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Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis after Losing Faith in the Bible
In the beginning was a work of art.
What does Bible study look like after inerrancy? Do you have to give up studying Scripture when you no longer believe in its literal interpretation? Can you still believe this book is sacred even while renegotiating your relationship to the church? In Knock at the Sky, Liz Charlotte Grant offers compelling answers to these questions and more in this deeply personal commentary on the book of Genesis.
Braiding together encounters with the natural world, Jewish midrash, and art criticism, Grant makes familiar Sunday school stories strange and offers a fresh vision for reading Scripture after deconstruction. For those who have known the book of Genesis as a weapon in the culture wars, Grant interprets the Bible’s inspired book of beginnings as a work of art. Lyrical, insightful, and highly original, Knock at the Sky offers readers a capacious model for seeking God through Scripture even as one’s faith continues to evolve.
“In this book, you too have permission to question the sacred without fearing . . . unbelief. Knock loudly. . . . Reject answers that do not admit complication. Seek the resonance at the base of the story. The seeking is the point. Because there, in your wandering, God is.”
What does Bible study look like after inerrancy? Do you have to give up studying Scripture when you no longer believe in its literal interpretation? Can you still believe this book is sacred even while renegotiating your relationship to the church? In Knock at the Sky, Liz Charlotte Grant offers compelling answers to these questions and more in this deeply personal commentary on the book of Genesis.
Braiding together encounters with the natural world, Jewish midrash, and art criticism, Grant makes familiar Sunday school stories strange and offers a fresh vision for reading Scripture after deconstruction. For those who have known the book of Genesis as a weapon in the culture wars, Grant interprets the Bible’s inspired book of beginnings as a work of art. Lyrical, insightful, and highly original, Knock at the Sky offers readers a capacious model for seeking God through Scripture even as one’s faith continues to evolve.
“In this book, you too have permission to question the sacred without fearing . . . unbelief. Knock loudly. . . . Reject answers that do not admit complication. Seek the resonance at the base of the story. The seeking is the point. Because there, in your wandering, God is.”
268 pages, Paperback
Published January 7, 2025
17 people are currently reading
393 people want to read
About the author
Liz Charlotte Grant
1 book8 followersLiz Charlotte Grant is an award-winning essayist whose work has been published in Religion News Service, The Revealer, Sojourners, Christian Century, Christianity Today, Hippocampus, Brevity, and elsewhere. She's twice been awarded 3rd place in the Jacques Maritain Prize for Nonfiction from Dappled Things Journal. She also writes The Empathy List, a popular substack newsletter that has been nominated for a Webby Award twice and was also recognized by the Associated Church Press. She lives in Colorado with her family and eight hens.
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March 5, 2025
It is a common thread shared by many people who grew up in evangelical circles and then for a variety of reasons lost faith in the Bible. It might be questions of science, history, or theology. Often standing at the center of the discontent has been the teaching of the inerrancy of Scripture. For some, a reexamination of the Bible, with a different set of lenses can bring about a new appreciation for the messages found there. I was fortunate that I didn't have a radical change that required such a reexamination. My changes were more gradual, in part because my commitment to inerrancy appears to have been rather shallow. But that's a different story.
Among those who have rediscovered truths in Scripture is Liz Charlotte Grant, an essayist and author, who brings a new set of lenses to the stories found in the Book of Genesis. This particular book, "Knock at the Sky," focuses on stories found in Genesis, from creation to Jacob's divine encounters. Much of the book examines the story of Abraham, which is rather fruitful.
Liz Grant confesses to having once been a good evangelical who aced every Bible class in her Christian high school and private Christian college, where she earned a minor in Bible. She was totally committed to the evangelical message, experiencing complete certitude in her beliefs until they no longer worked for her. While her certainty collapsed and she began to question her faith, with this book she returned to the Bible, but this time with much less certainty but a lot more curiosity, bringing together with the biblical stories the resources of science, history, and the arts. It is in this context that she rediscovered faith. She writes that she still believes the Bible can tell us "what God is like, even to introduce us to the Creator. But I read the Bible differently than I used to. . . . I am determined to be patient and humble. I myself am a learner, not a scholar" (p. xx). This is a good approach that we ought to take as we approach this text.
Before getting to the chapters that engage with the stories found in Genesis, she offers an introduction "on Genesis and Methodology." She provides a brief overview of the Book of Genesis, including proposals concerning authorship. She speaks of the use of midrash as an interpretive tool as well as her use of "eisegesis." Now, her definition and use of the term are rather different from the way I've understood it (my understanding is that this is a problematic approach that reads into the text things not there, however, I understand the value of trying to read between the lines even if such interpretations are speculative and not conclusive). She also speaks of the question of God's gender or lack thereof and the attempts to import science into Genesis.
From this foundation we move to the text, beginning with Chapter 1, "First Contact." Here Grant reflects on the Creation story, placing it in a historical context and steers clear of trying to make it fit with science. From the question of origns, in Chapter 2, titled "Plural," she continues with the creation story, focusing on the creation of humanity. The third chapter, titled "The Loaded Gun" speaks of how things went awry with the divine-human relationship. This chapter is followed by one titled "Doomsday" (Chapter 5), which focuses on divine judgment. Here she addresses questions that unsettle many, especially with visions of a God of Wrath. But, since this is an exploration of Genesis, something must be said about the story of Noah. The final story of what is known as prehistory is the story of Nimrod and the story of Babel.
With Chapter 6 we move to the story of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Chapter 6, titled "White Noise," focuses on Abram's leaving of his homeland. Abram and Sarai leave because God called, and that was enough. But, "To grow, Abram and Sarai must abandon the land on which they are planted. To find a home, they must wander. Or at least they cannot stay" (p. 97). In Chapter 7 we get to the promise God made to Abram that he would be the father of nations, but at the time of the call he and Sarai did not have children nor were there prospects of having one. Grant points out the importance in this story of including Sarai, even if God doesn't speak directly to her. But of course, there is also the story of Hagar. Chapter 8 is titled "Wasteland, and it also speaks of Sarah's barrenness together with the way Hagar is dragged into the story. As we continue with the story, Chapter 9 is titled "Protest Art." Here she explores the story of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham's protest to God, interceding on its behalf.
Part of the Genesis story, as Grant explores and comments on, concerns the question of the promise of descendants to Abraham, together with Sarah's barrenness and the forced surrogacy of Hagar, all of which raises important questions about patriarchy and God's role in it. In the end, Sarah has a child, and Hagar and Ishmael are sent packing. In Chapter 10, titled "Holy Terror," we come to the story of Abraham's response to God's request that he sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Both the divine mercy shown ultimately to Hagar and Ishmael, and that which God shows to Isaac raises in Grant's mind important questions about God and how we perceive God. Was Abraham wrong about what he thought he heard or was God wrong? These are perennial questions.
