Inspiration and Incarnation, 2nd Edition

"Peter Enns has done the evangelical church an immense service by challenging preconceived notions of what the Bible ought to be by insisting on building his high view of Scripture on what God intended Scripture to be. When the first edition appeared, it started important and healthy conversations about the Bible in spite of efforts to dismiss or marginalize Enns's viewpoint. One does not have to agree with all his conclusions to understand why this book has helped and will continue to help many people to embrace Scripture as God's Word to us. Everyone who loves the Bible ought to read this important book."

"The first edition of Peter Enns's Inspiration and Incarnation has been a superb resource for helping students of the Bible take the human dimension of this ancient text seriously. Enns's discussion of the Bible's ancient cultural context not only is illuminating but also can deepen the reader's faith in the God revealed in the nitty-gritty of history. This second edition, with its profound concluding reflections on the nature of Scripture after ten years of responses to the first edition, promises to be even more effective in helping students of the Bible appreciate more fully the inscripturated Word made flesh."

"I have used this book to great effect in the classroom. Divinity students welcome Enns's invitation to think theologically about history--how the historical 'problems' of the Bible may in fact be a crucial aspect of its theological witness. Of course, the incarnational analogy can be pressed too far, and there are other models on offer. But Enns's model is traditional, illuminating, hospitable to other models, and urgently needed by Christians still caught in late modern debates about inerrancy, inspiration, and revelation. This book continues to strike a chord that resonates."

"Inspiration and Incarnation was a watershed in evangelical hermeneutics. Written primarily for lay readers and seminarians, it served as a release valve for some and a source of consternation for others. The controversy was to be expected. Enns's argument--that, however highly evangelicals may laud the Scriptures, an honest and serious approach to the text cannot ignore the findings of critical scholarship or the reality of Scripture itself--was as correct as it was forceful. This second edition is warmly welcomed. In a new postscript, he addresses his motivations for writing the book and addresses his critics. Throughout, Enns writes with the insight of an accomplished scholar, the wit of a skilled teacher, and the heart of a concerned pastor."

"Some of those most dedicated to biblical studies unfortunately begin from inadequate theological presuppositions. If everyone who identifies as a conservative evangelical would read and absorb this book, the field would be better for it--and so might the church and the world."

"Peter Enns is to be applauded for the second edition of this important and insightful book. The questions he raised a decade ago continue to demand our careful attention today. In Inspiration and Incarnation, Enns challenges evangelicals (and others) to rethink traditional views of Scripture by considering the implications of the Old Testament's theological diversity, the New Testament's reuse of the Old, and the Bible's similarities with other ancient Near Eastern texts. Enns is a skilled and gracious guide through this difficult terrain, and readers benefit enormously from his expertise. Highly recommended for biblical scholars and general readers alike!"

"Peter Enns is a leading voice in a new generation of evangelicalism. Inspiration and Incarnation has already helped guide many both to accept the unexpected content of Bible and to begin to wrestle with what it means to call this surprising set of texts the word of God. Deploying a time-honored incarnational analogy, Enns offers a model for understanding scripture that invites serious consideration of ways in which the divine word is at the same time fully human. While exploring aspects of the Old Testament that many find unsettling at first, Inspiration and Incarnation offers us the good news that God is not limited by our expectations but can and does speak through the Bible we actually have."

"Peter Enns is one of the most important scholarly voices speaking to Christianity today, and this book is a primary example of why! With technical expertise, intellectual honesty, and an abiding sensitivity to the deep concerns of the Christian faith, Enns tackles three thorny questions that arise from reading the Old Testament in the light of modern biblical scholarship. This book eschews the conservative culture of easy answers and provides a coherent incarnational approach for those who want to take the Bible seriously without switching off their brains. The newly added postscript is particularly useful, as it gives us an inside view into the ways Enns's thinking has evolved in the ten years since the first edition appeared. May this second edition be read as widely and engaged as critically as the first!"

Praise for the First Edition

"At last, here is a constructive exploration--by an evangelical scholar with a high view of Scripture--of how to handle seriously the evidence from inside and outside the Bible that sits uncomfortably with classic formulations. Enns's combination of faith and intellectual honesty will bring much encouragement to all serious Bible students who have struggled to face up to these unavoidable issues."

"Enns has done the evangelical church a great service by emphasizing the human dimension of Scripture. He likens the incarnation of Scripture to the incarnation of Christ: both are truly divine and truly human. He argues, however, that with regard to Scripture, evangelicals tend to commit the same error as the Docetists in that they deny the real humanity of the Scripture. More specifically, he argues that the early chapters of Genesis reflect the mythic world in which they were composed, that the biblical authors represent different viewpoints according to their historical contextualization, and that the apostles reflect the hermeneutics and traditions of the Second Temple period. By basing his book on data that is backed by excellent, annotated bibliographies; by reflecting cogently on the material; and by writing in a clear style with unflinching honesty, Enns has given impetus to evangelicals to discuss the doctrines of inspiration and hermeneutics, and he offers an excellent base on which to develop their understanding of these most important doctrines in the twenty-first century."

"The author has offered an honest and refreshing look at the implications of contemporary biblical scholarship for a Christian doctrine of Scripture. His incarnational paradigm will likely provide an alternative way of reading the Old Testament for many Christians who no longer find traditional evangelical answers satisfying. Written for a popular audience, this book nevertheless makes a contribution to what may be considered the maturation of evangelical scholarship and at the same time is an ardent appeal to allow that maturation to continue."

"In this book, Enns explores three aspects of the Bible, and he sometimes raises and reflects upon uncomfortable questions. How is the Bible, especially the Old Testament, divine revelation if it shares the material and, to some extent, even the worldview of its ancient Near Eastern neighbors? What are we to make of the contradictory perspectives and views that the Bible presents? How do we respond to New Testament writers who interpret the Old Testament in ways that we would disallow in a contemporary classroom setting? In sum, how is the Bible the Bible, and how does one read it on its own terms?"