Abstract
Ray Vincent opens his book with the commendable conviction that ‘the Bible is worth reading’ (p. 1). However, his lack of focus and loose style severely inhibit the strength of his argument.
The title’s ‘elusive God’ refers to the challenge of interpreting scripture. Vincent develops his argument through twelve themed chapters covering some major subjects in biblical scholarship and wider theology, such as the history of the biblical writers (chapter 2), the Trinity (chapter 4), and life after death (chapter 9). Significantly, he is prepared to accept the Bible’s silence on some issues, such as the redaction process of Genesis (p. 23) and contradictions on others, such as the parallel stories of Jesus not performing miracles in Mark 6 and Matthew 13 (p. 24). Yet, refreshingly, he does not force a biblical uniformity on these nuanced points.
However, Vincent’s broad-brush approach weakens the book as a whole. A short text like this cannot hope to cover all the major themes of Scripture and Christian theology, and the book’s spasmodic focus would confuse any reader, especially those unfamiliar with the Bible itself (Vincent’s target audience). Vincent makes a number of sweepingly generalised claims: for instance that ‘many people’ who pray do not expect God to answer their prayers, but rather pray as a self-help exercise (p. 96); or some preachers ‘pretend to believe’ biblical stories when in the pulpit (p. 93). Such generalisations reflect the problems of attempting to draw on so many aspects of Scripture in such a short book. His unscholarly language throughout compounds the sense of a lack of academic rigour. However, perhaps the book’s most frustrating trait is how Vincent cites the Bible in passing, several times a page, without suggesting tools to read it oneself. Other than advising readers to have an open mind (p. 19) and to consult commentaries (p. 31), he misses the opportunity to teach us how to approach this daunting, fascinating text. Even a short, layman’s book could mention the Lectio Divina, or other classic exegetical practices. Reading Vincent, the reader is likely to return to Scripture exasperated rather than inspired.
Ultimately, in this ambitious but unfocussed book, it does seem that God is elusive—but not for the reasons Vincent means him to be.