The Blue Parakeet

Just finished this excellent book! If you have to read or study the Bible, if you own one, I highly recommend it.

Blue Parakeets are"those passages that are oddities in the Bible that we prefer to cage and silence rather than permit into our sacred mental gardens" (pg 208). McKnight's book is basically an introduction on how to read the Bible as story and why one should. He speaks of how people need to read the Bible with tradition rather than through tradition or even in just a read-to-retrieve mentality.

The subject matter is well-outlined and explained. It was very encouraging to me because it affirms many ideas and ponderings I've had about how we read the Bible, or even frustrations on how others do so.

On my Goodreads page I only gave the book 4 stars out of 5. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I feel like there needed to be more of an explanation on how to do actual Bible study within this paradigm. This book is more about paradigm shifting/challenging than a how-to book. A little more how-to and I would have given it that last star. My fear is that some would take his ideas about discernment and "that was for then this is for now" out of context and say about "blue parakeet" passages, "see - I don't have to do/worry about this." That is NOT what McKnight teaches in this book. Not at all. However, I think a little more how-to or at the minimal a little more emphasis on the need for good study would prevent this. He does give a good case study in the final section of the book, but that isn't to teach how-to but instead to show the concepts applied.

Highly recommend the book! Especially if you read/study the Bible regularly. VERY MUCH so if you've ever been frustrated with aspects of reading/studying the Bible. It will challenge & stretch some - but this is needed and good.