From this moment involving Isaac, we move to the story of Jacob. Chapter 11 is titled "Stranglehold of God." Grant writes that her favorite patriarch is Jacob, who engages in a wrestling match with God. She writes that she resonates with the idea of God-wrestling. In her forty years of being a Christian, she has witnessed and experienced many things that have caused her grief, including the use of the Bible as a blunt weapon. But, the story of Jacob wrestling with God in the dirt gives her a sense of hope. She writes that God welcomed Jacob's anger and the head-on collision that Jacob experienced with God. "And the result of this wrestling match is sight. Like Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and Hagar before him, Jacob's struggle resulted in seeing God face to face. He beheld God and live to tell the story to us. He was blessed and he survived. But a fight with God also left its mark. Jacob walked away limping?" (p. 199). She concludes that "doubt is easy; we need only to retreat. Faith, on the other hand, is sweat. Faith requires we dodge the uppercut, pin down the flailing arms of the opponent, roll in dust, and yell down our defeat. Faith requires waiting up all night. Only then will we witness the rising sun and, by its light, the face of God." (p. 200). That is her story. She experienced doubt, but in the end found a path of faith, which is the difficult path as Jacob discovered.
I too find Genesis fascinating and enlightening. These stories, especially of Abraham and Jacob are compelling. They remind us that the journey of faith is often difficult. That Liz Grant found a way of weaving a variety of stories and experiences together the biblical story brings it alive. This is really a most excellent book.
Among those who have rediscovered truths in Scripture is Liz Charlotte Grant, an essayist and author, who brings a new set of lenses to the stories found in the Book of Genesis. This particular book, "Knock at the Sky," focuses on stories found in Genesis, from creation to Jacob's divine encounters. Much of the book examines the story of Abraham, which is rather fruitful.
Liz Grant confesses to having once been a good evangelical who aced every Bible class in her Christian high school and private Christian college, where she earned a minor in Bible. She was totally committed to the evangelical message, experiencing complete certitude in her beliefs until they no longer worked for her. While her certainty collapsed and she began to question her faith, with this book she returned to the Bible, but this time with much less certainty but a lot more curiosity, bringing together with the biblical stories the resources of science, history, and the arts. It is in this context that she rediscovered faith. She writes that she still believes the Bible can tell us "what God is like, even to introduce us to the Creator. But I read the Bible differently than I used to. . . . I am determined to be patient and humble. I myself am a learner, not a scholar" (p. xx). This is a good approach that we ought to take as we approach this text.
Before getting to the chapters that engage with the stories found in Genesis, she offers an introduction "on Genesis and Methodology." She provides a brief overview of the Book of Genesis, including proposals concerning authorship. She speaks of the use of midrash as an interpretive tool as well as her use of "eisegesis." Now, her definition and use of the term are rather different from the way I've understood it (my understanding is that this is a problematic approach that reads into the text things not there, however, I understand the value of trying to read between the lines even if such interpretations are speculative and not conclusive). She also speaks of the question of God's gender or lack thereof and the attempts to import science into Genesis.
From this foundation we move to the text, beginning with Chapter 1, "First Contact." Here Grant reflects on the Creation story, placing it in a historical context and steers clear of trying to make it fit with science. From the question of origns, in Chapter 2, titled "Plural," she continues with the creation story, focusing on the creation of humanity. The third chapter, titled "The Loaded Gun" speaks of how things went awry with the divine-human relationship. This chapter is followed by one titled "Doomsday" (Chapter 5), which focuses on divine judgment. Here she addresses questions that unsettle many, especially with visions of a God of Wrath. But, since this is an exploration of Genesis, something must be said about the story of Noah. The final story of what is known as prehistory is the story of Nimrod and the story of Babel.
With Chapter 6 we move to the story of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Chapter 6, titled "White Noise," focuses on Abram's leaving of his homeland. Abram and Sarai leave because God called, and that was enough. But, "To grow, Abram and Sarai must abandon the land on which they are planted. To find a home, they must wander. Or at least they cannot stay" (p. 97). In Chapter 7 we get to the promise God made to Abram that he would be the father of nations, but at the time of the call he and Sarai did not have children nor were there prospects of having one. Grant points out the importance in this story of including Sarai, even if God doesn't speak directly to her. But of course, there is also the story of Hagar. Chapter 8 is titled "Wasteland, and it also speaks of Sarah's barrenness together with the way Hagar is dragged into the story. As we continue with the story, Chapter 9 is titled "Protest Art." Here she explores the story of the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham's protest to God, interceding on its behalf.
Part of the Genesis story, as Grant explores and comments on, concerns the question of the promise of descendants to Abraham, together with Sarah's barrenness and the forced surrogacy of Hagar, all of which raises important questions about patriarchy and God's role in it. In the end, Sarah has a child, and Hagar and Ishmael are sent packing. In Chapter 10, titled "Holy Terror," we come to the story of Abraham's response to God's request that he sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah. Both the divine mercy shown ultimately to Hagar and Ishmael, and that which God shows to Isaac raises in Grant's mind important questions about God and how we perceive God. Was Abraham wrong about what he thought he heard or was God wrong? These are perennial questions.
From this moment involving Isaac, we move to the story of Jacob. Chapter 11 is titled "Stranglehold of God." Grant writes that her favorite patriarch is Jacob, who engages in a wrestling match with God. She writes that she resonates with the idea of God-wrestling. In her forty years of being a Christian, she has witnessed and experienced many things that have caused her grief, including the use of the Bible as a blunt weapon. But, the story of Jacob wrestling with God in the dirt gives her a sense of hope. She writes that God welcomed Jacob's anger and the head-on collision that Jacob experienced with God. "And the result of this wrestling match is sight. Like Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, and Hagar before him, Jacob's struggle resulted in seeing God face to face. He beheld God and live to tell the story to us. He was blessed and he survived. But a fight with God also left its mark. Jacob walked away limping?" (p. 199). She concludes that "doubt is easy; we need only to retreat. Faith, on the other hand, is sweat. Faith requires we dodge the uppercut, pin down the flailing arms of the opponent, roll in dust, and yell down our defeat. Faith requires waiting up all night. Only then will we witness the rising sun and, by its light, the face of God." (p. 200). That is her story. She experienced doubt, but in the end found a path of faith, which is the difficult path as Jacob discovered.
I too find Genesis fascinating and enlightening. These stories, especially of Abraham and Jacob are compelling. They remind us that the journey of faith is often difficult. That Liz Grant found a way of weaving a variety of stories and experiences together the biblical story brings it alive. This is really a most excellent book.
January 15, 2025
When I heard about this book, I was immediately SO intrigued by the premise -- a creative non-fiction, post-deconstruction meditation on Genesis, not from a theologian, not from someone trying to do apologetics, but also not from someone who's out to dismiss Scripture. I think the subtitle is a little misleading -- Liz Charlotte Grant doesn't really seem to be writing as one who's lost faith in the Bible, but in a reductive, fundamentalist understanding of it, and who believes that it's worthwhile to grapple with what she's left holding. That in spite of what she's lost, she holds out hope that what God says to us through Scripture is so much more than the narrow interpretation so many people are taught. It would be easy (especially now) to write from a place of "deconstructed, done, and dismissive" of faith, but Grant is doing something harder than that, and she handles that tension with grace, humility and wonder. I really hope to see more of this kind of writing in Christian spaces.
If you love essays that weave together art, nature writing, armchair archeology(!), midrashic commentary and more...Knock at the Sky has got you covered. And if you find disagreement with where Grant's reflections lead her, you may still be moved, as I was, by her afterword:
"These words of mine cannot deliver capital-T Truth to you -- I know my limits -- so instead, I have aimed for astonishment. ... Embrace God not as I have told, but exactly as God has met you, through the Scriptures, your own history, your religious tradition's history, your own metaphors. I am not the final word on God. God is."
