Christians who believe the Bible is inerrant are naturally suspicious of historical analysis (called “criticism”) that doesn’t make this assumption, and in fact challenges it.

But the editors and authors of this book argue that accepting the findings of historical criticism is not a threat to faith.

They address the issues of Adam and the Fall, the Exodus, prophecy, and the dating of Deuteronomy, as well as several New Testament issues. They recognise real difficulties. And they argue that the writers were not writing dispassionate history, so each selected, adapted and interpreted both history and doctrine to meet their objectives.

Old Testament scholar Peter Enns outlines his conclusion that the Bible isn’t some perfect book dictated by God but a response by the Jewish people to their interactions with God and the world around them. Often the Old Testament presents more than one view as the Israelite people worked their way through issues. As they learnt more, they adjusted their teachings and the texts. As a result, the Bible, he says, helps us gain wisdom about how to live and relate to God rather than fixed rules.

This view would be anathema to many conservative Christians, but Enns shows that it makes more sense of the well-known difficulties in the Old Testament. A very readable and sometimes humorous coverage of an important and vexing topic.

• The Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Literature. How some parts of the Old Testament look very similar to stories from other nations and what we can learn from that.
• The Old Testament and Theological Diversity. How there are developments and even contradictions in some teachings.
• Old Testament interpretation in the New Testament. What we can learn from how Jesus and the apostles used their scriptures (our Old Testament).

Denis Lamoureux has doctoral degrees in dentistry, theology, and evolutionary biology, the latter two obtained so he could write authoritatively about Genesis and evolution.

He shows how the Genesis account is based on an ancient cosmology and shows evidence of being a combination of two different accounts written for quite different purposes.

Then he examines the fossil and age-of-the-earth evidence and shows how the science and theology fit together well.

A geneticist and a Biblical scholar join forces to give a theological perspective on understanding Genesis in its Jewish cultural context, and a scientific understanding of evolution and genetics.

Genetic (DNA) evidence seems to me to be the strongest “proof” that evolution is broadly true, and this book explains why in readable detail.

And also shows in detail how this reality presents no problems for the Christian reader.

This comprehensive book by one of the world’s premier Middle Eastern archaeologists isn’t light reading, but I found it fascinating. The archaeological evidence for the Israelites in Canaan is clear:

• Many of the battles outlined in the book of Joshua appear not to have happened, or happened at some other time, or were much smaller affairs than portrayed.
• The population of Canaan after the Israelites arrived was not anywhere near the 2 to 3 million suggested by the Biblical stories.
• The kingdoms of Judah and Israel were much less monotheistic in the period of Joshua than the Bible suggests.

The story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in the second millennium BCE is foundational to the Jewish people and important to Christians too. But the archaeological evidence for it is scant. It seems very unlikely that 2-3 million slaves spent 40 years in the desert.

Richard Friedman examines textual and linguistic evidence to argue that an exodus did indeed take place, but on a much smaller scale than in the Biblical story.

He concludes that the escaping slaves carried monotheism with them, and this was pivotal in developing the nation of Israel and its faith.

Peter Enns also has doubts about the historicity of the exodus. He sees it as “mythicised history”, meaning it has a historical core but most of the details are there to make a point rather than record accurate history.

He outlines why he holds this view, summarises the main themes of the book of Exodus and gives some thoughts on what Christians can gain from reading it.

He argues that we should understand the Bible for what it actually is, not for what we’d like or expect it to be. Like CS Lewis, he argues we can understand God better this way.