Overview

Could there be good news in biblical imperfections? What if the imperfections and contradictions in Scripture aren't an accident? What if they were allowed to be there by the Holy Spirit in order to draw us beyond the literal words on the page and deeper into the spiritual truth God is trying to teach us? As provocative or unorthodox as that might sound, it is in fact a very ancient way of understanding what it means for the Bible to be divinely inspired. In this thorough and disarming book, author Zack Hunt explains how we got here and offers a practical and easily accessible approach for reading and understanding the Bible that doesn't require a PhD in biblical languages. ​ As the disillusioned leave the Church in droves and the deconstructing search for better answers to eternal questions, this book repositions Scripture in the life of the Church to allow it to be what it was meant to be all along: a source of life, hope, and freedom for all. Godbreathed will reclaim the idea of biblical truth and reveal it to be not a list of beliefs to affirm or laws to be followed, but an invitation into a new way of living and loving on earth as it is in heaven.

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9781513811833

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Reviews

It's important to recognize that inerrancy has a history and a context, just like the Bible. And Zack Hunt does this work. I gladly recommend that folks read Godbreathed, especially if the way they were taught to read the Bible just won't hold up any longer and they want to understand why. --JARED BYAS, author of Love Matters More and cohost of The Bible for Normal People This book is at once convicting, liberating, profound, and accessible. It is about elevating the truth of the Bible in adoration of God's mystery rather than cheapening it by worshiping the words in dogmatic certainty. You cannot read Godbreathed and remain unchanged. --TIFFANY YECKE BROOKS, author of Gaslighted by God: Reconstructing a Disillusioned Faith This book will be a drink of cool water for Christians who have wondered whether the Bible is even worth reading anymore, reintroducing them to the book through fresh eyes. It offers readers much-needed permission to rethink deeply held beliefs, providing helpful overview of the history of how we got the Bible and the role it has held in the faith since the earliest days of the church. Readers will discover a sense of delight in the Bible and the invitation it offers to a God--and a faith--worth holding on to. --GRACE JI-SUN KIM, professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion and author of Invisible and Spirit Life Too often we've brought to the Bible a view of God and expectations that don't fit the text. The result fails to do justice to Scripture or to a God of love. Zack Hunt argues that the problems we find in the biblical text are not obstacles but opportunities--occasions to understand God and the role of Scripture better. I recommend this readable book to those with questions about the Bible! --THOMAS JAY OORD, theologian, philosopher, and author of Open and Relational Theology What a winsome, accessible, and wise invitation to an evolving view of Scripture. Zack Hunt is a good guide for everyone who wants to love the Bible while knowing that taking it seriously doesn't always mean taking it literally. --SARAH BESSEY, New York Times bestselling author of A Rhythm of Prayer and Jesus Feminist When parents ask me how to read the Bible to kids in a nontoxic way, I encourage them to let their children guide the conversation. Ask your kids, 'What do you think?'--not 'What do you think I want to say?' but truly, 'What do you think?' Thanks to Zack Hunt for showing us how each of us, including our kids, are Godbreathed, and how even the smallest ones of us are worthy to authentically engage with the Bible without doctrinal boundaries. --CINDY WANG BRANDT, author of Parenting Forward and You Are Revolutionary While Zack Hunt and I differ on a few matters of biblical interpretation, let me be clear: Godbreathed is a breathtaking book about the Book. Integrating personal experience with rigorous scholarship, Zack invites readers to embrace the Bible that God gave us--in all its complexity. Godbreathed is a God-honoring, truth-telling, and life-giving exploration of the Bible and how we engage with it (and yes, I chose hyphenated words because Zack hates them--as you will read in his introduction). Want to know where the Bible came from, how it's been used and abused, and what role it can play in our lives today? Read Godbreathed. I highly recommend it! --KURT WILLEMS, lead pastor at Brentview Church in Calgary, Alberta, and author of Echoing Hope: How the Humanity of Jesus Redeems Our Pain Zack Hunt has written a quite refreshing book on biblical authority that is at the same time wise and passionate. He knows well the recurring pitfalls of biblical absolutism and inerrancy that yield only idolatry. And he knows the struggle to accommodate the reality of Scripture to our best learning. Along with such an incisive review of our past work on biblical authority, Hunt aims--via his Pentecostally-tinged tradition--at a view and practice of Scripture as a Spirit-propelled text that overrides our intellectual scruples and our fearful deference. The result is a book that gives life according to the relentless generosity of the Spirit of God. Readers, especially those who live with simple ideas of authority, will find the book a welcome invitation to both faith and learning. --WALTER BRUEGGEMANN, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary

Author Information

Zack Hunt has spent more than 20 years spent preaching and working in various forms of ministry. A graduate of Trevecca Nazarene University, he also holds a graduate degree in Theology as well as an additional graduate degree in Christian History from Yale Divinity School. Zack has been writing in the public sphere for the last decade, both on his eponymous blog and Patheos as well as contributing articles to multiple publications including The Huffington Post, Relevant Magazine, Ministry Matters, Youth Worker Journal, and many more. These years of writing culminated in the successful launch of his first book, Unraptured (Herald Press, 2019). When not writing, Zack can be found traveling and trying out new restaurants with his wife, playing with their two little girls, and sneaking out onto his back porch trying to smoke the perfect rack of ribs on his beloved smoker.

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