If you love essays that weave together art, nature writing, armchair archeology(!), midrashic commentary and more...Knock at the Sky has got you covered. And if you find disagreement with where Grant's reflections lead her, you may still be moved, as I was, by her afterword:
"These words of mine cannot deliver capital-T Truth to you -- I know my limits -- so instead, I have aimed for astonishment. ... Embrace God not as I have told, but exactly as God has met you, through the Scriptures, your own history, your religious tradition's history, your own metaphors. I am not the final word on God. God is."
June 24, 2025
As a pastor, I am regularly faced with people seeking certainty (I often seek it myself). Certainty about interpretation, certainty over doubt, certainty, certainty, certainty. Grant gently reminds me in these pages that certainty isn't the goal, God is.
I loved this book. Grant's ability to weave together ideas and concepts is breathtaking and beautiful. The whole book is a masterclass on illustrative language.
Do yourself a favor - whether you find yourself in a place of deconstruction and wandering or not - and pick up this book. I promise you will learn a thing or two about Genesis, and you'll definitely learn something about God.
I loved this book. Grant's ability to weave together ideas and concepts is breathtaking and beautiful. The whole book is a masterclass on illustrative language.
Do yourself a favor - whether you find yourself in a place of deconstruction and wandering or not - and pick up this book. I promise you will learn a thing or two about Genesis, and you'll definitely learn something about God.
February 23, 2025
I wasn’t sure I’d ever really appreciate a book about the Bible again. But this book is changing my mind. Liz Charlotte Grant’s curiosity, generosity, and commitment to intellectual integrity are so evident here. She doesn’t shy away from the text’s problems and inconsistencies, but rather leans into them and demands that God reveal Godself. And her prose, her eye for metaphor, is meticulous. I will hold these images and perspectives with me for a long, long time.
January 9, 2025
This is a well-researched and deeply poetic look at the book of Genesis, where every chapter points back to God. I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked it up, but there have been so many thought-provoking moments and so many interesting stories and theories that have revealed God to me in a new way. Whether you have a straightforward or a complicated relationship with the Bible, Liz is an excellent guide! I wholeheartedly recommend this book!
December 20, 2024
For me, Genesis has been the side of town you don’t visit alone or after dark.
I’ve tucked myself away inside the Red Letters for a long time and left Genesis (and most of the Old Testament) alone.
Liz Charlotte Grant’s Knock at the Sky has facilitated a reintroduction (a truce?) between my spirit and the stories in early Genesis. It is thoroughly, refreshingly researched, and artfully imagined. She reminds me that these stories do not belong exclusively to those who misuse, misinterpret, and wield them like weapons:
“While some of my formerly evangelical peers prefer to ditch [Genesis] this often-troubling book altogether, I refuse to. These stories are mine, too.”
I have at least one highlight on every. single. page. And the only time I was disappointed was when I reached the last page. I never wanted it to end.
Starting a petition for LCG to walk us through the whole OT... ✍️
I’ve tucked myself away inside the Red Letters for a long time and left Genesis (and most of the Old Testament) alone.
Liz Charlotte Grant’s Knock at the Sky has facilitated a reintroduction (a truce?) between my spirit and the stories in early Genesis. It is thoroughly, refreshingly researched, and artfully imagined. She reminds me that these stories do not belong exclusively to those who misuse, misinterpret, and wield them like weapons:
“While some of my formerly evangelical peers prefer to ditch [Genesis] this often-troubling book altogether, I refuse to. These stories are mine, too.”
I have at least one highlight on every. single. page. And the only time I was disappointed was when I reached the last page. I never wanted it to end.
Starting a petition for LCG to walk us through the whole OT... ✍️
December 30, 2024
Creative nonfiction for progressive readers of the Bible (and specifically, of Genesis). Lovely, chewable, smart.
November 7, 2025
I really enjoyed and appreciated this fresh take on stories and people in Genesis. I read it slowly as I wanted to re-read the biblical narratives along with Liz’s musings about them. She pulled in a wide variety of ideas and sources; reading this book felt like going for a walk with a (very well-read) friend and having a conversation that ranges all over the place but always comes back to the heart.
November 9, 2025
Book Review: Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis after Losing Faith in the Bible
by Liz Charlotte Grant, published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
read 10/23/2025 – 11/9/2025
Review Title: Insight into the Author’s Personal Wrestling with Genesis
Grant is an award-winning essay author, and this is her first book. This is her processing through the book of Genesis, which may appeal to other Christians who are struggling to understand Genesis faithfully in our modern age. She discusses Genesis roughly chronologically, starting with the beginning and working through successive stories with each chapter. In some ways, this book reminds me of Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson, though I liked Reading Genesis better.
Forward
“In my early days alongside many refugees of the evangelical movement, I was a bit surprised by how many folks cited their questions about the book of Genesis as the origin point for their deconstruction experience (px).”
A Note to Former and Current Evangelicals
“That early in my life, the conviction of those around me – parents, relatives, pastors, church volunteers – had already supplied me with complete confidence in a text that predated my oldest grandparent by millennia. Not that I knew anything about the origins of that book, I did not need to. I trusted the people who trusted the book (ppxiii-xiv).” “But to create a single interpretation of what was true about the text and about God (pxv).” “While some of my formerly evangelical peers prefer to ditch this often-troubling book altogether, I refuse to. These stories are mine too (pxix).”
On Genesis and Methodology
“I rarely refer to white voices, especially white male voices – not because I do not care about the thoughts of John Calvin or Martin Luther, but because at the time of the writing, I was familiar with the thrust of white male theology already, and I was hungry for more, for different (pxxii).” “However, I urge readers to consider what value the Bible offers contemporary readers apart from any evidence that does or does not corroborate the details in this collection of stories, poems, history, law, and advice (pxxvi).”
Chapter 1: First Contact
“Usually, words do not make matter. Usually, breath does not exist apart from a set of lungs. Here [in Genesis 1:3], they do (p7).”
“And I suspect that our determination to understand may be exactly what’s needed to encourage the one called Mystery to speak something new (p14).”
Chapter 2: Plural
“But the image of God in me is hazy. How exactly do I resemble God? If I don’t share God’s eye color or height or the resonance of God’s voice, what has God passed to me? (p20).”
“And how do we extract meaning from the Bible, considering our great distance from its origins, a distance that ranges from geographical, cultural, and linguistic to chronological? (p24).”
“The Bible is a fossil, too. It is a flesh and blood memory. It is a collection of ancestral encounters with God (p26).” “Preserving any word in ancient times required near-constant restoration. A scribe would be copying and recopying, creating new paper and ink, and refurbishing the worn symbols in a loop (p27).”
Chapter 3: The Loaded Gun
“The origin story of humanity in the Bible raises as many questions as the cave drawings of Chauvet. I believe this is intentional; its authors intend the story of humankind’s awakening to evoke curiosity and surprise (p38).” “God understands better than we do that God and humanity exist distinctly from each other, that our independence is the vital tool of selfhood. That we cannot grow up without distance (p42).” “God is not an authoritarian ruler threatening death to those who play loose with the story of Scripture. Instead, God invites humanity into collaboration, relishes our independent voices, and stimulates our creativity (p45).” “When we doubt, we are, in fact, behaving as living beings always do: we are growing (p46).”
