The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible’s Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love By John Shelby Spong Reviewed by Geoffrey W. Sutton The Sins of Scripture continues to be relevant to topics that divide American Christians into two major war camps over such subjects as biblical authority, the equality of women, same-sex relationships, and doctrinal distinctions that mark boundaries of exclusivity. Spong divides his 32 short chapters into eight sections within 298 pages of a highly readable work. Section 1 is crucial to his discussion of other topics because he challenges the view of some Christians that the Bible is the Word of God although they retain the right to interpret God’s Word in their own way. Like other writers (e.g., Borg, 2001 ; Enns, 2014 ), Spong argues against biblical literalism when reading the sacred text of Christianity. He offers problematic examples like ancient perspectives on mental illness and improbable stories like the on
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