THE SIN OF CERTAINTY Why God Desires
“Our” Trust More Than
“Our” Correct Beliefs
By
Peter Enns
Reviewed by
Geoffrey W. Sutton
Chances are you’ve met a few people who insist their
beliefs are right. They don’t hesitate to denounce others as not just wrong but
as evil people--people out to ruin the country, destroy lives, and on the brink of
eternal damnation.
If you followed the 2016 or 2020 campaigns for president of the
United States, you know what I’m talking about—many people were sure their
candidate was right and the other one was an evil menace. And some of those
people attacked “friends” and family on social media and elsewhere.
I read Enn’s book, The Sin of Certainty in 2017. My
review hasn’t been published yet but I will post some text here and give you a
link to the full, unpublished version. It’s certainly a book worth
reading.
The “Sin” in Peter Enns’ book is a devotion to correct
beliefs rather than a devotion to God characterized by trust. Trust in a
person—God—is the only way for Christians to maintain faith qua faithfulness
when simple biblical quotes don’t seem to square with challenges from
scientists or life events.
You will find four challenges to certainty in the last
few hundred years. These “oh-oh” moments challenged thinking Christians—and still
do.
1. The scientific evidence for evolution caused many to
doubt the literal words in Genesis.
2. Archaeologists found old texts from other cultures
indicating the words attributed to Moses were not unique to him.
3. Biblical research challenged the views of religious scholars about the way the Bible was written.
4. The theological battle over American slavery raised questions
about using the Bible for moral guidance when clergy preached contradictory
messages.
Of course, these four issues continue into the present
in one form or another. As I’ve written elsewhere, Christians are A HouseDivided.
Here’s a few quotes you might find interesting.
“Let me say again that beliefs themselves are not the
problem. Working out what we believe is worthy of serious time and effort in
our lives of faith. But our pursuit of having the right beliefs and locking
them up in a vault are not the center of faith. Trust in God is. When holding to
correct thinking becomes the center, we have shrunk faith in God to an
intellectual exercise” (22).
“The long Protestant quest to get the Bible right has
not led to greater and greater certainty about what the Bible means. Quite the
contrary. It has led to a staggering number of different denominations and sub
denominations that disagree sharply about how significant portions of the Bible
should be understood. I mean, if the Bible is our source of sure knowledge
about God, how do we explain all this diversity? Isn’t the Bible supposed to
unify us rather than divide us?” (p. 52)
“When we are in despair or fear and God is as far away
from us as the most distant star in the universe, we are at that moment ‘with’
Christ more than we know—and perhaps more than we ever have been—because when
we suffer, we share in and complete Christ’s sufferings” (200).
Revised 29 November 2020.
References
Enns, P. (2017). The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires “Our” Trust More Than “Our” Correct
Beliefs. New York: HarperOne.
Sutton, G. W. (2016).
[Review of the book The sin of certainty:
Why God desires “our” trust more than “our” correct beliefs by Peter Enns].
Encounter, 13. https://legacy.agts.edu/encounter/current.html
Academia Link ResearchGate Link
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Link to my longer review on Academia
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