Better ways to read the Bible: transforming a weapon of harm into a tool of healing

Foreword / by Sarah Bessey

Introduction: how the Bible beat me up

Part 1: We all have lenses. You're reading it wrong

Some lenses are better than others

Part 2: Lenses that inflict harm. The literalism lens: "the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it"

The Apocalypse lens: "It's all gonna burn anyway"

The moralism lens: "Well, that's not Biblical"

The hierarchy lens: "Submit to authority as you submit to God"

Part 3: Lenses that promote healing. The Jesus lens: "the scriptures point to me"

The context lens: "the one who seeks will find"

The flourishing lens: "I have come that they may have life abundantly"

The fruitfulness lens: "By their fruit your will recognize them"

Conclusion: a restored reading.