"What is the Bible?"

My best friend ever (since she was born six months after I was) asked if I would read a book with her and we could talk about it once a week. Of course. What a good idea! Last night we finished our first book: What is the Bible? by Rob Bell. 

The title could just as easily been How To Read the Bible because that is the crux of the material. First and foremost he talks about reading it in context: the religious, cultural, political context of the day in which it was written. Fortunately I had a pastor or two who spoke of scripture from its historical context before relating it to us today so the idea was not new to me. Bell has taken the ideas farther than I have been aware. 

He has a delightful sense of humor and engages the readers as if we were in the room with him having conversation. He stays serious though when dealing with such questions as “Did Jesus have to die?” and “What about the resurrection?” He also deals with what happens when you start reading this way and discovering new and deeper meanings that change your thinking and put you at odds with others in your church, Sunday School class or Bible study group. He sees the Bible as the story of the evolution of humanity’s thinking about God and your personal evolution is just as important to him. 

If you are in a Bible study group or just want to up your own understanding of the Bible, this is a good book. Light and interesting while at the same time taking you deeper into meaning then and now, Bell’s What is the Bible? will give you a basis for such study for a long time.