This permission, in turn, gives Evans the space to read a deeper story than one she had been taught to read. "When you stop trying to force the Bible to be something it's not -- static, perspicacious, certain, absolute -- then you're free to revel in what it is: living, breathing, confounding, surprising, and yes, perhaps even magic".
I had grown into a fundamentalist, innerantist, literalist environment as a child. So, like Evans, there was only one way to read Scripture. Over the past twenty years, though (and in particular over the past decade), the ways I have approached the Bible has changed. And, again like Evans, I have found that liberation freeing to love the text of the Bible in new, fresh ways.
In the end, Evans concludes that the Bible is inspired, the result of "a collaborative process, a holy give-and-take, a partnership between Creator and creator". This will naturally be messy at times and resist simple approaches as we look for signs of the Creator. Still, with the help of the Spirit, Evans concludes that God has entrusted this text to us and wants us to wrestle with the text and with God in a relationship.
Inspired is an amazing book, filled with lots of fresh theology in which the Spirit helps us breathe the words of this text called "Bible" again. And in that breathing, learn to love the Bible. It's a must-read!
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I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review here.