This is a useful book for anyone looking for a survey of what the Bible contains and for those who want help in making sense of the Bible’s most challenging passages. The book is therefore in two parts, with the first section on the nature of Scripture and the second tackling what the author considers to be the most puzzling issues raised within the pages of the Bible.

Hamilton is not offering a scholarly treatment on these questions. Rather, he is hoping to summarise and express the essence of “the work of scholars, while offering my own reflections as one who preaches and teaches the Bible and who regularly engages with questions from laity and pastors alike” (pp. 5-6).

The nature of Scripture

In his introduction he asserts the Bible is a disturbing, wonderful, perplexing and inspiring book, and he starts in his opening chapter by saying what the Bible is not (an owner’s manual, a systematic theology, a book of promises, for example). To get the wrong idea about the Bible as a whole is the main way in which we “become confused, misguided, or profoundly disappointed” (p.10).

In the early chapters, Hamilton ‘walks us through’ both Testaments and explains how certain books made it into the canon and why others didn’t. As the book develops we come across what is going to be the defining feature of his understanding of the Bible as a whole and the difficult bits within it, namely the inspiration behind the biblical texts that we have.

To get the wrong idea about the Bible as a whole is the main way in which we “become confused, misguided, or profoundly disappointed”

In a section entitled Questions about the nature of Scripture, the author explores whether the Bible is inerrant and infallible, and what it means to call it the Word of God. He challenges the ‘high view’ that every word is divinely inspired in a direct sense and claims that human, historical and cultural factors are a legitimate part of the Bible we have today. This will bother some but at least his views are worth considering and need to be understood as they provide the key hermeneutic when it comes to the way he explains the challenging passages tackled in Section Two of his book.

Challenging passages

This section contains some obvious topics (creation, Adam and Eve, violence, suffering, homosexuality, women), but it also takes on board some intriguing ones such as tattoos and dinosaurs. Hamilton agrees with Paul that “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. . .” (Rom 15:4) and concurs with the sentiment that “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us. . .” (1 Cor 10:11).

However, his overall view of the Bible’s stories is more that “They are told less to inform us of ancient history than to teach us about the human condition and about God who created us. As we read them, we are meant to worry less about whether they happened in exactly the way they are described and more about the truths God intends us to see in them” (p206).

the Bible’s stories ... “are told less to inform us of ancient history than to teach us about the human condition and about God who created us"

Not surprisingly this approach comes through in his lack of belief in a worldwide flood, and it is also behind his understanding of the book of Revelation, namely that it is totally concerned with the times in which it was written rather thanb containing anything prophetic regarding the end of history.

Wrestling with the Bible

In this respect he takes the preterist and idealist views of Revelation (to use the technical terms for this), which at least is consistent with his approach that the biblical books are essentially the product of humans who were definitely inspired by God but perhaps not in a dissimilar way to that in which writers and speakers are today.

For him, it is invalid to consider that John was directly inspired by Jesus, even being told what to write. Rather the book of Revelation sprang out of John’s imagination and desire to help his churches get through the problems of the first century.

the book can still be a useful handbook which will help you develop your own thinking and wrestle with parts of the Bible that we all find awkward to deal with.

This may seem to place the author in the more liberal camp, which can be offputting, but if you can cope with this, the book can still be a useful handbook which will help you develop your own thinking and wrestle with parts of the Bible that we all find awkward to deal with.

The book ends in a positive manner with a postscript which contains eight good reasons for reading the Bible and suggestions as to how to hear God better through the Scriptures. There is also a useful bibliography, several pages of endnotes and a comprehensive index. For all the cautions mentioned above, there is still enough in this book to commend it.