Originally started last year. Returned to it with more focus and thoroughly enjoyed the level of scholarship and faith building insight.

Very balanced approach to the Christian Faith, the origins of the scriptures, how to study them, why things go wrong and confusion happens.
Having studied theology myself I am comfortable with this subject and have always found modern literary criticism, liberal and destructive to the point you lose sight of why you started in the first place.

Mostly this is because those scholars in the main adapt traditional academic practices and dismiss the role of God in the process.
I am more comfortable with this author who is both theologically trained and a biblical archaeologist. Her heart and faith rest in God but isn’t afraid to say she doesn’t know. However, what she does know she shares openly, frankly and with conviction.

This is a book that is informative and faith building.
It is scholarly and provides the range of methods including biblical criticism that challenges authorship and the writings themselves. So you are given a good introduction into this subject and as a result your own faith isn’t crushed. It may be either deepened or be more open to scepticism. But as the author suggests we need to allow God to lead us in his ways and be involved in our quest for knowledge.

I picked up this book as I saw that her next book with an equally snappy title is due out. “The Red-Haired Archaeologist digs Israel.” Based on this book I now can’t wait!

This is one of the BEST, most accessible books on biblical interpretation I have ever read. Amanda Hope Haley provides a very easy to read - yet challenging - book on understanding the Bible. Her background in biblical archaelogy makes her findings very evidence-based, but her strong faith in God shines through in every page. I thought she was very thoughtful, logical and faithful - a rare find in hermeneutics books. 5 stars for sure!

What a fascinating read, you could tell that the author was passionate about the topic and was well-written. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to more from the author.

I learned a lot from Mary Magdalene Never Wore Blue Eye Shadow. I liked that this book was neither "dumbed down" nor too difficult to be an enjoyable read.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Amanda brought clarity to many topics and ideals that we hold as followers of Jesus with regards to traditionalism, legalism and biases. I found the book to be challenging and although I did not agree with everything the author wrote, I appreciated her striving to be theologically correct and biblically sound.

I loved the concept of this book, dispelling myths that have become tradition within the bible narrative. I loved how she used her archaeological and biblical knowledge to bring evidence to the claims. It reminded me of "The Women of the Bible" BBC series.

This is a very relatable book with scripture-based explanations for societal norms today. Writer Amanda Hope Haley uses her theological background to weave a humble approach to teaching others how God really sees things we find important in our daily life. Her stories and examples are well developed to help put scripture in a realistic and honest light.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Much of this book isn't a bad. She talked about how we got the Bible, how different Protestant denominations came about and some of their traditions, and gave some Bible background information for the New Testament that was fine. She also talked about how we shouldn't add human ideas to the Bible or cherry-pick verses to prove our point and we should keep the verse context in mind. But then she does exactly that about Genesis.

She says that God used the Big Bang and evolution to create. (Both are human models that continually change and are guesses about the past by people who weren't there. God was there and told us what happened, and a closer look shows that the Genesis account and the Big Bang don't mesh.) She says that because yom/day indicates a longer than a 24-hour period in other contexts, it can be used that way in Genesis 1. (Linguistically not true; look up Answers in Genesis online for more info.) So she's adding human ideas to the Bible.

She also seems to feel that our interpretation of archaeological finds and ancient texts should shape our understanding of the Bible. She accepts that there was a big flood because other cultures have flood stories. She doesn't necessary think that the Bible's version is the accurate account. She feels that the Bible is meant to teach moral truths and so doesn't need to be historically accurate. She accepts the Documentary Hypothesis (which I thought was very discredited these days, but I guess not). She often says the right things but then does the very thing she's teaching against, so I can't recommend this book. Some quotes:

(Location 540-541) "It truly doesn’t matter whether or not yom means “twenty-four hours” in Genesis 1 because creation is no less amazing if it took 13.8 billion years instead of seven days to get us here."

(Location 734-735) "Just because a book contains historical truth doesn’t mean it is a history book. The Bible has many great examples of this."

(Location 757-758) "We have to become okay with saying, “I don’t know why,” when Scripture conflicts with science and history."

Look, if you're a Christian or you are interested in learning more about the Bible, stop whatever you are doing and get this book!
I really wish we had this as a study companion for all the Bible study sessions we had during confirmation and baptism classes, it'd make the whole process quite thrilling!
So, thank you Amanda for researching and writing this book and Harvest House Publishers for having this out, I'm not keen on spoilers but the aspect of 'Christ' and 'the Christ,' still has me shook!
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC, now I feel like I'm enlightened.