Opening the Bible: What Is It, Where It Came From, What It Means for You

Rating:
Summary: Insightful and helpful
Review: Robert Kysar's book is a terrific guide for both those who are beginning to interact with the Bible as well as seasoned veterans. Individuals (and groups) who have found the Bible to be troubling, overwhelming,inaccessible, or irrelevant are likely to benefit from Kysar's insights. For instance, while he affirms that the Bible has authority for our lives, he gently asserts that it does not have EXCLUSIVE authority nor does it have ALL the answers to our contemporary problems and pressing issues such as homosexuality, the environment, and the abortion debate to name but three. In addition to turning to the Bible for GENERAL guidance, he encourages us to turn to other sources of wisdom including our experiences, reason, and tradition for more SPECIFIC guidance. We live in a completely different culture than the ones that the Spirit-led, yet culturally bound, writers of the Bible lived in. We need to consider what the Bible has to say about a particular issue but also take into account knowledge, even Spirit-inspired knowledge, that the human race has acquired since bibical times.

Rating:
Summary: DANGEROUS BOOK
Review: stay away from this book. i couldn't even finish it, it was so bad and ignorant. where people come up with their ideas i don't know. though, if you want to hear someone ramble on about how to take any worth, passion, or spirituality away from the bible, than here's your book!

Rating:
Summary: Very Helpful and Enlightening
Review: This book was just what I needed! I read the New Testament, then started on the Old Testament. I found myself confused by quite a bit of what I read. This book validated my issues, and gave a lot of background information that I lacked. I found it to be extremely enlightening, liberating, and truly a blessing.