Review by SaffraWhishart -- Who Told You That You Were N...
-
SaffraWhishart
- Posts: 77
- Joined: 24 Jan 2018, 17:23
- Currently Reading: The Candle Room
- Bookshelf Size: 25
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-saffrawhishart.html
- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review by SaffraWhishart -- Who Told You That You Were N...
[Following is a volunteer review of "Who Told You That You Were Naked?" by William Combs.]
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
In Who Told You You Were Naked? author William E. Combs explores a story so familiar it is often taken for granted—the story of Adam and Eve. Verse by verse and sometimes word by word, Combs unpacks Genesis 2-3 and breathes new life into its characters and its timeless truths. He is scholarly, exploring the nuances of Hebrew word meanings, but also employs biblical imagination as he tries to paint the scene in a way that will make the reader see Adam and Eve not as archetypes but as humans the reader can relate to. And he does all of this with an infectious positivity. Having been troubled by how negatively other commentators have viewed this passage, Combs seeks to show how clearly God's kindness is displayed in the dark circumstances Adam and Eve create for themselves—and all their descendants.
It is, as the subtitle aptly states, A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden. And yet, the subtitle is also misleading, because Combs does not stop at Genesis 3, but instead uses Adam and Eve's story as the lens through which he reexamines all Scripture. This little 10-chapter book is a surprisingly thorough explanation of the Bible's entire storyline. Who Told You You Were Naked? is a book of contrasts and parallels, highlighting the devastating differences of life within and without Eden, but also the connections between the first Adam's mistakes and the solutions provided through Jesus, the second Adam.
The crux of the matter, Combs attests, is that from the moment Adam and Eve acquired the knowledge of good and evil, their worldviews radically changed for the worse. They viewed God and others with distrust, and themselves with shame. Their choice opened the door not only to physical death but to spiritual and relational death as well. This, the author explains, is sin—not a list of actions, but an active adversary we battle within us. “This rival lifestyle is none other than the knowledge of good and evil Paul and the rest of us inherited from Adam,” Combs states. “It is a dimension of our intellect and is so innate, so instinctual, so intuitive, so pervasive a way of responding to our everyday circumstances, it is virtually impossible to avoid.” But there is hope. Through the life and death of Jesus Christ, the consequences of Adam's mistake are reversed and redeemed. By entering into a relationship with Jesus and trusting Him to keep His word, humans can be transformed into the relational wholeness with God and each other that was intended for them.
Throughout the book, Combs interrupts his theological assertions with personal stories--true stories from his life and his loved ones, as well as fictional ones as he imagines what biblical stories might seem like through the eyes of their participants. This adds more warmth to the author's already friendly style.
I rated this book 4 out of 4 stars because, although I did have criticisms, they were all subjective. Their were very few editing errors, and the writing was fairly good, if sometimes a little amateur. Combs is very descriptive, for instance, but often you can feel him trying to be descriptive. Some sections were overly wordy with no discernable value to the plotline.
Combs is a pastor, and so this book is better evaluated as a sermon series than a literary work. If a sermon, though, not a “preachy” one. I was impressed throughout by Combs' humility and warmth. If anything, I thought he was sometimes so generous in his assumptions of biblical characters intentions as to be implausible. However, I think he's spot on in how he represents the faithful love of God as shown in Scripture. Though I did not always agree with the minor conclusions he drew from the text, I feel he did a masterful job of representing the big picture of Christianity, and was always faithful to the Bible's teaching. He seems to feel that his view of sin is in contrast to other Christian teachers; I personally think it is simply a more comprehensive explanation of it. Regardless, he helps all the jigsaw pieces of the Old and New Testaments come together.
Personally, I found the vignettes of the biblical characters more distracting—and sometimes confusing—than helpful. I appreciated Combs' attempt to employ biblical imagination, but I felt he actually did better simply describing the text as he went than when he jumped off into a story. There were also text boxes that attempted to highlight important statements, but I found them also more distracting than relevant.
On the other hand, many of his endnotes were very helpful and interesting. I think they would be even more helpful if they were footnotes, as it was a pain flipping back and forth. Sadly, I think many readers will miss them because they don't want to make the effort. At the end of each chapter are discussion questions that I found particularly thought-provoking. I sometimes wished there was some sort of answer key, as I would've been curious to hear his answers, but I appreciated the open-endedness and lack of prescriptiveness.
What I appreciated most, though, was the in-depth study of the Genesis passage. I've studied this passage many times, but I learned an immense amount reading this book and it really brought the story to life for me. Did you know, for instance, that the fig leaves Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with would have caused a painful rash wherever it touched the skin?
I would recommend this book as a Bible study resource for Christians. However, I would also strongly recommend it to non-Christians who are trying to understand what Christianity claims, or what their Christian loved ones believe. Combs' explanations will be perfectly clear to someone with no Christian background, and he never throws in big vocabulary words like 'justification' or 'propitiation' without explaining very practically what they mean. While I can think of many resources that try to prove Christianity's claims, I can think of very few that so simply and eloquently distill how the whole story comes together, and how these ancient stories translate into modern lives.
Typos
p. 4, last para, line 2: Adams should be Adam's
p. 27, end of 4th para: blurted, defensively—could possibly be seen as a subjective error, but since 'defensively' directly modifies 'blurted', I strongly think it should read blurted defensively.
*Generally the fictional vignettes are set apart by a different font, but there are places where font and content are not consistent, and the teaching and these accounts seem to be blending together. For example, there's a mention of Adam's fictional pet lamb on p. 37 in what seems to be the teaching section, and the whole sequence in 157-162 is hard to sort out. As a reader I found these sections very confusing.
p. 125, last para, last word of 4th line: chord should be cord.
p. 227, beg of section F: God's responded should be God responded.
