Review by intrepid14 -- Who Told You That You Were Naked?

[intrepid14]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" by William Combs.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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I enjoy reading books on theology and enjoyed, Who Told You That You Were Naked?
by William Combs. He opens with stories happening in his current day life which immediately engaged me. He also narrates what may have happened in the garden, as a flashback with some embellishments. It was an interesting way to picture what might have happened in the garden, and helped make it easy to picture those first days. The premise of the book is that nakedness has a much broader meaning than just taking off the clothes. He digs deep to show how this is observed throughout the Bible. He gave two examples that helped us pictures why nakedness was observed after sin and why it wasn’t prior to sin. One of those examples had you visualize changing clothes in front of an animal, that really helped bring home his point about the innocence of nakedness and our relationship with God.

Although the book focuses on the garden of Eden, he also brings in other passages from the Bible that were relevant to the Genesis story. He looks at the ban from the garden and what death meant, working the ground for the man and child birth. He had an interesting take on these that I had not heard before. He believed the consequences were not punitive but redemptive. I had never thought in those terms. Other aspects in which he looks are Eve changing up some of God’s words and why she may have done this. Basically, when Eve was adding words to God’s original command. I really like the picture he gave on faith. He pointed out that God says our faith is too little, yet we need the faith of a mustard seed. These and other discrepancies he pointed out and they were enjoyable to explore.

Each chapter ended with study questions that I think would be good for a small group discussion. There was so much that could be theologically challenging, it would make for some good discussion.
I particularly like how he ended the book with sharing his journey to Christ and into the ministry. He accepted Christ after hearing Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. That organization had an impact in my life so I related and found this interesting. These personal stories of his life helped the book explain his points and they were well placed.

I feel that this author has an easy style in which to communicate some deep theology. I did not agree with all the theology especially when he did the flashbacks and narrated the garden, but I think the author tried to address multiple viewpoints and theologies and was not staunch in his interpretation. Though he was very confident in his writing style.


Overall, the book seems to be professionally edited and is without noticeable errors. I will rate this a solid 4 out of 4 stars, as I would recommend this to others. It is theologically challenging, yet easy and engaging to read.

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Who Told You That You Were Naked?
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