Head Scratchers by Talbot Davis

Head Scratchers by Talbot Davis ISBN-13: 9781501802881 Paperback: 112 pages Publisher: Abingdon Press Released: May 19, 2015

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Sometimes Jesus says things that are confusing, perplexing, or even offensive. In Head Scratchers, Talbot Davis leads you to understand some of these difficult words. In each chapter, he examines a different statement or brief teaching from Jesus, using the provided biblical and other background to help illuminate the passage in question.

Davis not only guides you to understand the passage, but shows you what it means to take it to heart and embrace a new way of life as a result. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter are designed to help leaders of small groups.


My Review:
Head Scratchers is a collection of five sermons given by Talbot Davis. Each sermon was inspired by a difficult-to-understand verse in the Bible: Matthew 11:12, Luke 14:26, Matthew 16:18, Mark 3:29, and Matthew 8:21-22.

He examined the context of the verse and clues like the meaning of the original words and cultural behaviors of the time. If you've read commentaries on these verses before, you've probably come across the explanations that he gives. Since these are sermons, he filled out each chapter by focusing on a related issue that applies to our spiritual growth.

I appreciate that the author emphasized how important it is to look at verses in context. He sometimes strayed a bit from the actual point of the verse in order to focus on an some aspect of our spiritual growth, but his overall points were good ones and lead readers into a closer walk with Christ.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.