Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How We Read the Bible Review

With this book, Scot McKnight, more than ever, is building an ancient-future perspective of theology and hermeneutics.  As in A Community Called Atonement, McKnight is tackling the issue of hermeneutics, particularly the interpretation of blue parakeets (passages that create tension, division, and bewilderment) with a common sense approach that does not navigate the either/or of modernism but instead follows a pragmatic post-modern view, what some call critical realism, that sees the necessity of tackling issues with a "both/and" perspective. 

The thesis of McKnight's book, which he works out in the large case study on Women in Church Ministries Today, is that:

A)    We recognize that we read the Bible through our own particular lens...or, we are all pickers and choosers, and we must accept this as fact.

B)     We need to read the Bible with tradition, not through tradition.

The first part of McKnight's thesis is why he wrote the book, because he believes

many of us want to know why we pick and choose. Even more importantly, many of us want to know how to do this in a way that honors God and embraces the Bible as God's Word for all times. (13)

The second part of McKnight's thesis is what makes this an ancient-future book and not a paleo-orthodox book or a book praising theological nostalgia.  ... more

Scot McKnight came up with a great idea: make July the month you start using a prayer book.  The comments section is filled with the titles of different prayer books.  I commented and gave my two cents. ... more

Scot McKnight's Jesus Creed is an excellent book.  It begins beautifully and I imagine Scot's main message of loving God and others will resonate with most readers as I found it impacting.  The Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "... Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength ..." and Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself" combine together in Mark 12:30-31 form McKnight's "Jesus Creed". 

A Community Called Atonement
by Scot McKnight
$17.00
Abingdon Press