has written an interesting, intriguing, and worthwhile
volume on how the Bible can sometimes be a complex and difficult
book."--Gospel Coalition
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