Chapter 4: Doomsday
“For example, how can I make sense of God’s command to commit genocide or to colonize the lands of the Canaanites? (p55).”
The Doctrine of Discovery blessed Spanish colonizers. “Unbelievers’ property could be confiscated with impunity, as their unbelief disqualified them from full citizenship within a religious state, as Spain claimed to be (p57).”
Chapter 5: Tongue in Knots
“Few of us can spare the time or funds to reconstruct the Babylonian tower like the multimillionaire Ken Ham. … (I suppose he hopes for a different outcome for his construction project than the Bible describes) (p70).” “The imperialists reasoned that if they dragged Christ with them, then wasn’t the eternal gain of a single soul worth the plagues that decimated Native American tribes, that enslaved Africans and Asians, or that plundered Egyptian ruins? (p73).” “Egyptians died due to insufficient drinking water (much of which was brackish), dehydration, heat exhaustion, and cholera (p78).”
Chapter 6: White Noise
“How did Abram decide that the invisible voice from the clouds was God’s? (p80).” “Ultimately, what intrigues me most about the story of Abram’s call is that the man is unperturbed by a voice from heaven (p95).” “As Charles Spurgeon wrote in his sermon on Hebrews 11:8, ‘Towards God a blind obedience is the truest wisdom.’ This is a belief with the lights out. The thrust of this story is devotion. Stupid devotion (p97).” “To grow, Abram and Sarai must abandon the land on which they are planted. To find home, they must wander. Or at least they cannot stay. ‘Come and see,’ says Jesus to Peter and James, and they leave their father in the boat, following after a mystery (p97).”
Chapter 7: Empty
“The rabbis speak in unison: ‘Why are the matriarchs barren?’ they ask. ‘Because the Holy One … yearns for their prayers and supplications.’ The Deity of Abram does not seek only men as followers and witnesses. God also seeks the allegiance of the mothers of faith (p105).” “Misogyny has been a near-universal feature of human society, and Jews were not uniquely blameworthy for their peer treatment of women. But these biased attributes toward females do appear to affect the rabbis’ translations of Eve’s creation in Genesis (p107).”
“Because of the range of interpretations of this single passage (not to mention others), I no longer buy the ‘plain reading’ approach to scriptural interpretation. And I cannot assume that my preferred English translation is divinely inspired (pp108-109).”
“But God has not forgotten the enslaved woman. To the lowest and least of the three in the love triangle, to the abused woman, God speaks face-to-face. And Hagar listens (p114).”
Chapter 8: Wasteland
“Many of the early church fathers bend over backward to excuse Abram and Sarai from their abuse, pride, and cowardice toward the enslaved woman in their household. … They ignore the central character: Hagar. This is her tragedy. And Abram and Sarai are here abusers, end of story (p127).”
“She argues that historical criticism preferences ‘white, male, and middle-class academics, because they alone can afford to be “impartial,” mean[ing] “non-committed.”’ In this case, ‘objectivity,’ ‘impartial,’ and ‘non-committed’ act as coded language, the wealthy Western academy’s way of whitewashing biblical studies. Our biases are often subtle. Those of us of a dominant heritage struggle to see the ways that our majority culture inflects our translation and interpretation of our holy book (p132).”
“Sarai, matriarch of Israel, never meets God face-to-face. … Yet God speaks with Hagar without any mediators in between (p137).”
Chapter 9: Protest Art
“Protest leaves the dissenters vulnerable because protest discards the narrative or identity that the powerful project upon the weaker (p147).” “He [Lot] says, if you leave my guests alone, you can have my daughters. His actions are despicable and cowardly, meant to spare himself at the expense of the children under his protection (p148).” “Accepting the Bible’s revisers does not mean wielding a red pen, but instead, illuminating the page with gold leaf (p153).”
“Lot escapes [the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah] not because he’s good or worthy or sorry, but because ‘God remembered Abraham’ (19:29 NIV) (p155).”
“Abraham has a streak of passivity: he does not pray to relieve Sarah’s infertility, does not protest Sarah’s ill-treatment of Hagar and his oldest son, does not protect Sarah from marauding kings (12:10-20:20), and twice does not object to the slow death of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert (p156).”
Chapter 10: Holy Terror
“Why does God ask the unaskable of Abraham? And why does God change God’s mind a few days later? (How dare God?) (p170).” “So God speaks twice in the story of the binding of Isaac. The first time, only Abraham hears the command; the second, Abraham and Isaac both hear God’s speech (p174).”
Chapter 11: Stranglehold of God
“Fear can make us hesitate to discard the old modes – especially when those old modes have become intertwined with people that we love. We fear that our closest relationships will fail when we change (p179).” “Every character in Genesis faces a crisis of self and then a reorientation (p180).” “Like dark matter, the presence of God does not always deign to be verified (p185).”
“Why can’t the force of gravity be both God’s active and contemporaneous work and an autonomous law of our natural order? Why can’t a thing have two causes, mystery and measure, a two-sided explanation? (p186).”
“Cone writes, ‘As Jacob, the God-wrestler, received a new name to reflect his new self, black people’s struggle with God in white America also left a deep and lasting wound’ (p187).” “Americans like to see ourselves as victims and underdogs, even when we are indisputably the oppressor (p195).” “Bible study, for me, means constant repentance. I see that I must constantly be willing to turn around, change my mind, admit that I’ve taken the wrong meaning from the text, and accept correction (p196).”
Final Thoughts
“I have aimed to ‘pierce the veneer of outside things … to see God in his splendors, [to] hear the text the Nature renders, to reach the naked soul of men,’ as Shackleton wrote at the end of his account of his journey through the Antarctic (p201).”
“Embrace God, not as I have told you, but exactly as God has met you, through the Scriptures, your own history, your religious tradition’s history, your own metaphors (p201).”
Acknowledgments, Endnotes (32 pages), Artists’ Note, Author’s Note, Permissions
I’m not really sure what to think about this book. It might be really helpful for people struggling with what to do with Genesis and how to read it faithfully. Perhaps it is best to view this work as the journey of the author and the way she wrestles with the text. And in that context, biographies always give insight into real people, and their journeys often parallel our own, and offer insight from which we can learn and grow. So, if you are wondering about Genesis, this may be a useful book as an example of the author’s own exploration of this fascinating book, and the way she wrestles with the questions she sees.
by Liz Charlotte Grant, published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
read 10/23/2025 – 11/9/2025
Review Title: Insight into the Author’s Personal Wrestling with Genesis
Grant is an award-winning essay author, and this is her first book. This is her processing through the book of Genesis, which may appeal to other Christians who are struggling to understand Genesis faithfully in our modern age. She discusses Genesis roughly chronologically, starting with the beginning and working through successive stories with each chapter. In some ways, this book reminds me of Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson, though I liked Reading Genesis better.
Forward
“In my early days alongside many refugees of the evangelical movement, I was a bit surprised by how many folks cited their questions about the book of Genesis as the origin point for their deconstruction experience (px).”
