Description: Zach Lambert has seen the Bible used countless times as something far from the "Good Book"--both in his own life and in the experiences of others. He has seen the Bible weaponized to subjugate women, justify racism, bash LGBTQ+ people, cover up abuse, and exclude people who speak out against these injustices. In Better Ways to Read the Bible, Lambert calls listeners to a more Christlike interpretation of Scripture. Lambert has created this accessible guide to help listeners dismantle four common lenses for reading Scripture that lead to harm--Literalism, Apocalypse, Moralism, and Hierarchy. Instead, he offers four new lenses--Jesus, Context, Flourishing, and Fruitfulness--that promote wholeness, inclusion, and flourishing for all people. This book transforms the Bible from a weapon that condemns, oppresses, and excludes into a tool that helps and heals. Better Ways to Read the Bible, which includes a foreword by Beth Allison Barr, welcomes all Christians to reengage Scripture in life-giving ways.
Brief description: Beth Allison Barr is James Vardaman Endowed Chair of History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she specializes in medieval history, women's history, and church history. She is the author of the USA Today bestseller The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. Her work has been featured by NPR and the New Yorker, and she has written for Christianity Today, the Washington Post, the Dallas Morning News, Sojourners, and Baptist News Global. Barr lives in Texas with her husband, a Baptist pastor, and their two children.