God Behaving Badly

I was honestly surprised that I rated this book so poorly. I have loved every other InterVarsity book I have read and though the title of this book is a bit shocking, it seemed like it would be right up my alley.

I have been walking through a process of letting go of the doctrines of men, deconstructing my religious tradition, and rebuilding a more authentic faith based on truth, and I have had some questions about the topics this book claims to tackle. Having gone to church since I was born, worked in multiple churches, served in various kinds of ministries, and attended Bible college, I was familiar with all of the ways Christians explain away some of the hard questions related to these topics before I picked up the book. I had come to a place in my journey where I was no longer satisfied with those explanations and I picked up this book hoping that it would offer a bit more.

Unfortunately, it ended up being a catalog of many of (what were to me) the same old narratives that try to explain away the hard passages without actually addressing or diving beneath the surface with them. I found the ideas posited therein uncompelling and insufficient as someone who is genuinely questioning some things and openly searching for alternative interpretations.

It does look like there is a newer edition of this book in circulation now (I read the 2011 version and there is a 2022 version available online now), so it is possible that I will pick up a copy of that one at some point in the future, but for now, this book was just not for me. My husband and I read it together and neither of us were satisfied with where the author went in his exploration of the different topics he chose to address. It felt trite and shallow, and that just wasn???t what we were looking for when we decided to read it.