Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Li berals (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to this engaging but not always convincing liberal gloss on the Good Book, biblical literalism is an idolatrous departure from the Bible's "enduring but non-literal wisdom," which progressives can reclaim through informed interpretations of biblical metaphor and symbolism. Drawing on historical and contemporary Bible scholarship, Buehrens, a Unitarian minister and co-author of A Chosen Faith, gives an illuminating if brief rundown of each book in the Bible, one informed by feminist, literary and lefty political critiques. The results are mixed. Themes of liberation and social justice emerge in the Exodus narrative, the Prophetic books and the Gospels. But on fundamentalist hot-button issues like homosexuality and women's rights, the Bible's clear statements defy interpretive rehabilitation. Faced with outright prohibition on a man "lying with a man as with a woman," Buehrens suggests that "the inner spirit of what is intended" there might be different. He champions "reading against the grain": with that interpretive strategy, the New Testament's urging of submissiveness on wives and servants, for example, attests to husbands' and masters' anxiety over the egalitarianism of Church congregations. And his anti-literalist, Bible-as-metaphor approach sometimes throws the religion out with the bathwater, as when nonbelievers are reassured that stories of miracles and resurrections can also be seen as metaphorical rather than actual events. Unfortunately, Buehrens's laudable attempt at "reading the Bible to overcome oppression" drains away much substantive content.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In his introduction, Buehrens offers several compelling reasons for studying the Bible. You aren't fully literate without it; if you can't or won't understand it, others will interpret it for you. And to his mind, most importantly, you can't be spiritually mature by simply rejecting the Bible as oppressive. Buehrens, who is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist church, offers humanist or liberal interpretations solidly based on the original texts, and he also draws on other historical and literary sources to bolster his explanations. Although this is by necessity an overview, Buehrens does a masterful job of coursing through both Testaments, placing events and pronouncements in context of both prevailing theology and the times. An interesting balance to biblical interpretations that are weighted in the other direction. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (June 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807010529
• ISBN-13: 978-0807010525
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #981,142 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, August 22, 2003

By A Customer

If you consider yourself a traditionalist or a modernist or neither, you will find this book a tremendous aid in interpreting Hebrew and Christian scriptures. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to wrest the bible from the pejorative ranks of literalism.

If you've ever lived in a place where people use the bible to justify ever action, and you do not have knowledge of the bible, you may have found that you had arrived at a battle and you were unarmed. If you've ever been to a place where people use the bible as a cookbook, applying the letter of its content, but not the spirit, and do authoritative damage to others, then you will find John Buehrens' book, Understanding the Bible, a refreshing, easy-to-read book that captures the spirit of the bible while providing the reader with the necessary armor to shield them against any biblical interpretation that is based in disguised fear rather than compassion.

John Buehren looks at the bible through a modern-day lens that includes both Jewish and feminist perspectives that enables us to unchain the bible from the past and make it relevant and useful for the 21st Century.

Whether you consider yourself to be a skeptic, seeker, or religious liberal, neglecting the rich rhetoric and iconic power of the bible is to ignore the impact that it has had on western Society and continues to have. Buehrens looks at historical aspects, original intent, and how tradition has reshaped the historical literature of the bible. Understanding the bible is key to our being interpreters of our common Judaeo-Christian heritage and is key to taking responsibility for our own spiritual maturation. Rather than preach about the bible, Buehrens eloquently writes of the bible and explores its narrative as metaphor so that we may transcend any arbitrary boundaries or creedal beliefs and enter into a relationship with others by finding common ground for which to begin conversations so that we may live together in harmony.

For anyone who wishes to understand the bible and apply its content to today's world, John Buehrens' book, Understanding the Bible, is a must read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book!, May 26, 2005

By	L. Frizzell-reynolds "Lance" (W. Mass.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I recommend this book to everyone I know, no matter what their religion or lack there of! Rev. Buehrens helps open up the Bible and educate you enough to read it and come to your own conclusions, whether you agree with everything he says or not. I'm a new Muslim and highly recommend this to all people because the Bible truly is part of literature and history and should be read and known by all. I was actually recommended this book by a rabbi friend who believes that despite it covering the ENTIRE Bible (Old and New Testaments), he points out that it shows the literary importance and historical importance of the work as a whole, no matter what your
(dis)beliefs are.
Take the time and READ THIS BOOK!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, August 11, 2003

By	"mattgball" (Tampa, Florida/Fort Worth, Texas) - See all my reviews

If you consider yourself a traditionalist or a modernist or neither, you will find this book a tremendous aid in interpreting the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to wrest the bible from the pejorative ranks of literalism.

If youve ever lived in a place where people use the bible to justify ever action, and you do not have knowledge of the bible, you may have found that you had arrived at a battle and you were unarmed. If youve ever been to a place where people use the bible as a cookbook, applying the letter of its content, but not the spirit, and do authoritative damage to others, then you will find John Buehrens book, Understanding the Bible, a refreshing, easy-to-read book that captures the spirit of the bible while providing the reader with the necessary armor to shield them against any biblical interpretation that is based in disguised fear rather than compassion.

John Buehren looks at the bible through a modern-day lens that includes both Jewish and feminist perspectives that enables us to unchain the bible from the past and make it relevant and useful for the 21st Century.

Whether you consider yourself to be a skeptic, seeker, or religious liberal, neglecting the rich rhetoric and iconic power of the bible is to ignore the impact that it has had on western Society and continues to have. Buehrens looks at historical aspects, original intent, and how tradition has reshaped the historical literature of the bible. Understanding the bible is key to our being interpreters of our common Judaeo-Christian heritage and is key to taking responsibility for our own spiritual maturation. Rather than preach about the bible, Buehrens eloquently writes of the bible and explores its narrative as metaphor so that we may transcend any arbitrary boundaries or creedal beliefs and enter into a relationship with others by finding common ground for which to begin conversations so that we may live together in harmony.

For anyone who wishes to understand the bible and apply its content to todays world, John Buehrens book, Understanding the Bible, is a must read.