A Note to Former and Current Evangelicals
“That early in my life, the conviction of those around me – parents, relatives, pastors, church volunteers – had already supplied me with complete confidence in a text that predated my oldest grandparent by millennia. Not that I knew anything about the origins of that book, I did not need to. I trusted the people who trusted the book (ppxiii-xiv).” “But to create a single interpretation of what was true about the text and about God (pxv).” “While some of my formerly evangelical peers prefer to ditch this often-troubling book altogether, I refuse to. These stories are mine too (pxix).”
On Genesis and Methodology
“I rarely refer to white voices, especially white male voices – not because I do not care about the thoughts of John Calvin or Martin Luther, but because at the time of the writing, I was familiar with the thrust of white male theology already, and I was hungry for more, for different (pxxii).” “However, I urge readers to consider what value the Bible offers contemporary readers apart from any evidence that does or does not corroborate the details in this collection of stories, poems, history, law, and advice (pxxvi).”
Chapter 1: First Contact
“Usually, words do not make matter. Usually, breath does not exist apart from a set of lungs. Here [in Genesis 1:3], they do (p7).”
“And I suspect that our determination to understand may be exactly what’s needed to encourage the one called Mystery to speak something new (p14).”
Chapter 2: Plural
“But the image of God in me is hazy. How exactly do I resemble God? If I don’t share God’s eye color or height or the resonance of God’s voice, what has God passed to me? (p20).”
“And how do we extract meaning from the Bible, considering our great distance from its origins, a distance that ranges from geographical, cultural, and linguistic to chronological? (p24).”
“The Bible is a fossil, too. It is a flesh and blood memory. It is a collection of ancestral encounters with God (p26).” “Preserving any word in ancient times required near-constant restoration. A scribe would be copying and recopying, creating new paper and ink, and refurbishing the worn symbols in a loop (p27).”
Chapter 3: The Loaded Gun
“The origin story of humanity in the Bible raises as many questions as the cave drawings of Chauvet. I believe this is intentional; its authors intend the story of humankind’s awakening to evoke curiosity and surprise (p38).” “God understands better than we do that God and humanity exist distinctly from each other, that our independence is the vital tool of selfhood. That we cannot grow up without distance (p42).” “God is not an authoritarian ruler threatening death to those who play loose with the story of Scripture. Instead, God invites humanity into collaboration, relishes our independent voices, and stimulates our creativity (p45).” “When we doubt, we are, in fact, behaving as living beings always do: we are growing (p46).”
Chapter 4: Doomsday
“For example, how can I make sense of God’s command to commit genocide or to colonize the lands of the Canaanites? (p55).”
The Doctrine of Discovery blessed Spanish colonizers. “Unbelievers’ property could be confiscated with impunity, as their unbelief disqualified them from full citizenship within a religious state, as Spain claimed to be (p57).”
Chapter 5: Tongue in Knots
“Few of us can spare the time or funds to reconstruct the Babylonian tower like the multimillionaire Ken Ham. … (I suppose he hopes for a different outcome for his construction project than the Bible describes) (p70).” “The imperialists reasoned that if they dragged Christ with them, then wasn’t the eternal gain of a single soul worth the plagues that decimated Native American tribes, that enslaved Africans and Asians, or that plundered Egyptian ruins? (p73).” “Egyptians died due to insufficient drinking water (much of which was brackish), dehydration, heat exhaustion, and cholera (p78).”
Chapter 6: White Noise
“How did Abram decide that the invisible voice from the clouds was God’s? (p80).” “Ultimately, what intrigues me most about the story of Abram’s call is that the man is unperturbed by a voice from heaven (p95).” “As Charles Spurgeon wrote in his sermon on Hebrews 11:8, ‘Towards God a blind obedience is the truest wisdom.’ This is a belief with the lights out. The thrust of this story is devotion. Stupid devotion (p97).” “To grow, Abram and Sarai must abandon the land on which they are planted. To find home, they must wander. Or at least they cannot stay. ‘Come and see,’ says Jesus to Peter and James, and they leave their father in the boat, following after a mystery (p97).”
Chapter 7: Empty
“The rabbis speak in unison: ‘Why are the matriarchs barren?’ they ask. ‘Because the Holy One … yearns for their prayers and supplications.’ The Deity of Abram does not seek only men as followers and witnesses. God also seeks the allegiance of the mothers of faith (p105).” “Misogyny has been a near-universal feature of human society, and Jews were not uniquely blameworthy for their peer treatment of women. But these biased attributes toward females do appear to affect the rabbis’ translations of Eve’s creation in Genesis (p107).”
“Because of the range of interpretations of this single passage (not to mention others), I no longer buy the ‘plain reading’ approach to scriptural interpretation. And I cannot assume that my preferred English translation is divinely inspired (pp108-109).”
“But God has not forgotten the enslaved woman. To the lowest and least of the three in the love triangle, to the abused woman, God speaks face-to-face. And Hagar listens (p114).”
Chapter 8: Wasteland
“Many of the early church fathers bend over backward to excuse Abram and Sarai from their abuse, pride, and cowardice toward the enslaved woman in their household. … They ignore the central character: Hagar. This is her tragedy. And Abram and Sarai are here abusers, end of story (p127).”
“She argues that historical criticism preferences ‘white, male, and middle-class academics, because they alone can afford to be “impartial,” mean[ing] “non-committed.”’ In this case, ‘objectivity,’ ‘impartial,’ and ‘non-committed’ act as coded language, the wealthy Western academy’s way of whitewashing biblical studies. Our biases are often subtle. Those of us of a dominant heritage struggle to see the ways that our majority culture inflects our translation and interpretation of our holy book (p132).”
“Sarai, matriarch of Israel, never meets God face-to-face. … Yet God speaks with Hagar without any mediators in between (p137).”
Chapter 9: Protest Art
“Protest leaves the dissenters vulnerable because protest discards the narrative or identity that the powerful project upon the weaker (p147).” “He [Lot] says, if you leave my guests alone, you can have my daughters. His actions are despicable and cowardly, meant to spare himself at the expense of the children under his protection (p148).” “Accepting the Bible’s revisers does not mean wielding a red pen, but instead, illuminating the page with gold leaf (p153).”
“Lot escapes [the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah] not because he’s good or worthy or sorry, but because ‘God remembered Abraham’ (19:29 NIV) (p155).”
“Abraham has a streak of passivity: he does not pray to relieve Sarah’s infertility, does not protest Sarah’s ill-treatment of Hagar and his oldest son, does not protect Sarah from marauding kings (12:10-20:20), and twice does not object to the slow death of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert (p156).”
Chapter 10: Holy Terror
“Why does God ask the unaskable of Abraham? And why does God change God’s mind a few days later? (How dare God?) (p170).” “So God speaks twice in the story of the binding of Isaac. The first time, only Abraham hears the command; the second, Abraham and Isaac both hear God’s speech (p174).”
Chapter 11: Stranglehold of God
“Fear can make us hesitate to discard the old modes – especially when those old modes have become intertwined with people that we love. We fear that our closest relationships will fail when we change (p179).” “Every character in Genesis faces a crisis of self and then a reorientation (p180).” “Like dark matter, the presence of God does not always deign to be verified (p185).”
