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

[Sedho]

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

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

This book’s title, Who Told You That You Were Naked?, is inspired by the well-known Christian creation story, but the author goes a step further and adds his own plausible illustrations of what daily life in the garden of Eden might have been like. Other well-known Bible stories are covered as well, from alternative points of view, and while these may not be strictly drawn from the original text, the author clearly has a solid knowledge of the culture and traditions of that time, including family life, work habits, and so on. Such stories, because they delve into the mind of the character, allow us to distinguish thoughts from their resultant actions, and the author is able to illustrate how God already considers the thoughts and the motives as a pleasing thing, even before any concrete action has been taken. The last chapter is quite a heavy one in terms of doctrine and may not be of particular interest to some casual readers, but it clearly shows the author’s deep understanding on this topic, as he is able to zoom in on key points that are being debated even today, and present his alternative explanations.

Christian messages often focus on the content of what Jesus says, but it is not very common that the reader is asked to put themselves in the shoes of the people who lived at that time. Most Christian texts attempt to explain the Bible in hindsight, that is, in conjunction with parts of the Bible that were written later, or perhaps with supporting archaeological findings. This book provides a new perspective of numerous Biblical events that focuses on the personal context, and will you make realize that the people who lived in those times may very well have seen these events differently from how we see it today.

The author makes it very clear that his ideas are not taken directly out of the Bible. This “disclaimer” probably serves to silence the conservative critics who would claim that he is adding and twisting the Bible for his own purposes. The added imagery emphasizes the points he wants to make, which people would otherwise miss, probably because it is not the main point of the passage. The pacing of the book is good, as the stories first entertain the reader, and then the exposition (which references the story multiple times) allows the reader to reflect on some new or unusual observations. The testimonies interspersed among the informative sections allow us to see how the author’s experiences have allowed to him to easily remember these doctrines, and these provide a welcome personal touch to what would otherwise be a purely doctrinal book.

This book appears to be professionally edited, and I did not find a single typo, even in my passing through the guide questions and appendix. The footnotes and appendix provide good additional information that is not absolutely necessary to be understood, but are there for the curious reader, and I believe this is the best way to use footnotes. The guide questions are quite thought-provoking and are good for starting discussions about what the new perspective makes us realize.

I give this book 4 out of 4 stars, as I cannot actually think of anything I disliked about the book, although this may partly be because there are not too many books that put this new spin on religious texts, so there is not much to compare against. This book would be enjoyed by people who like to imagine further details about what they read, and who try to imagine what it would be like to have lived in the setting described. Naturally, it would be of interest to people of the Christian faith, and especially those who enjoy digging deep into the context of Bible stories rather than merely settling for the “lesson to be learned”.

******
Who Told You That You Were Naked?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Sedho's review? Post a comment saying so!