Can I begin with saying how happy I am to find a book on this topic written by a woman? I’ve really benefited from the material and perspective of other writers (Pete Enns, Scot McKnight), but in the midst of modern takes, and “fresh perspectives,” I didn’t realize how much I wanted another dimension until I stumbled across Good’s book on Net Galley (my thanks to them and the publisher for the digital copy they provided for me to review).

I want to say that I see myself as part of the target audience of this book.

That is, I know more scripture/theology than I’m using — I protest that is tied to the reality that we all know more than we’re (perhaps even capable of) doing (whether that’s auto maintenance, eating healthy, or home repair) — and as a result I find myself relieved to see an angle or freshness to the Bible that invites me to stay engaged rather than step back or hide from sheer overload.

The style was sometimes “flowery” in its descriptive language, but I settled into the style. It helped to remember that a good (heh) book can be enhanced with/by the process and means of communicating its information.

This book is wonderful but its important that you have a bible near by so that you can see what the bible actually says. This book makes some passages too modern.

To be really honest, I've been struggling with reading this book. It's written in a very conversational style, definitely for someone who's not familiar with the Bible and who isn't interested in deep theology. I suppose that's all fine and good because people do need to be introduced to the Bible and certainly a "newbie" wouldn't be ready for deep theology.

However, too much of the rewording of stories from the Bible is horrid in my opinion. It's too "contemporized" for my liking, put in modern day vernacular comparing to modern day situations. Certainly the Bible applies to us today, but I just don't like the style. Much of this book really doesn't show respect for God and His Word - "hey, I think I'll rewrite passages from God's Holy Word to sound like a modern day TV show".

There are very few gems in the book that excited me, but not enough for me to give it a great recommendation. Some people will enjoy it. I just hope it doesn't cause them to consider God as a buddy or pal rather than the Holy Creator of the universe who is due great honor and respect. Hopefully it will cause them to want to get to know God better and do a serious reading of His Word.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

The book is well-written, actually surprisingly. It's hard to tell the author has a strong background in theology, not because of the content, but because the writing style is so modern with contemporary colloquialisms. She really knows how to communicate with the "regular Joe." I actually decided to read this book because the foreword was written by a false teacher, Gregory Boyd, so yes, I went in with a bit of bias, but I really did
want to give this book a chance because of its purpose - get people to read the Bible.

​The target audience of the book is for people who've grown up in church but doesn't really care about the Bible. Why should I read it? How should I read it? What is the Bible really? After too many pages, Meghan Good starts off by saying that the "Bible tells the story of a series of encounters between God and humanity." It's a "story of real life - raw and complicated" of what happened, and what can happen when God shows up.

I like the casual tone of the book. It contains no theological jargon, but theological topics like Inspiration, Inscription, Authority, or Canon are described in non-academic terms, so any average Joe can understand. There is no lesson on hermeneutics. The purpose of this book is to show the purpose of the Bible, and how to approach it, even before opening its pages.

What's annoying about this book is that after every few chapters, there's a "Story time" section. It's a mini-sermon based on a passage of Scripture. I think its purpose is to show the reader that the Bible is interesting and relevant! Its assumption is that the reader has never heard a good sermon at church, so here's a snippet for you so you can see that the Bible actually has a message for you. Yeah, completely unnecessary in the flow of this book.

Although I started reading this book with prejudice (because of the heretic writing the foreword), I'm happy to report that this book is legit and theologically sound. The only hint of liberalism is found in the last few chapters where she indicates that orthodoxy is a long process and we can "never" be sure of any theological conclusion that we have today. Her main intent is found here: "Our general level of rightness is far less important than our responsiveness to correction." She even implies that God changes based on his relationship with us, at least in our perspective, but that practically changes our theology, declaring, "An idol is not necessarily a false image of God...[but] also a true idea that is frozen, absolutized." That's liberal theology right there.

My biggest concern or regret is that the target audience for this book doesn't really read Christian books, much less the Bible. But maybe people like me can help them by walking through this book with them. But come on - someone willing to read a couple hundred pages of a Christian book is usually someone already reading the Bible, at least a little.

There are too many editing mistakes throughout the book. Only near the end, did I start keeping track.

pg 220, 3rd paragraph, last sentence, instead of "ha" replace with "had"
pg 271, last paragraph, first word, instead of "The" replace with "There"
pg 273, second sentence, insert the word "to" after "lead"
pg 278, middle of the page, insert the word "one" after "only"
pg 287, last sentence, instead of "see" replace with "seen"

The Bible Unwrapped is a really great book. It's a little heavier theologically then I was expecting, but I was in no way disappointed. I believe the author took common misconceptions and issues with the relevance of the Bible today and explained them quite well. It's a book well worth investing your time in.

I received a complimentary copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.