“Why can’t the force of gravity be both God’s active and contemporaneous work and an autonomous law of our natural order? Why can’t a thing have two causes, mystery and measure, a two-sided explanation? (p186).”
“Cone writes, ‘As Jacob, the God-wrestler, received a new name to reflect his new self, black people’s struggle with God in white America also left a deep and lasting wound’ (p187).” “Americans like to see ourselves as victims and underdogs, even when we are indisputably the oppressor (p195).” “Bible study, for me, means constant repentance. I see that I must constantly be willing to turn around, change my mind, admit that I’ve taken the wrong meaning from the text, and accept correction (p196).”
Final Thoughts
“I have aimed to ‘pierce the veneer of outside things … to see God in his splendors, [to] hear the text the Nature renders, to reach the naked soul of men,’ as Shackleton wrote at the end of his account of his journey through the Antarctic (p201).”
“Embrace God, not as I have told you, but exactly as God has met you, through the Scriptures, your own history, your religious tradition’s history, your own metaphors (p201).”
Acknowledgments, Endnotes (32 pages), Artists’ Note, Author’s Note, Permissions
I’m not really sure what to think about this book. It might be really helpful for people struggling with what to do with Genesis and how to read it faithfully. Perhaps it is best to view this work as the journey of the author and the way she wrestles with the text. And in that context, biographies always give insight into real people, and their journeys often parallel our own, and offer insight from which we can learn and grow. So, if you are wondering about Genesis, this may be a useful book as an example of the author’s own exploration of this fascinating book, and the way she wrestles with the questions she sees.
November 15, 2025
It wasnt what I thought. I thought it was going to be a personal deconstruction memoir but it read more like a series of vignettes: science, religion, and history essays with a Bible and faith theme. I enjoyed her thoughts but it felt more sterile/less personal than I had anticipated.
January 14, 2025
Liz Charlotte Grant blends research, memoir, and textual analysis in this fresh, evocative collection of essays on the book of Genesis. This book is unlike other works of textual criticism that I have encountered. For one, the writing soars: she juxtaposes moments of gorgeous memoir (scenes where she examines her adolescent reflection in a wading pool) with theological reflection. The connections she makes between pieces of art and moments in Genesis are illuminating and rich. I was particularly drawn to her discussion of Hagar's exploitation and maternity (she draws upon her own experience as a former birth doula in this chapter). This book is incredible and will change the way you think about the Bible and your own origin stories.
January 14, 2025
There’s much I want to tell you about this beautiful, gentle, incredibly well-researched book by my dear friend Liz. But perhaps the aspect I appreciate the most, that is absolutely essential in ongoing spiritual formation, is reading far, far, far beyond the confines of white, male, evangelicalism.
As someone who once only ever read white male voices, I was stunted in my approach to and understanding of scripture. It is vital that we read scholars, thinkers, artists, and theologians of marginalized identities. Throughout this work in “seeking God in Genesis,” Liz consults midrash—a Jewish method of interpretation that welcomes and (even) requires questions and imagination to “fill in the textual gaps.” Her own scholarship is robust, citing liberationist, womanist, feminist, indigenous, and queer perspectives and research.
Incorporated throughout are stunning stories of science, art, and bits of memoir that make this work not just well-researched but story-driven, contemplative, and hospitable to every reader.
It’s important to note Liz’s gentleness. She does not mock literalism or the cultural norms that have formed us in our particular beliefs. She relates her own stories and background, offers a sense of me-too-ness for every reader wherever they’re at. Still, she is not afraid to critique, to call out the instances in scripture that are confusing and downright unjust, to make space for the great mystery that still exists between a once vocal God and an increasingly (or seemingly) silent one.
On page 109, Liz writes, “Reading the scriptures requires attention and spaciousness. Reading the words of God responsibly requires a willingness to learn we were wrong. Scripture has the effect of widening our insides. It requires both the humility to learn, interpret, and explore, and the conviction to settle lightly.”
As someone who once only ever read white male voices, I was stunted in my approach to and understanding of scripture. It is vital that we read scholars, thinkers, artists, and theologians of marginalized identities. Throughout this work in “seeking God in Genesis,” Liz consults midrash—a Jewish method of interpretation that welcomes and (even) requires questions and imagination to “fill in the textual gaps.” Her own scholarship is robust, citing liberationist, womanist, feminist, indigenous, and queer perspectives and research.
Incorporated throughout are stunning stories of science, art, and bits of memoir that make this work not just well-researched but story-driven, contemplative, and hospitable to every reader.
It’s important to note Liz’s gentleness. She does not mock literalism or the cultural norms that have formed us in our particular beliefs. She relates her own stories and background, offers a sense of me-too-ness for every reader wherever they’re at. Still, she is not afraid to critique, to call out the instances in scripture that are confusing and downright unjust, to make space for the great mystery that still exists between a once vocal God and an increasingly (or seemingly) silent one.
On page 109, Liz writes, “Reading the scriptures requires attention and spaciousness. Reading the words of God responsibly requires a willingness to learn we were wrong. Scripture has the effect of widening our insides. It requires both the humility to learn, interpret, and explore, and the conviction to settle lightly.”
February 16, 2025
Seeing she contributes to Sojourners, exactly what you'd expect. I don't come from the inerrant-camp or Evangelically-raised biblical readers she grew up among around the Bill Clinton era, so my take's a bit more astringent than "co-exist" NPR bumper-sticker, down with Euro-this, papal-that, genocidal Crusades, return artifacts to the Near and Middle East (may want to think twice given how ISIS and the Taliban regarded their indigenous cultural heritages) mindset. Surely this will date itself as did Robinson's "Honest to God" for British liberals in the 1960s or Muscular Christianity a century before. I expected a land acknowledgement and a diatribe against the current White House.
But her version of the "social Gospel" of the 1920s does carry resonances that may appeal to many. On the desert(ed) passages about Jacob, Abraham's binding of Isaac, the expulsion of Hagar, and predictably the fate of Sodom interpreted as whomever survives amidst the dwindling ranks of mainstream American Protestants would today expect; at least she broadens the discussions. For throughout the book, she ties in dark matter, whale songs, the fates of the last survivor of 9/11 to escape, the "third man" associations akin to Shackleton's polar exploration and T.S. Eliot both.
Points for attending to midrash and Jewish approaches (at least when they align with her own agenda, naturally). She avoids supersessionism or replacement theology, which must be endemic among many with whom she was brought up. At least audiences looking for answers to how to deal with my (and her?) favorite bible book might seek out her endnotes and roam deeper into Hebraic rerrain. And I commend her eclectic range of research; I confess I share her "magpie" tendencies to pluck out of the heap whatever may catch my eye with its sheen or shine for musings down the line.
Her narrative alternates between tendentious recitals of wrongs perpetrated by the Western and the patriarchal attitudes. Unsurprisingly Grant advances a feminist, inclusive embrace rather than what she perceives as the racist, capitalist, imperialist legacies which represent standard foes for her ilk. I think she conveys the pat prescriptions against the fulminations and forces and fumbles of past powers and pontificators without enough nuance; but this isn't a study for scholars, but those who applaud her witness, embedded in current trends and ideologies, same as it ever was for Christians.
