Re-enchanting the Text

Discovering the Bible as Sacred, Dangerous, and Mysterious

Cheryl Bridges Johns Release Date: 5/16/23

Overview

In an age when the Bible has been stripped of its sacredness and functional biblical illiteracy reigns, this book makes the case that we must work to re-enchant the text in order to return the Bible to its rightful place in the lives of Christians.

Cheryl Bridges Johns explains how the Enlightenment's turn to the rational human subject made it possible to objectify the Bible and has distorted our interpretations of Scripture. This move generated a belief that studying the Bible was primarily a means of supporting facts and providing evidence of competing visions of reality. This "modern" version of the Bible does not trouble our nights with apocalyptic images. It has been stripped of its power. She also shows that both "liberal" and "fundamentalist" interpretation are failed forms of disenchanted readings.

Johns argues that we must rediscover the Bible as a sacred, dangerous, mysterious, and presence-filled wonderland to counteract biblical illiteracy in an increasingly post-Christian landscape.

Author

Cheryl Bridges Johns

Cheryl Bridges Johns (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is a pastor and theologian who has taught college and seminary students for over forty years. She is visiting professor and director of the Pentecostal House of Studies at United Theological Seminary and lives in Cleveland, Tennessee. Johns previously taught at Pentecostal Theological Seminary and is past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. She has researched the ways human development intersects with spiritual transformation for over three decades.