The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our Correct Beliefs
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Scripture quotations are taken from New Revised Standard Version Bible. Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
THE SIN OF CERTAINTY. Copyright © 2016 by Peter Enns. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Enns, Peter, author.
Title: The sin of certainty : why God desires our trust more than our “correct” beliefs / Peter Enns.
Description: FIRST EDITION. | San Francisco : HarperOne, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015042840 (print) | LCCN 2015043627 (ebook) | ISBN 9780062272089 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780062272102 (e-book)
EPub Edition March 2016 ISBN 9780062272102
Subjects: LCSH: Faith. | Trust in God—Christianity. | Truth—Religious aspects—Christianity.
Classification: LCC BV4637 .E56 2016 (print) | LCC BV4637 (ebook) | DDC 234/.23—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015042840
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16 17 18 19 20 RRD(H) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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* I typically use the traditional designations of Old and New Testament to refer to the two parts of the Christian Bible. I warmly acknowledge that other Christian traditions, namely Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, include a few other books written in the centuries before Christ (aka the Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books), but I write as a Protestant (though a chastened one, I hope). Also, by referring to the writings of ancient Israel as “Old” Testament instead of Hebrew Bible, First Testament, or Tanach, I am not suggesting they are passé—as I think this book will illustrate again and again.
* This is as good a time as any to tell you that I’ve included notes at the end of the book that give a bit more information on a few things, the sources I used, and/or some reading suggestions. Take a peek. The notes are listed in order, with the chapter and section clearly indicated, along with a few words to prompt what I am commenting on. I’m doing everything I can to avoid disrupting the flow of the book by inserting those annoying endnote numbers. If you’re so inclined, it might be easiest to scan the notes first as you begin reading each chapter so you can see what’s coming.
* C. Montgomery Burns, referring to the commoners of Springfield, on The Simpsons.
* The NRSV has “my companions are in darkness,” but “in” isn’t in the Hebrew and the sense is more unsettling, as it should be, without it.
* We read in Genesis 1:6–8 that God fashioned a solid dome overhead that stretched from horizon to horizon, enclosing a flat Earth. Picture a snow globe with a flat bottom.
* Which reminds me of the famous quote by Mark Twain: “I have lived a long life and had many troubles, most of which never happened.”
* From Netflix’s smash hit House of Cards, a wonderful introduction to notorious Christian politics cleverly masked as a political drama.
* English translations of this passage tend to be too wordy and smooth over Paul’s rugged and urgent prose. A better rendering is, “I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live; Christ lives in me.”