******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like SaffraWhishart's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
In Who Told You You Were Naked? author William E. Combs explores a story so familiar it is often taken for granted—the story of Adam and Eve. Verse by verse and sometimes word by word, Combs unpacks Genesis 2-3 and breathes new life into its characters and its timeless truths. He is scholarly, exploring the nuances of Hebrew word meanings, but also employs biblical imagination as he tries to paint the scene in a way that will make the reader see Adam and Eve not as archetypes but as humans the reader can relate to. And he does all of this with an infectious positivity. Having been troubled by how negatively other commentators have viewed this passage, Combs seeks to show how clearly God's kindness is displayed in the dark circumstances Adam and Eve create for themselves—and all their descendants.
It is, as the subtitle aptly states, A Refreshing Reexamination of the Garden of Eden. And yet, the subtitle is also misleading, because Combs does not stop at Genesis 3, but instead uses Adam and Eve's story as the lens through which he reexamines all Scripture. This little 10-chapter book is a surprisingly thorough explanation of the Bible's entire storyline. Who Told You You Were Naked? is a book of contrasts and parallels, highlighting the devastating differences of life within and without Eden, but also the connections between the first Adam's mistakes and the solutions provided through Jesus, the second Adam.
The crux of the matter, Combs attests, is that from the moment Adam and Eve acquired the knowledge of good and evil, their worldviews radically changed for the worse. They viewed God and others with distrust, and themselves with shame. Their choice opened the door not only to physical death but to spiritual and relational death as well. This, the author explains, is sin—not a list of actions, but an active adversary we battle within us. “This rival lifestyle is none other than the knowledge of good and evil Paul and the rest of us inherited from Adam,” Combs states. “It is a dimension of our intellect and is so innate, so instinctual, so intuitive, so pervasive a way of responding to our everyday circumstances, it is virtually impossible to avoid.” But there is hope. Through the life and death of Jesus Christ, the consequences of Adam's mistake are reversed and redeemed. By entering into a relationship with Jesus and trusting Him to keep His word, humans can be transformed into the relational wholeness with God and each other that was intended for them.
Throughout the book, Combs interrupts his theological assertions with personal stories--true stories from his life and his loved ones, as well as fictional ones as he imagines what biblical stories might seem like through the eyes of their participants. This adds more warmth to the author's already friendly style.
I rated this book 4 out of 4 stars because, although I did have criticisms, they were all subjective. Their were very few editing errors, and the writing was fairly good, if sometimes a little amateur. Combs is very descriptive, for instance, but often you can feel him trying to be descriptive. Some sections were overly wordy with no discernable value to the plotline.
Combs is a pastor, and so this book is better evaluated as a sermon series than a literary work. If a sermon, though, not a “preachy” one. I was impressed throughout by Combs' humility and warmth. If anything, I thought he was sometimes so generous in his assumptions of biblical characters intentions as to be implausible. However, I think he's spot on in how he represents the faithful love of God as shown in Scripture. Though I did not always agree with the minor conclusions he drew from the text, I feel he did a masterful job of representing the big picture of Christianity, and was always faithful to the Bible's teaching. He seems to feel that his view of sin is in contrast to other Christian teachers; I personally think it is simply a more comprehensive explanation of it. Regardless, he helps all the jigsaw pieces of the Old and New Testaments come together.
Personally, I found the vignettes of the biblical characters more distracting—and sometimes confusing—than helpful. I appreciated Combs' attempt to employ biblical imagination, but I felt he actually did better simply describing the text as he went than when he jumped off into a story. There were also text boxes that attempted to highlight important statements, but I found them also more distracting than relevant.
On the other hand, many of his endnotes were very helpful and interesting. I think they would be even more helpful if they were footnotes, as it was a pain flipping back and forth. Sadly, I think many readers will miss them because they don't want to make the effort. At the end of each chapter are discussion questions that I found particularly thought-provoking. I sometimes wished there was some sort of answer key, as I would've been curious to hear his answers, but I appreciated the open-endedness and lack of prescriptiveness.
What I appreciated most, though, was the in-depth study of the Genesis passage. I've studied this passage many times, but I learned an immense amount reading this book and it really brought the story to life for me. Did you know, for instance, that the fig leaves Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with would have caused a painful rash wherever it touched the skin?
I would recommend this book as a Bible study resource for Christians. However, I would also strongly recommend it to non-Christians who are trying to understand what Christianity claims, or what their Christian loved ones believe. Combs' explanations will be perfectly clear to someone with no Christian background, and he never throws in big vocabulary words like 'justification' or 'propitiation' without explaining very practically what they mean. While I can think of many resources that try to prove Christianity's claims, I can think of very few that so simply and eloquently distill how the whole story comes together, and how these ancient stories translate into modern lives.
Typos
p. 4, last para, line 2: Adams should be Adam's
p. 27, end of 4th para: blurted, defensively—could possibly be seen as a subjective error, but since 'defensively' directly modifies 'blurted', I strongly think it should read blurted defensively.
*Generally the fictional vignettes are set apart by a different font, but there are places where font and content are not consistent, and the teaching and these accounts seem to be blending together. For example, there's a mention of Adam's fictional pet lamb on p. 37 in what seems to be the teaching section, and the whole sequence in 157-162 is hard to sort out. As a reader I found these sections very confusing.
p. 125, last para, last word of 4th line: chord should be cord.
p. 227, beg of section F: God's responded should be God responded.
******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like SaffraWhishart's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
