Kent Sparks and Our Sacred, Broken Bible

Kent Sparks (professor of biblical studies and interim provost at Eastern University) has a new book due out in May, Sacred Word, Broken Word: Biblical Authority and the Dark Side of Scripture (Eerdmans).

He has posted a teaser on the publisher’s blog, giving a rationale for writing this kind of book.

He says that theological intransigence and intolerance among Christians (not against Christians) is the true culprit for stifling the gospel and feeding the process of secularization.

He ends his comments as follows:

My new book, Sacred Word, Broken Word, is an attempt to help Christians recapture the spirit of Jesus in our reading of Scripture. Insofar as we can, let us try to follow in the footsteps of Jesus rather than of the Pharisees.

Sparks speaks clearly, plainly, and provocatively about the problems scripture poses for evangelicalism, and has the academic chops to back it up. Predictably, he has received for his efforts strong support and equally strong resistance.

A recently announced title is aimed squarely at countering Sparks’s previous book, which was an academic treatment of the problem. Sacred Word, Broken Word is written for a general audience, and so will likely attract a much wider audience.

You can read the remainder of Sparks’s post at EerdWord. He will be posting here in the coming weeks to give us a preview of the book’s contents.