Again, this comes with the well-trodden territory of our own past sixty-odd years hearing these castigations preached from pulpits and by pundits. The pace therefore feels more like a series of blog posts and her prefatory lists for each chapter's shout-outs add to this accretionary, loosely assembled construction, thus perhaps the reason the cover and each section looks the way it does.
An afterward accounts for her use of collages within by an artist. I found this hideous, but at least Grant's attempting to broaden the perspectives. She looks at the Sistine Chapel, Caravaggio, and Jackson Pollock, Marina Abramovic, for example, and links their creations effectively to support her insights. So I did highlight key passages as worthy of reflection. I think this would convince far more those among her own cohort, which is at least a generation younger than mine, and inculcated in assumptions about scripture I never was taught. So take my critique with Mrs Lot's grain of salt.
But her version of the "social Gospel" of the 1920s does carry resonances that may appeal to many. On the desert(ed) passages about Jacob, Abraham's binding of Isaac, the expulsion of Hagar, and predictably the fate of Sodom interpreted as whomever survives amidst the dwindling ranks of mainstream American Protestants would today expect; at least she broadens the discussions. For throughout the book, she ties in dark matter, whale songs, the fates of the last survivor of 9/11 to escape, the "third man" associations akin to Shackleton's polar exploration and T.S. Eliot both.
Points for attending to midrash and Jewish approaches (at least when they align with her own agenda, naturally). She avoids supersessionism or replacement theology, which must be endemic among many with whom she was brought up. At least audiences looking for answers to how to deal with my (and her?) favorite bible book might seek out her endnotes and roam deeper into Hebraic rerrain. And I commend her eclectic range of research; I confess I share her "magpie" tendencies to pluck out of the heap whatever may catch my eye with its sheen or shine for musings down the line.
Her narrative alternates between tendentious recitals of wrongs perpetrated by the Western and the patriarchal attitudes. Unsurprisingly Grant advances a feminist, inclusive embrace rather than what she perceives as the racist, capitalist, imperialist legacies which represent standard foes for her ilk. I think she conveys the pat prescriptions against the fulminations and forces and fumbles of past powers and pontificators without enough nuance; but this isn't a study for scholars, but those who applaud her witness, embedded in current trends and ideologies, same as it ever was for Christians.
Again, this comes with the well-trodden territory of our own past sixty-odd years hearing these castigations preached from pulpits and by pundits. The pace therefore feels more like a series of blog posts and her prefatory lists for each chapter's shout-outs add to this accretionary, loosely assembled construction, thus perhaps the reason the cover and each section looks the way it does.
An afterward accounts for her use of collages within by an artist. I found this hideous, but at least Grant's attempting to broaden the perspectives. She looks at the Sistine Chapel, Caravaggio, and Jackson Pollock, Marina Abramovic, for example, and links their creations effectively to support her insights. So I did highlight key passages as worthy of reflection. I think this would convince far more those among her own cohort, which is at least a generation younger than mine, and inculcated in assumptions about scripture I never was taught. So take my critique with Mrs Lot's grain of salt.
May 26, 2025
Summary: After losing faith in biblical inerrancy, the author returns to Genesis with all her questions, seeking God in the story.
Liz Charlotte Grant grew up as a card-carrying evangelical. Mission trips, a minor in Bible from a Christian college, quiet time, and kissing dating good-bye. And then, approaching her forties, the certitudes stopped working. She joined the ranks of those deconstructing her faith. This included giving up her faith in an inerrant Bible. But, as this book shows, it did not mean giving up on either the Bible or God. In fact, it led her into an intense reading of Genesis, not to determine its historicity but to bring her story, with all her questions to the story of Genesis 1-32. She describes her approach as midrashic. She writes, as she invites the reader to join her:
“What else can we find in the Bible besides fact? What does the Bible say about reality, about death, about the purposes and origins of humanity? What does the Bible reveal about God? Ask and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will blow wide open. Thanks be to God.”
In succeeding chapters Grant weaves her close reading of Genesis with Jewish commentators and Christian theologians, contemporary music and art, and archaeology and nature. Most of all, she weaves in her own questions, “knocking at the sky” as she seeks God. In the creation account, she considers how unlike God’s voice is to any other voice. The closest she comes to it is whale songs. She suggests we might well try standing on our heads as we read! In the narrative of the fall, she explores how deeply God values human freedom, unlike some controlling churches. She references James Fowler’s Stages of Faith, discussing how important the process of moving through doubt is to mature faith.
Succeeding chapters explore the flood narratives, Babel, and then focus on the life of Abraham. Why does he answer the call of God to leave Haran? Then what do we make of Sarah’s infertility in light of the promise, and her resort to Hagar as a surrogate? What do we make of the fact that God spoke to Hagar and was named by her? But the most troubling is the binding of Isaac. In this case, did Abraham hear God wrong and what do we make of God’s provision? Finally, we come to the night of Jacob’s wrestling. Not only does all his checkered past come to focus, but also his resolve to be blessed.
Not only do we encounter different interpretive possibilities and a host of questions. We also, as we read with Grant, encounter the mysterious, transcendent presence of the God who welcomes the questions, the wrestling, and the knocking.
You may not agree with Grant on her doctrine of scripture. But do you read scripture with the fierce tenacity she brings to the text? You may claim that you bring everything to God in prayer. But do you “knock at the sky” with the unvarnished honesty Grant brings to her study? Instead of certitude, I found in what Grant writes a gritty faith that hangs onto God through doubt and keeps expecting God to show up. When we hear of faith deconstruction, we fear people are abandoning Christ. While that sometimes is the case, Grant offers an example of moving from unquestioning certainty to truly seeking after and being found by God.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
Liz Charlotte Grant grew up as a card-carrying evangelical. Mission trips, a minor in Bible from a Christian college, quiet time, and kissing dating good-bye. And then, approaching her forties, the certitudes stopped working. She joined the ranks of those deconstructing her faith. This included giving up her faith in an inerrant Bible. But, as this book shows, it did not mean giving up on either the Bible or God. In fact, it led her into an intense reading of Genesis, not to determine its historicity but to bring her story, with all her questions to the story of Genesis 1-32. She describes her approach as midrashic. She writes, as she invites the reader to join her:
“What else can we find in the Bible besides fact? What does the Bible say about reality, about death, about the purposes and origins of humanity? What does the Bible reveal about God? Ask and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will blow wide open. Thanks be to God.”
In succeeding chapters Grant weaves her close reading of Genesis with Jewish commentators and Christian theologians, contemporary music and art, and archaeology and nature. Most of all, she weaves in her own questions, “knocking at the sky” as she seeks God. In the creation account, she considers how unlike God’s voice is to any other voice. The closest she comes to it is whale songs. She suggests we might well try standing on our heads as we read! In the narrative of the fall, she explores how deeply God values human freedom, unlike some controlling churches. She references James Fowler’s Stages of Faith, discussing how important the process of moving through doubt is to mature faith.
Succeeding chapters explore the flood narratives, Babel, and then focus on the life of Abraham. Why does he answer the call of God to leave Haran? Then what do we make of Sarah’s infertility in light of the promise, and her resort to Hagar as a surrogate? What do we make of the fact that God spoke to Hagar and was named by her? But the most troubling is the binding of Isaac. In this case, did Abraham hear God wrong and what do we make of God’s provision? Finally, we come to the night of Jacob’s wrestling. Not only does all his checkered past come to focus, but also his resolve to be blessed.
