Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament, 2nd ed.

by Peter Enns

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2015

Overview

How can an evangelical view of Scripture be reconciled with modern biblical scholarship? In this book Peter Enns, an expert in biblical interpretation, addresses Old Testament phenomena that challenge traditional evangelical perspectives of Scripture. He then suggests a way forward, proposing an incarnational model of biblical inspiration that takes seriously both the divine and the human aspects of Scripture. This tenth anniversary edition has an updated bibliography and includes a substantive postscript that reflects on the reception of the first edition.

Key Features

• Reconciles evangelical views of Scripture with modern biblical scholarship
• Proposes an incarnational model of biblical inspiration
• Includes a reflection on the reception of the first edition

Contents

• Getting Our Bearings
• The Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Literature
• The Old Testament and Theological Diversity
• The Old Testament and Its Interpretation in the New Testament
• The Big Picture

Top Highlights

“Or to put it better, the scientific evidence showed us that the worldview of the biblical authors affected what they thought and wrote, and so the worldviews of the biblical authors must be taken into consideration in matters of biblical interpretation and formulating a doctrine of Scripture.” (Page 2)

“To put it differently, theologically speaking, God adopted Abraham as the forefather of a new people, and in doing so he also adopted the mythic categories within which Abraham—and everyone else—thought. But God did not simply leave Abraham in his mythic world. Rather, God transformed the ancient myths so that Israel’s story would come to focus on its God, the real one.” (Page 42)

“What makes Genesis different from its ancient Near Eastern counterparts is that it begins to make the point to Abraham and his seed that the God they are bound to, the God who called them into existence, is different from the gods around them.” (Page 42)

“Myth is an ancient, premodern, prescientific way of addressing questions of ultimate origins and meaning in the form of stories: Who are we? Where do we come from?” (Page 39)

“Rather than supporting a suspicious or defensive posture, Inspiration and Incarnation has helped students resolve at least some tensions between their faith in God and modern scholarship by showing that many of the ‘problems’ allegedly caused by the modern study of Scripture are really problems with faulty expectations of how the Bible ‘should’ work perpetuated within evangelicalism.” (Page xi)

Praise for the Print Edition

Some of those most dedicated to biblical studies unfortunately begin from inadequate theological presuppositions. If everyone who identifies as a conservative evangelical would read and absorb this book, the field would be better for it—and so might the church and the world.

—Christopher B. Hays, D. Wilson Moore Associate Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

I have used this book to great effect in the classroom. Divinity students welcome Enns’ invitation to think theologically about history—how the historical ‘problems’ of the Bible may in fact be a crucial aspect of its theological witness. Of course, the incarnational analogy can be pressed too far, and there are other models on offer. But Enns’ model is traditional, illuminating, hospitable to other models, and urgently needed by Christians still caught in late modern debates about inerrancy, inspiration, and revelation. This book continues to strike a chord that resonates.

—Stephen B. Chapman, associate professor of Old Testament, Duke University

Peter Enns has done the evangelical church an immense service by challenging preconceived notions of what the Bible ought to be by insisting on building his high view of Scripture on what God intended Scripture to be. When the first edition appeared, it started important and healthy conversations about the Bible in spite of efforts to dismiss or marginalize Enns’ viewpoint. One does not have to agree with all his conclusions to understand why this book has helped and will continue to help many people to embrace Scripture as God’s Word to us. Everyone who loves the Bible ought to read this important book.

—Tremper Longman III, Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies, Westmont College

Product Details

• Title: Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament
• Author: Peter Enns
• Edition: Second Edition
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Logos Release Date: 2016
• Pages: 224
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Bible. O.T. › Evidences, authority, etc; Bible. O.T. › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Evangelicalism
• ISBNs: 9781441267856, 9780801097485, 1441267859, 0801097487
• Resource ID: LLS:NSPRTNCRTNSCDTN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T01:54:54Z

About Peter Enns

Peter Enns is an American Old Testament scholar and was professor of Old Testament and biblical hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (WTS), Philadelphia until 2008. He has a BA from Messiah College (1982), an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary (1989), and MA (1993) and PhD (1994) from Harvard University where he also served as a Teaching Fellow from 1990–1994. Enns was the editor of the Westminster Theological Journal from 2000–2005. WTS suspended Enns following the end of the Spring semester, 2008 due to the theological issues raised in his book Inspiration and Incarnation. Enns decided to leave WTS after 14 years and did so on mutually agreeable terms with the WTS administration. He is currently the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. He also writes and podcasts at The Bible for Normal People.