Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America [Paperback]

Stanley Hauerwas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1993

This provocative critique of the uses and abuses of Scripture in the American church shows how liberal (historical-critical) and fundamentalist (literal) approaches to biblical scholarship have corrupted our use of the Bible. Hauerwas argues that the Bible can only be understood in the midst of a disciplined community of people, where the story is actually lived out by dedicated practitioners.

Product Details

• Paperback: 162 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687316782
• ISBN-13: 978-0687316786
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Hauerwas' best work., June 10, 2000

By 

Victor McCracken (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America (Paperback)

Sometimes one wonders whether or not Hauerwas is trying merely to shock his audience into hearing the truth of the gospel. Few proposals are more shocking than the one Hauerwas opens with in this book. In short, Hauerwas argues that the best thing to happen to the American church would be were the Bible to be taken out of the hands of the laity, people so corrupted by a lack of Christian virtue that they have lost the ability to read scripture rightly. If one can get beyond the hyperbole of Hauerwas' appeal, the substance of the opening essay is well worth reading. The American church needs to let go of the notion that church and state, cross and flag can go neatly hand in hand without God's kingdom being utterly distorted. Hauerwas also argues that Protestant churches need to reclaim the teaching office, taking a lesson from our Catholic brothers and sisters.

The opening essay is worth reading. The sermons that make up the last half of the book, however, are a mixed assortment of engaging gospel proclamations and weak, disembodied mumbo-jumbo. It is difficult to see how Hauerwas' intends (or does he even expect?)his sermonic form to fashion an alternative community that is living the life of virtue he rightly pleads for in church. But then perhaps this weakness is one reason why Hauerwas is behind a seminary desk, not a church pulpit. One hopes that Hauerwas will continue calling the church to remain true to God's kingdom.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Antidote for American Nationalist "Christianity", May 25, 2009

By 

Thomas A. Van Wart - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America (Paperback)

As one previously given to habitual conflations of American patriotism and Christian faith, and both of these in an Evangelical key, I found Stanley's "Unleashing the Scripture" a helpfully jarring counter-position (particularly in my previously begun theological transition out of American Evangelicalism). Given that Stanley's books are almost always comprised of occasion specific essays and sermons - an intentional feature of his theology and theological method, mind you - it would be less than useful to attempt a summary of this particular book in an Amazon review forum. I simply recommend it to your attention, especially if yours is an Evangelical and/or particularly patriotic background.

As to the critical reviews posted here to date, virtually all of the complaints stem from either misunderstandings as to what Stanley is variously up to and why or from simple theological/philosophical/methodological disagreement. At any rate, "The Hauerwas Reader", eds. John Berkman and Michael Cartwright (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001) and/or Hauerwas' "The Peaceable Kingdom", (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983) are nice supplemental texts to the one listed here.

15 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Easily digestible, not particularly filling., August 1, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America (Paperback)

The main idea of the book is that the average American Christian has no business reading and interpreting the Bible for himself, and that the corporate church body needs to do all the interpreting (e.g., a Magisterium).

There aren't many theological books I'd take to the beach, but one can do that with Hauerwas' books (and there are plenty from which to choose). Prof. Hauerwas, who seems committed to publishing every stray thought he ever had, continues in his tradition of making bold statements, as if he hopes to shock and offend. He has a point, however, that some Christians need to be shocked and offended.

It would seem that Hauerwas wrote this book to further confuse those who would pigeon-hole him. Here is a man who describes himself as a "high-church Mennonite," as if there could be such an animal. A Methodist layman, he states that a true church must be in communion with Rome. He declares abortion to be "something that Christians just don't do! ," but supports normalization of homosexuality. In short, don't think you know Stanley by reading a single book. Perhaps Stanley can never be completely known, and I think he likes it that way.

Daring and controversial ideas are great for getting books sold, but they don't make a particularly coherent theology. Hauerwas is a good author to get people talking about issues, but solutions will need to come from others.