Dr. Peter Enns returns to the podcast to discuss his brand new book Curve-ball - When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming* or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to Finding a Bigger God. Pete admits it's the longest title in the history of publishing. The popular professor, author (see show notes for his many other books), and podcaster (The Bible for Normal People) drops his guard like never before sharing his spiritual and intellectual journey from his days as an aspiring baseball player to progressive Christian thinker. "Wrestling with God and Scripture is very old and completely normal. Actually, it's God-activated," he says. In reviewing the book, Ken and Pete talk about Noah, Jonah, and Jesus as archetypes in the struggle. Richard Rohr, David Bentley Hart, Thomas Oord and Rachel Held Evans get honorable mention as guides. Evolution is a major "curveball" for many Christians. Pete is especially interested in the chaos and "weirdness" of physics and quantum mechanics, all of which have opened Pete's mind and heart to a much bigger and more profound notion of God. While Pete avoids the clichéd use of the over-used and misappropriated descriptor, "deconstruction," he traces a normal, natural, and healthy evolution in our understanding of faith and our relationship to the God of the Universe. SHOW NOTES
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“Peter Enns is brilliant at taking the big topics, those Christian ideas that usually scare us or intimidate us or worry us, and then make those very places a meeting place with a God who is bigger and wilder and more wonderful and trustworthy than we ever could have guessed.”—Sarah Bessey, author of Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist
The author of How the Bible Actually Works and The Bible Tells Me So explains how our model of God and faith must evolve as our understanding of the world deepens—just as the Bible describes it should.
Life throws us “curve balls”—from devastating personal losses to world tragedies. These events often leave us doubting God, the Bible, and our faith. But instead of pushing away our reservations, we should embrace them, Peter Enns argues. A leading biblical scholar and Christian mentor, Enns has never been afraid to question the Bible or Christian beliefs. Such thoughtful inquisitiveness, he argues, is part of God’s plan. He wants us to question, because doing so actually leads to a stronger, lasting faith.
By reframing how we see these events, we allow ourselves to see how the Bible itself showcases this very process and that “treating curve balls as the enemy” is not only counterproductive but thwarts God’s goal of helping us become mature and wise. Enns shares a number of curve balls he’s encountered in his own life and the questions he has pondered. Does God care about the millions of people who never heard the gospel? Could I relate to a God who has created a universe this big? If God is so relatable, constant, and caring, how do we explain quantum physics? He reveals how particular biblical passages have helped him find wisdom, and how they can do the same for us.
As Curveball persuasively shows, God is bigger and more mysterious than anyone’s expectations. We need a faith that can grow just as deeply.
Ken welcomes the popular scholar, professor, author, and podcaster, Dr. Peter Enns. Pete's podcast, The Bible for Normal People ("the only God-ordained podcast on the internet") has a broad and wide reach, exploring the sacred text along with his co-host Jared Byas. They have interviewed a wide range of scholars from many religious and theological backgrounds. Ken especially appreciates his watershed book, The Sin of Certainty. The two share their journeys through seminary, and Pete gets candid about his experience at Harvard where he completed his dissertation and earned that Ph.D. Pete's early book, Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, sparked a controversy that led to his departure as full professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. Pete candidly shares the awakenings he experienced in those formative days, and the freedom he enjoys today. SHOW NOTES
Become a Patron - www.patron.com/beachedwhitemale
Become a Patron - Click on the link to learn how you can become a Patron of the show. Thank you!
The Podcast Official Site: TheBeachedWhiteMale.com
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