By Ray Vincent
5/5 (2 ratings)
247 pages
4 hours
Description
Is there anyone “up there” to hear our cries for help? Will there ever be justice in this world? Why do we suffer? Is there life after death? Is there a meaning in history? How will it all end? Is there a God? What do we mean by “God” anyway?
The answers are in the Bible, some say. But are they? This book is a guide to reading the Bible not to find answers but to hear the urgency of the questions and to realise that those who wrote the Bible were searching too. They searched in many different ways. Sometimes what they say seems alien to our way of thinking. Sometimes we feel they are kindred spirits. Sometimes they challenge us to think again. Often they argue with one another, and as we read their words and respond to them we become part of the ongoing conversation. This, rather than false notions of “authority”, is what makes the Bible relevant and exciting.
About the Author
Ray Vincent is a Baptist minister. He studied at Regent's Park College. Oxford, and later gained the M.Th. of Glasgow University for a dissertation on the question of the New Testament Canon. He has now retired from full-time ministry and is an Associate Chaplain at the University of Glamorgan,
Start reading Chasing an Elusive God: The Bible's Quest and Ours on your Kindle in under a minute.
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Christianity
All categories
PUBLISHER:
John Hunt Publishing
RELEASED:
Mar 11, 2013
ISBN:
9781782790396
FORMAT:
Book
http://letthebiblebeitself.blogspot.com
Prologue: The Dream
AT THE beginning of history, human beings began to dream... Their dreams were their fears and their hopes. They dreamed up demons and spirits and hostile gods who caused disease, destruction and death. They dreamed up benevolent spirits who protected them, creative spirits who made the crops grow, happy spirits who made the flowers blossom and inspired people to dance and sing, mysterious spirits who gave them feelings they could not explain.
Then some people became richer and more powerful than others, and they dreamed up gods who protected their wealth and power and kept the poor in their place. They dreamed up national gods who helped them in their battles and defeated other nations. They dreamed up rebel gods who helped them overthrow those more powerful than themselves. They dreamed up power struggles in Heaven reflecting the power struggles on earth, myths to explain why the world is as it is.
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Review
If you have problems with your Christian faith and the Bible this interesting and well-written book won't make them disappear but it will illuminate them and help you to deal with them in a realistic (I might say 'believable!') and fruitful way.
Michael Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Social Theology, University of Birmingham, UK
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Reader reviews
dubiousdisciple
(5/5)
This is the second book by Vincent that I’ve reviewed, and I enjoyed it as much as the first. Ray writes simply and draws on a lifetime of Biblical research. His approach is an even mix of informative and entertaining without coddling.This book tackles the personal quest for God … a quest which repeats itself throughout the Bible. When we question our origin and cosmic purpose, trying to understand who or what God is and what he wants, we’re in good company. We see the same pondering throughout our holy book, from Genesis to Revelation. When we reach different conclusions than our neighbors, we’re again in good company, for the Bible’s authors hardly reached any consensus.So Ray’s newest book is an exploration of the themes of a very human book: the Bible. From the mystery of the divine to the quest for meaning in life to the cry of the oppressed for justice to the emotions which rule us as human recipients to the great question of life after death, Ray journeys through what the Bible has to say—and not say—as the ancients struggle to make sense of the same questions we ponder today.Ray sees the Bible as art, not history. That is what brings life to its pages. He explains with a comparison: “Van Gogh did not set out to inform us what sunflowers look like: a photograph or a botanical drawing could tell us that. What he did was to contemplate sunflowers, to open his heart to them, and to express in his painting the feeling they gave him. Because he did this we can look at that picture today, feel something of what he felt and see sunflowers, and perhaps the whole world, in a new way. That is what great art is about.”Likewise, we must open ourselves up to the world of the Bible, its human struggles and dreams, in order to share in its journey.Excellent reading! I can’t wait for Ray’s next work.
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