This Dangerous Book: How the Bible Has Shaped Our World and Why It Still Matters Today

Timed to coincide with the November 2017 opening of their Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., this work by Hobby Lobby president Steve Green and his wife, Jackie, is a meandering narrative that makes a scattershot case for the historical significance and positive social power of Christian scripture. Arranged in five loosely thematic sections, the text is more a collection of personal anecdotes and reflections than a coherent argument. Readers seeking a history of the Bible will be disappointed; historical anecdotes are mainly used to impress upon readers the vast influence of Christian scriptures throughout the world. Stories about the Green family’s quest to collect rare Bible-related artifacts are mixed in with testimony about the place of Christianity in the Greens’ lives. Troublingly, the authors gloss over the controversy and legal actions regarding the artifacts, thousands of which were smuggled out of Iraq. While the Greens deny that they seek to convert readers, they assert that a society governed by “a Judeo-Christian ethic” (a term they fail to define) is universally desirable: “You can be a Hindu, a Muslim, an atheist, or even a communist, and still benefit from the Bible’s way to live.” This religious and cultural narrowmindedness limits the work’s appeal. (Nov.)