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

by Peter Enns

Overview

The controversial evangelical Bible scholar and author of The Bible Tells Me So explains how Christians mistake “certainty” and “correct belief” for faith when what God really desires is trust and intimacy.

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’ 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062272096
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/04/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	102,333
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Peter Enns (PhD, Harvard University) is the Abram S. Clemens Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University, St. David’s, Pennsylvania. He has also taught courses at Harvard University, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the host of The Bible for Normal People podcast, a frequent contributor to journals and encyclopedias, and the author of several books, including The Sin of Certainty, The Bible Tells Me So, and Inspiration and Incarnation. He lives in northern New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 I Don't Know What I Believe Anymore

Thanks for Nothing, Walt Disney 2

Can We Just Be Honest for a Second, Please? 7

Okay, I'll Go First 11

What's So Sinful About Certainty? 16

Thinking Is Good 20

Chapter 2 How We Got into This Mess

Know What You Believe (or Else) 28

Oh Great, We Came from Monkeys 34

Seriously Weird Stories from Long Ago 37

The Germans Are Coming (Like We Need This Right Now) 40

Slavery: Whose Side Is God On? 43

Again with the Germans 47

Why "Defenders of the Faith" Are Raising White Flags 51

Chapter 3 "You Abandoned Me, God; You Lied" (and Other Bible Lessons)

Parts of the Bible We Don't Read in Church (but Should) 56

God Is a Liar 62

The World Makes Perfect Sense Without God 66

Chapter 4 Two Miserable People Worth Listening To Trust God Anyway 74

Don't Even Try to Understand What God is Up To 81

Chapter 5 Believing in God: So Easy Even a Demon Can Do It

Who, Not What 92

Amen 95

Faith Isn't Something in Your Head (or Heart) 98

"All to Jesus! Surrender" 103

There Goes Jesus Being Jesus Again 107

But, But… What About…? 113

Chapter 6 Uh-Oh: When Certainty Is Caught Off Guard (and Why That Might Not Be Such a Bad Idea)

When Life Happens 118

God Did What, Now? 121

Our Pale Blue Dot 125

Falling Branches 130

Meeting New People 135

When Christians Eat Their Own 140

God Is Not My Father 144

When "Uh-Oh" Becomes "Ah-Ha" 150

Chapter 7 God Wants You Dead

The Lie: "It's All Your Fault" 156

The Truth: "God Wants You Dead" 160

Down the Mine Shaft 166

Let's Bring This Aboveground 171

Chapter 8 Cultivating a Habit of Trust

Ever Have One of Those Decades? 174

Live Strong 177

August 1, 2008 182

Honoring Your Head Without Living in It 187

The Long Haul 195

Being Like Jesus 198

Chapter 9 Beyond Trust

No Fear 204

Go and Sin No More 207

Acknowledgments 213

Notes 217

Scripture Index 229

Editorial Reviews

Enns is an acute reader of texts. His readers will welcome his puckish affirmation of the buoyant, sometimes outrageous, boundary-breaking capacity of biblical faith.” — Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary

“If you’re afraid that your theological questions and doubts disqualify you from being a person of faith, theologian Peter Enns has good news for you. Really good news. And it’s a delightful read too!” — Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity

“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

“This book is accessible, freeing, empowering, and beautiful. I underlined almost every page. I only wish I had it in my hands fifteen years ago! I’m deeply thankful for Enns’s work and his new book is right on time for many of us.” — Sarah Bessey, author of Out of Sorts and Jesus Feminist

“Seldom have I read a book that I so totally agree with! This is a very fine, very readable, often humorous, and much needed analysis of what Western Christianity is up against.” — Richard Rohr, author of Falling Upward

“The idea that at all times you must know what you believe, Enns writes, leads to having a closed heart to trusting God. I commend this book to you.” — Faith Matters

“Peter Enns’ new book, The Sin of Certainty, will make you reflect on your life and question what you believe. That’s a good thing.” — Joel Anderson, Resurrecting Orthodoxy

“Blending personal stories with Scripture, the book offers a new look at how the Christian life truly works.” — Publishers Weekly

“Enns has delivered yet another to-be-read-frequently volume to my library.” — Clarion Journal of Spirituality and Justice

“Virtually every page offers pithy and profound insight and wisdom… packed full of enough spiritual reflection, historical context, and biblical insight to keep me thinking about it long after I finished reading it.” — Patheos

“I couldn’t put this book down - twice. Peter Enns writes with an engaging style that makes the challenging ideas accessible to the average reader, even those who do not normally read non-fiction.” — #PopChrist

“Enns asserts that Christians can focus so much on the angst of uncertainty that they place God inside a stifling mental box. . . . A fine work for believers of all stripes.” — Library Journal

“What is so compelling about Enns’ approach for Christian readers is that he writes about his own deep faith in God . . . refreshing. He’s a remarkable storyteller.” — Read the Spirit

From the Publisher

Seldom have I read a book that I so totally agree with! This is a very fine, very readable, often humorous, and much needed analysis of what Western Christianity is up against.

Richard Rohr

Peter Enns’ new book, The Sin of Certainty, will make you reflect on your life and question what you believe. That’s a good thing.

Joel Anderson

Enns has delivered yet another to-be-read-frequently volume to my library.

Clarion Journal of Spirituality and Justice

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

I couldn’t put this book down - twice. Peter Enns writes with an engaging style that makes the challenging ideas accessible to the average reader, even those who do not normally read non-fiction.

#PopChrist

Enns is an acute reader of texts. His readers will welcome his puckish affirmation of the buoyant, sometimes outrageous, boundary-breaking capacity of biblical faith.

Walter Brueggemann

Virtually every page offers pithy and profound insight and wisdom… packed full of enough spiritual reflection, historical context, and biblical insight to keep me thinking about it long after I finished reading it.

Patheos

If you’re afraid that your theological questions and doubts disqualify you from being a person of faith, theologian Peter Enns has good news for you. Really good news. And it’s a delightful read too!

Brian D. McLaren

The idea that at all times you must know what you believe, Enns writes, leads to having a closed heart to trusting God. I commend this book to you.

Faith Matters

What is so compelling about Enns’ approach for Christian readers is that he writes about his own deep faith in God . . . refreshing. He’s a remarkable storyteller.

Read the Spirit

Blending personal stories with Scripture, the book offers a new look at how the Christian life truly works.

PW

I couldn’t put this book down - twice. Peter Enns writes with an engaging style that makes the challenging ideas accessible to the average reader, even those who do not normally read non-fiction.

Ian Panth's Pop Christ blog

05/01/2016
Discovering one's beliefs can be an adventure. It can also be a process of defending espoused truths against detractors and the angst of uncertainty. Enns (Christian studies, Eastern Univ.; The Bible Tells Me So) asserts that Christians can focus so much on the latter that they place God inside a stifling mental box, to the detriment of themselves and others. A mix of biblical commentary, theological and philosophical quandaries, and scientific questions are all folded into this account of the author's pilgrimage from an academic culture that prizes the defense of knowledge over its exploration to a more open environment—a journey that coincides with a larger personal crisis of faith. He advocates for a more relational approach to faith that does not abandon its spiritual roots. However, Enns never makes the relationship between mystery and rationalism quite clear. VERDICT A fine work for believers of all stripes who have come to see their faith community as little more than a bastion, and a challenge for those who would prefer to keep it that way.—JW

Library Journal