Audiobooks by Peter Enns

Curveball: When Your Faith Takes Turns You Never Saw Coming (or How I Stumbled and Tripped My Way to

“Peter Enns is brilliant at taking the big topics, those Christian ideas that usually scare us or intimidate us or worry us, and then make those very places a meeting place with a God who is bigger and wilder and more wonderful and trustworthy than we ever could have guessed.”—Sarah Bessey, author of Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist The author of How the Bible Actually Works and The Bible Tells Me So explains how our model of God and faith must evolve as our understanding of the world deepens—just as the Bible describes it should. Life throws us “curve balls”—from devastating personal losses to world tragedies. These events often leave us doubting God, the Bible, and our faith. But instead of pushing away our reservations, we should embrace them, Peter Enns argues. A leading biblical scholar and Christian mentor, Enns has never been afraid to question the Bible or Christian beliefs. Such thoughtful inquisitiveness, he argues, is part of God’s plan. He wants us to question, because doing so actually leads to a stronger, lasting faith. By reframing how we see these events, we allow ourselves to see how the Bible itself showcases this very process and that “treating curve balls as the enemy” is not only counterproductive but thwarts God’s goal of helping us become mature and wise. Enns shares a number of curve balls he’s encountered in his own life and the questions he has pondered. Does God care about the millions of people who never heard the gospel? Could I relate to a God who has created a universe this big? If God is so relatable, constant, and caring, how do we explain quantum physics? He reveals how particular biblical passages have helped him find wisdom, and how they can do the same for us. As Curveball persuasively shows, God is bigger and more mysterious than anyone’s expectations. We need a faith that can grow just as deeply. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Peter Enns (Author), Peter Enns (Narrator)

Audiobook

Exodus for Normal People: A Guide to the Story—and History— of the Second Book of the Bible

Behind the scenes of movies like The Ten Commandments, The Prince of Egypt, or Exodus: Gods and Kings is a complicated, and at times, messy biblical story. In this short guide to the book of Exodus, Biblical scholar Peter Enns doesn't just break down the story for the average person to understand but takes us behind the story—to the history and traditions that led us to the story as we have it today. By asking the important questions like, “What kind of book are we reading?” and taking us along Moses's and the Israelite journey, Enns brings the best in biblical scholarship to us everyday people. And, as we have come to expect from Pete Enns, he does it with his usual humor and wit. 'Pete Enns does it again! In Exodus for Normal People, he provides us with a roadmap for understanding the book of Exodus through the lens of what concerned ancient people. He makes accessible the best of biblical scholarship with humor and insight, reminding us to respect Scripture in all its complexities. A hard task that Pete makes look simple.' Richard Rohr, author of The Universal Christ, Falling Upward, and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality 'Enns helps readers to understand Exodus as responding to ancient Israel's questions of identity, theology, and history, to raise their own questions, and frequently to laugh out loud.' Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt Divinity School; coauthor of The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us

Peter Enns (Author), Peter Enns (Narrator)

Audiobook

Genesis for Normal People: A Guide to the Most Controversial, Misunderstood, and Abused Book of the

Given the fever-pitched controversies about evolution, Adam and Eve, and scientific evidence for the Flood, the average person might feel intimidated by the book of Genesis. But behind the heady debates is a terrific story-one that anyone can understand, and one that has gripped people for ages. If you are not a Bible scholar but want to be able to read Genesis and understand its big picture, this brief, witty book is the guide you've been waiting for. Clear summaries and thought-provoking questions provide direction for personal reflection and group discussion. Peter Enns, a Biblical Studies professor, and Jared Byas, an Old Testament professor, summarize the book's key themes and help us see Genesis as an ancient story, one with continued relevance for human experience today. Genesis for Normal People illuminates the characters that fill the book of Genesis, causing us to resonate with their choices and struggles even as we marvel at their distant world. And that's what you'll find here-not scientific proof texts or simple moral tales, but a distant world made available, and a story that is often strange, sometimes dangerous, and always filled with rich possibilities. “This book is a welcome antidote to the mystification about the book of Genesis that goes around. It is accessible for readers who want to take the plunge into this old text. It is gentle in leading readers to a critical sense of the text in response to a “late” trauma in Israel. It is imaginative in its articulation of a book that might otherwise be off-putting. The convergence of accessibility, gentleness, and imagination make this a very fine read.” – Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary

Jared Byas, Peter Enns (Author), Jared Byas, Peter Enns (Narrator)

Audiobook

Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins

Can Christianity and evolution coexist? Traditional Christian teaching presents Jesus as reversing the effects of the Fall of Adam. However, an evolutionary view of beginnings doesn't allow for a historical Adam, making evolution seemingly incompatible with what Genesis and the apostle Paul say about him. For Christians who accept evolution and want to take the Bible seriously, this presents a faith-shaking tension. Peter Enns, an expert in biblical interpretation, offers a way forward by explaining how this tension is caused not by the discoveries of science but by false expectations about the biblical texts. Focusing on key biblical passages in the discussion, Enns demonstrates that the author of Genesis and the apostle Paul wrote to ask and answer ancient questions for ancient people; the fact that they both speak of Adam does not determine whether Christians can accept evolution. This thought-provoking book helps readers reconcile the teachings of the Bible with the widely held evolutionary view of beginnings and will appeal to anyone interested in the Christianity-evolution debate.

Peter Enns (Author), Bob Souer (Narrator)

Audiobook

Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament

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 on 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.

Peter Enns (Author), David Colacci (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs

With compelling and often humorous stories from his own life, Bible scholar Peter Enns offers a fresh look at how Christian life truly works, answering questions that cannot be addressed by the idealized traditional doctrine of "once for all delivered to the saints." Enns offers a model of vibrant faith that views skepticism not as a loss of belief, but as an opportunity to deepen religious conviction with courage and confidence. This is not just an intellectual conviction, he contends, but a more profound kind of knowing that only true faith can provide. Combining Enns's reflections of his own spiritual journey with an examination of Scripture, The Sin of Certainty models an acceptance of mystery and paradox that all believers can follow and why God prefers this path because it is only this way by which we can become mature disciples who truly trust God. It gives Christians who have known only the demand for certainty permission to view faith on their own flawed, uncertain, yet heartfelt, terms.

Peter Enns (Author), Tom Perkins (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It

Peter Enns (Author), Joe Barrett (Narrator)

Audiobook