The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible (original 2008; udgave 2016)

This was chosen as a title to be taught at a Christian based leadership college. I was asked to create a syllabus for classroom discussion -- but I couldn't do it -- I kept trying to read it but after the third try I gave it up.

NOTE: The instructor said this one was much better than the one they were previous using (title unknown). This is one book that I'm not keeping.

One of the main beliefs of most churches is that we can read the Bible and understand it ourselves. However, reading the Bible is not always easy. How do best read the Bible? This is a great book to start sharpening your skills in reading the Bible.
As a birdwatcher, McKnight once found that a blue parakeet had joined the other birds in his backyard. Although the other birds were originally uncomfortable with this stranger, they soon adjusted. As McKnight says, “They let the blue parakeet be a blue parakeet.” He uses this as an analogy – the Bible has “Blue parakeet” passages that make us uncomfortable or leave us scratching our heads. How do we let these “be blue parakeets”? To explain this, McKnight (who is a professor of New Testament) explains that She believes we should read the Bible as story. When we read this way, we can see how the parts we don’t understand fir into the bigger picture.
Reading the Bible is not always easy, and if we are going to be faithful and really grow in our relationship with God, we need to explore and understand how to read the Bible. You will have a better grasp on understanding what God wants for you once you finish (and start applying) this book.

This book is relatively easy to read and would be a great book to discuss in a group. Note: While generally a book on how to read the Bible, the major example used – women in ministry – can be controversial. If you are not comfortable with being challenged on this issue you will probably want to skip this book ( )

Essential reading for any student of the Bible. How to read and understand the Bible. The author is a seminary professor and writes very well with compelling approaches to the hard stuff in the bible. Especially important with anyone who wants a way of making sense out of what Paul said about women in the church and it's contradiction with that women actually did both in the old and new testaments. ( )

A blue parakeet is an unexpected or uncomfortable part of the Bible
The author stresses the need to read the Bible as a story as God's words to us. We need to discern the overall message and let it guide us in living as God wants us to. ( )

I'm a pastor on the lookout for books to recommend to parishioners on reading the Bible. This one, while far better than Reading the Bible for All It's Worth, is not the book I'm looking for. At best, Blue Parakeet might have eaten the book I'm looking for, and added to it acronyms (WDWD? = What Did Women Do?); clunky slang (the book's title; Biblical stories as "wiki-stories of the Story) that already feels dated (at only 8 years old); and a long case-study section on women in ministry which is basically a different book. Also, McKnight's exegetical methods never allow him to even discuss the question of Pauline authorship (even in 1 Timothy) or how McKnight's take on reading "with Tradition" could lend itself to an LGBT-inclusive church. I don't know if that was to not lose part of the intended evangelical audience, but that's my best guess. ( )