4 out of 4 stars
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Anyone who spent their childhood years going to Sunday school is very familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It’s even common knowledge for non-churchgoers, so much so that it might be surprising that an author could spend a whole book discussing it. Nevertheless, William E. Combs, the author of Who Told You That You Were Naked, successfully does just that. He describes his writing as an effort to focus intently on the Old Testament and draw deeper understanding from it.
The book starts out retelling the events surrounding Adam and Eve's creation. The author uses a first-person narrative snapshot to show the reader how Adam might have described the garden of Eden. These short stories, found throughout the book, are a very effective way to help the reader identify with a story which involves history and culture that are different from theirs.
In this first chapter as well as throughout the book, Mr. Combs draws out deep theological points that many a churchgoer may never have thought about. For instance, he discusses how God would have known that none of the animals would be an adequate mate for Adam, but he assigned the task of naming all of them so that Adam could come to this realization himself. Later he points out the fact that Adam and Eve did not realize their sin or their nakedness until they saw each other. This is attributed to the theory that their shame came from comparing themselves to each other and feeling inadequate. Until that moment they were in a pure relationship with no doubts. Later Cain killed Abel for the same reason – he felt that he was less than his brother and could never be worthwhile. This concept of sin as not a list of negative behaviors, but instead an internal attitude mainly triggered by feelings of inadequacy, is developed through the book. I appreciated his theory that modern man still struggles with this and tries to ‘cover’ himself with wealth, education, power, or even religion without realizing that the true deliverance is found in faith and surrender to God.
This book far exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed how the author moved easily from scripture to story to theology throughout the book. Even the stories, although technically historical fiction, were well researched and based on facts. I’ll never forget his explanation of how much discomfort fig leaves can cause a person’s skin. Each chapter also has discussion/thinking questions at the end. I was pleased that these were not simple, fill-in-the-blanks type questions. They went beyond the scripture and even beyond his own discussion. I was also impressed with his referring to the original Biblical language and pointing out the challenges of translation.
I did feel that the last chapter was a little deep and perhaps difficult for the non-theologian to understand. Nevertheless, the majority of the book was intellectual but well explained. I did not find any grammatical or editing errors. I am therefore giving it 4 out of 4 stars. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a deeper look into the early stories of the Bible.
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Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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I am nor one for theological books, but your review makes me feel I should give this book a shot. The concept of sin as something that springs from one's own insecurities is something that really picked my interest. I want to know how the author expounds that.
