The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It

The controversial Bible scholar and author of The Evolution of Adam recounts his transformative spiritual journey in which he discovered a new, more honest way to love and appreciate God’s Word.

Trained as an evangelical Bible scholar, Peter Enns loved the Scriptures and shared his devotion, teaching at Westminster Theological Seminary. But the further he studied the Bible, the more he found himself confronted by questions that could neither be answered within the rigid framework of his religious instruction or accepted among the conservative evangelical community.

Rejecting the increasingly complicated intellectual games used by conservative Christians to “protect” the Bible, Enns was conflicted. Is this what God really requires? How could God’s plan for divine inspiration mean ignoring what is really written in the Bible? These questions eventually cost Enns his job—but they also opened a new spiritual path for him to follow.

The Bible Tells Me So chronicles Enns’s spiritual odyssey, how he came to see beyond restrictive doctrine and learned to embrace God’s Word as it is actually written. As he explores questions progressive evangelical readers of Scripture commonly face yet fear voicing, Enns reveals that they are the very questions that God wants us to consider—the essence of our spiritual study.

Christians have been defending scripture from attack for two centuries. In fact, argues Bible scholar Peter Enns, we have become so busy protecting the Bible that we are now unable to read it. In The Bible Tells Me So, he provides a revolutionary new perspective:

"What if God is actually fine with the Bible just as it is? Not the well-behaved version we create, but the messy, troubling, weird, and ancient Bible has something to show us about our own sacred journey of faith. Sweating bullets to line up the Bible with our exhausting expectations, to make the Bible something it's not meant to be, isn't a pious act of faith, even if it looks that way on the surface. It's actually a thinly masked fear of losing control and certainty, a mirror of our inner disquiet, a warning signal of a deep distrust in God. A Bible like that isn't a sure foundation of faith; it's a barrier to true faith. Creating a Bible that behaves itself doesn't support the spiritual journey; it cripples it. The Bible's raw messiness isn't a problem to be solved. It's an invitation to a deeper faith."

Christians have had it drilled into them that their job is to defend the Bible against any challenge. But is this really God's plan? What if God wants us to debate and wrestle with what we read in scripture? In The Bible Tells Me So, Enns wants to do for the Bible what Rob Bell did for hell in Love Wins: expose Christians' fear-based contradictory beliefs and show a new way forward. Here you will find a revolutionary guide that will liberate Christians so they can truly engage with God's Word.

“The central thesis of this book is unassailable— our preoccupation with defending the Bible has blinded us from seeing what it actually says. With clarity, insight, wisdom, and humor, Pete Enns helps restore our sight, enabling us to encounter the Word of God afresh in our time. In so doing, he has offered a faithful witness not only to the words of scripture, but also to the God revealed in its pages.” - John R. Franke, executive director and professor of missional theology, Yellowstone Theological Institute

“Peter Enns has written a great book about The Book. If you’ve ever struggled with the violent or contradictory or just plain strange passages in the Bible, this book is for you . . . And he’s funny.” - Rob Bell, author of Love Wins

“Stop what you’re doing and read this book! Challenging, compelling, and delightfully readable, The Bible Tells Me So is a game-changer for anyone who longs to read the Bible without compromising either intellectual integrity or devotion. With the humor and humility of a favorite professor, Peter Enns releases Scripture from the cage we’ve built for it and then teaches us to love it for what it is, not what we try to make it. Every Christian should read this book, but especially those who fear they are alone in their questions about the Bible. They will find not only relief, but also companionship, within its pages.” - Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood

“Enns [argues] that evangelicals have misinterpreted scripture. . . . The Bible isn’t necessarily an owner’s manual that answers all of our questions about God but a ‘guide for the faithful by being a story, not by giving us a list of directions disguised as a story.’ . . . A popular treatment designed to provoke a reset of how we read the Bible.” - Library Journal

“The question of how to read, inwardly digest, and eventually ‘live’ the Bible is probably the most divisive one among Christians today. The shock of Enns’ The Bible Tells Me So, then, is either the simplicity and clarity of its answer to that question or else the humor and confessional belief with which the answer is offered. I can’t decide which it is, but I do know one thing: This is a book that every Christian will be the better and richer for having read.” - Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence

“The question of how to read, inwardly digest, and eventually ‘live’ the Bible is probably the most divisive one among Christians today. This is a book that every Christian will be the better and richer for having read.” - Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence

“Cross a stand-up comic, a robust theological mind, a college professor, and a decent normal guy who likes baseball and has both cats and dogs, and what do you get? Peter Enns. And what does he write? A super-enjoyable, highly informative, disarmingly honest, and downright liberating book called The Bible Tells Me So. The message of this book needs to get out. Fast.” - Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity

“Cross a stand-up comic, a robust theological mind, a college professor, and a decent normal guy, and what do you get? Peter Enns. And what does he write? A super-enjoyable, highly informative, disarmingly honest, and downright liberating book. The message of this book needs to get out. Fast.” - Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity

“Peter Enns has emerged as one of the stars of biblical interpretation for thinking Christians, and with The Bible Tells Me So, he steps into the spotlight. With writing that is winsome, readable, and non-intimidating, he cuts a path between wooden literalism and faithless liberalism, giving those of us who want it a way to read the Bible that is both faithful and intellectually credible. If you want the Bible to make sense, read this book.” - Tony Jones, theologian-in-residence at Solomon's Porch and the author of Did God Kill Jesus?

“Peter Enns has emerged as one of the stars of biblical interpretation for thinking Christians. With writing that is winsome, readable, and non-intimidating, he cuts a path between wooden literalism and faithless liberalism, giving us a way to read the Bible that is both faithful and intellectually credible.” - Tony Jones, theologian-in-residence at Solomon's Porch and the author of Did God Kill Jesus?

“As an author I wish I could write in as lively and as interesting a manner as Peter Enns. And while I, as an old fashioned evangelical, have some problems with what he has written, I think that many other readers will find answers to some of the most perplexing questions that they have about the Bible.” - Tony Campolo, professor of sociology, Eastern University

“In The Bible Tells Me So, Peter Enns addresses the problems of scripture form the position of an evangelical Christian who observes with candor and fresh humor that too often faithful readers approach the Bible with expectations it is not set up to meet.” - Publishers Weekly