Exodus for Normal People: A Guide to the Story-and History-of the Second Book of the Bible

The Bible for Normal People, Book 1

By: Peter Enns

Narrated by: Peter Enns

Behind the scenes of movies like The Ten Commandments, The Prince of Egypt, or Exodus: Gods and Kings is a complicated, and at times, messy biblical story. In this short guide to the book of Exodus, Biblical scholar Peter Enns doesn't just break down the story for the average person to understand but takes us behind the story - to the history and traditions that led us to the story as we have it today. By asking the important questions like, “What kind of book are we reading?" and taking us along Moses's and the Israelite journey, Enns brings the best in biblical scholarship to us everyday people. And, as we have come to expect from Pete Enns, he does it with his usual humor and wit.

"Pete Enns does it again! In Exodus for Normal People, he provides us with a roadmap for understanding the book of Exodus through the lens of what concerned ancient people. He makes accessible the best of biblical scholarship with humor and insight, reminding us to respect Scripture in all its complexities. A hard task that Pete makes look simple." Richard Rohr, author of The Universal Christ, Falling Upward, and Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality

"Enns helps readers to understand Exodus as responding to ancient Israel's questions of identity, theology, and history, to raise their own questions, and frequently to laugh out loud." Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt Divinity School; coauthor of The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us

©2020 The Bible for Normal People (P)2021 The Bible for Normal People

Gained a new perspective, while deepening previously held beliefs.

If there were more, I would listen to them all! The one on Genesis was great as well.

An example of a typical quality Pete Enns work.

I love the way Pete takes difficult biblical studies and presents them in a way to be understood by the masses, like myself, who aren't pointy headed scholars.

Dr. Enns is awesome

This is a lot like taking one of Dr. Enns' classes but not as academic! His personality comes through, especially because he's reading his own words. Very enjoyable and even a little smart-making.

Good Stuff From Peter Enns, As Always

My only critique is that I wish this book had gone more in depth than it did. Pete writes books for "normal" people and for "abnormal" people. I wish he would also write books for those of us inbetween who aren't smart enough to go through all the education to become "abnormal" but are still nerdy enough to not be "normal." Otherwise, I'd say this is a really good book and I would recommend it.

Excellent exposition of Exodus

Enns does it again, providing serious Christians with a realistic explanation of what the authors and editors of Exodus were really getting at while navigating between the Scylla of biblical fundamentalist literalism and the Charybdis of atheistic fundamentalist criticism, both of which treat the authors and editors and/or readers of a great work as ignorant and obtuse.

Filled with shallow identity politics

Otherwise decent biblical analysis marred by frequent shallow comments about modern American race and identity politics.

There’s smart stuff out there about oppressed groups and their relationship with the story of Exodus, but this isn’t it. The author should let some of his podcast guests talk about that instead instead of making twitter-level commentary on the subject.