Beck explores at a non-academic level how to think about and interpret the Bible through the lens of God’s love for us. The beginning and end of the book are the strongest - constrasting the ideas of reading from a lens of fear vs. a lens of love, and then providing a vision of love and reconciliation at the heart of the Apocalypse of John.

The weakest part was his exploration of the atonement. He too conveniently tries to position himself as a centrist, poking at both “fundamentalists” and “progressives” in simplistic ways, and his “middle” view aligns much more closely with many of the progressives I’ve read.

Still, this book does well to work through a perspective on the Bible that will be new for people coming from fundamentalism and evangelicalism, and does it at a level that I wouldn’t be afraid to put into a normal layperson’s hands. Well done, Dr. Beck. Well done.