I’m not a careful follower of Scot McKnight and his widely-read blog, Jesus Creed, so when my friend Rob told me I should read McKnight’s latest book, The Blue Parakeet, I didn’t know what to expect. For many people, McKnight has proved to be a helpful “middle voice,” arbitrating between some of the extreme positions of folks in the Emergent camp and those on the other side who tend toward immovable rigidity in their approach to church traditions. (If that last sentence makes no sense to you, don’t feel bad. You’re not missing much.)

This book turned out to be an extension of McKnight’s “middle” approach to church practice and theology, where “middle” or a “third way” is shorthand for a biblically-grounded position that takes changing cultures and geography into account. In The Blue Parakeet, McKnight advocates an approach to reading and living the Bible that is, in my opinion, not so much startling or ground-breaking as it is healthy and needed. Here’s what I liked about the book:

» McKnight explains clearly that while the Bible is authoritative for our lives, we need to exercise discernment in how we apply it and not be lazy or stupid. For example, questions like this—”How come we don’t obey the Old Testament commands about blood sacrifices, but do obey the one prohibiting adultery?”—can and should be answered. There are essential questions we should ask about the text as we read the Bible with a view to wise application.

» Maybe you’ve heard the Bible’s “big picture” explained in terms of a simple trajectory: Creation – Fall – Redemption. Scot McKnight argues that a more biblically accurate view would include Covenant Community (after Fall, before and after Redemption). And I agree. A huge chunk of the Bible is spent outlining the failed and occasionally successful attempts of God’s people to do life together, and this component of biblical living is dramatically absent in most of the American church today.

A couple of nitpicks:

» The Blue Parakeet is written for a wider audience than McKnight’s typical theologian crowd, and it is pretty readable–but McKnight has some work to do before he figures out this “readable” thing. At times he comes across as stretching…albeit in a kind of humorous, professorial way.

» McKnight’s “test case” for applying his “third way” of reading scripture is one of today’s hot topics, Women in Ministry. I applaud his attempt to jump into the fray, but was disappointed with the way he handled the Bible texts involved. There are certain passages that almost always come up in this discussion, and McKnight handled some of them, but not very thoroughly–and some not at all. I guess I was expecting more than the cursory treatment he gave the topic.

All in all, The Blue Parakeet is a smart, accessible book that takes aim at some unhealthy ways of reading the Bible. McKnight affirms the authority of God’s word while encouraging people to read with a view to intelligent application, life change, and, ultimately, knowing the One about whom the Bible is written. Recommended.