"Jennifer Bird has written an accessible, encouraging, and enlightening guide to understanding the Bible better. For those who love the Bible but have serious questions about it, Permission Granted offers information, fellowship, and ultimately the freedom learn and explore without fear. This is a winsome yet challenging read that made me love the Bible all the more."—Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood and Searching for Sunday
Inspired by frequently asked questions from her students, Permission Granted by Jennifer Grace Bird encourages the reader to examine where they have placed their faith. Is it on the words in the Bible or on the God the Bible points to? By engaging what the Bible really says about twelve important issues, including violence, sex, and Scripture’s complicated depiction of women, Bird encourages the reader to explore the texts on their own and appreciate this holy book for what it is—not what we think it should be. “There are many people of faith who have confronted these issues in the Bible and come out the other side,” Bird writes. “Interestingly enough, they are often even stronger in their faith than when they began!”
Permission Granted is available for purchase through the publisher, Westminster John Knox Press. An eBook version will also be available on all major sites, including but not limited to Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.com, Google Play, and Apple iBooks.
Jennifer Grace Bird is a professor, writer, and speaker based in Portland, Oregon. When her own mother violated 1 Timothy 2:12 by getting ordained, Bird felt led to dig deeper into scripture for herself and ultimately earned a PhD in biblical studies from Vanderbilt University. In classrooms and churches from the Deep South to the Pacific Northwest, she challenges people of faith to engage the Bible without fear.