Not only do we encounter different interpretive possibilities and a host of questions. We also, as we read with Grant, encounter the mysterious, transcendent presence of the God who welcomes the questions, the wrestling, and the knocking.
You may not agree with Grant on her doctrine of scripture. But do you read scripture with the fierce tenacity she brings to the text? You may claim that you bring everything to God in prayer. But do you “knock at the sky” with the unvarnished honesty Grant brings to her study? Instead of certitude, I found in what Grant writes a gritty faith that hangs onto God through doubt and keeps expecting God to show up. When we hear of faith deconstruction, we fear people are abandoning Christ. While that sometimes is the case, Grant offers an example of moving from unquestioning certainty to truly seeking after and being found by God.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.
November 24, 2025
At many points the author is eloquent and insightful, but when I finished this book I was unable to tell what her point is. Why did I just read this book? As much as Liz may be our next Rachel Held Evans (and not all of Evans' books were equally good), this book is just shy of being a truly great book.
I should know at the end of the book exactly what the author's message is. I don't, in this one. I leave befuddled.
The blurb on the back of the book is the most promising part of the book. "What does Bible study look like after inerrancy?" What a great, meaningful, and specific question! She does not answer this question. "Do you have to give up studying Scripture when you no longer believe in its literal interpretation?" She implies "no", but does not explicitly address this. "Can you still believe this book is sacred even while renegotiating your relationship to the church"? Again, she implies "yes" but doesn't get into this.
Instead we're told "The Bible is a work of art". But we're not told what to do with a work of art! I mean, art is pretty mysterious to a lot of people, myself included. (And life is hard. Do I really need another work of art?)
I absolutely believe Liz is a brilliant woman and a gift to those who read her. I learned a lot from her book, for which I am grateful, but I missed the point of her book. I look forward to her next book in hopes that its message will be unmissable.
I should know at the end of the book exactly what the author's message is. I don't, in this one. I leave befuddled.
The blurb on the back of the book is the most promising part of the book. "What does Bible study look like after inerrancy?" What a great, meaningful, and specific question! She does not answer this question. "Do you have to give up studying Scripture when you no longer believe in its literal interpretation?" She implies "no", but does not explicitly address this. "Can you still believe this book is sacred even while renegotiating your relationship to the church"? Again, she implies "yes" but doesn't get into this.
Instead we're told "The Bible is a work of art". But we're not told what to do with a work of art! I mean, art is pretty mysterious to a lot of people, myself included. (And life is hard. Do I really need another work of art?)
I absolutely believe Liz is a brilliant woman and a gift to those who read her. I learned a lot from her book, for which I am grateful, but I missed the point of her book. I look forward to her next book in hopes that its message will be unmissable.
April 14, 2025
Knock at the Sky creates a space for us to probe cosmic questions with curiosity, not fear.
You have never read a book on Genesis like this before! Genesis raises hard questions, and instead of pushing an apologetic agenda or disengaging from these questions, Grant embraces the complexity of this ancient sacred text. Grant's writing is creative and often poetic, braiding together stories from literature, science, personal experience, and Jewish midrash into essays that shine light on Genesis from new angles. I found the book both incredibly well-researched and imaginative - a rare and delightful combo!
You have never read a book on Genesis like this before! Genesis raises hard questions, and instead of pushing an apologetic agenda or disengaging from these questions, Grant embraces the complexity of this ancient sacred text. Grant's writing is creative and often poetic, braiding together stories from literature, science, personal experience, and Jewish midrash into essays that shine light on Genesis from new angles. I found the book both incredibly well-researched and imaginative - a rare and delightful combo!
May 3, 2025
I loved this book ! Liz Charlotte Grant has written a book in a completely new style for me, replete with so many thought provoking ideas. I found Knock at the Sky refreshingly honest , an ancient look yet new .
Knock at the Sky is not just another devotional take on Genesis.It’s a paradigm shift, a new and important way of looking at a foundational book of the Bible. Readers will come away with a deeper appreciation for the beauty and complexity of God’s word and perhaps even a renewed faith. This is a book you will come back to again and again , it will
stay with you long after you finish .
Knock at the Sky is not just another devotional take on Genesis.It’s a paradigm shift, a new and important way of looking at a foundational book of the Bible. Readers will come away with a deeper appreciation for the beauty and complexity of God’s word and perhaps even a renewed faith. This is a book you will come back to again and again , it will
stay with you long after you finish .
December 24, 2025
Liz Charlotte Grant didn’t convince me that she had ever lost faith in the Bible—only that she holds a more nuanced view of its contents based on the discoveries of archeologists, theologians, and Jewish counternarratives. I appreciated her delineation of various aspects of the Creation myth that are described with feminine terms in the Hebrew language. Grant also made me notice for the first time that Isaac prayed over his wife’s barren womb when his Hall-of-Faith father, Abraham, had not (at least according to the Torah). Grant takes a lot of liberties with what’s between the lines of Scripture, but that seems just a continuation of the Midrash tradition.
February 26, 2025
Whenever I hear about someone's faith unraveling, I come to their story in fervent hope that they knew what they were rejecting. Liz Grant has clearly done her homework, and Knock at the Sky is her protest against making an idol of the Bible and her push back against the contentiousness in the Christian camp. I enjoyed her review of the Genesis storyline, and while we might not always reach the same conclusions, I appreciated her thoughtfulness.
March 24, 2025
I felt I was expecting more from this one than what Grant could offer. I appreciated the research and honesty she had when she discussed her faith and the "break" she's had with certain sects of evangelicalism. There were points that I'll continue to think about, especially biblical interpretation, but I hope she continues down this train of thought as well (which I'm sure she will). Otherwise, an excellent book for those seeking new perspectives or even answers as a post-Christian.
April 13, 2025
The story of Genesis has been picked over time and again — what’s new to say about this old and weird book? It turns out, a lot! Liz Charlotte Grant takes us through Genesis with her lyrical prose, making connections to science, history, and her own life story along the way. I blazed through this book, absolutely moved by her generous take on falling back in love with the Bible. A best book of 2025 for me.
Read
October 31, 2025It’s really difficult to put my thoughts on this book down, so I’m just going to leave it at one of the points that resonated the most with me — God will not forget to humble the strong + loves those who are hated.
Even in a world where I have no idea what to believe in the idea of a higher power, it gives some sort of peace that if there is truth to any of this, the United States is undeniably wrong with their treatment of everyone. Literally, everyone.
Even in a world where I have no idea what to believe in the idea of a higher power, it gives some sort of peace that if there is truth to any of this, the United States is undeniably wrong with their treatment of everyone. Literally, everyone.
March 10, 2025
These meditations on Genesis weave together popular culture, Biblical scholarship, science, and nature to answer questions about what we believe about the Bible when we don't think it actually happened exactly like it says. I would recommend this for people who have moved away from literalism and aren't sure what to do about the Bible.
March 24, 2025
It took a LONG time to get into the audiobook but it was because a)I know the narrator from baking murder pies and it was hard to take her seriously when she was b) discussing the technicalities of the research. But the actual Genesis discussion was fascinating.
November 26, 2025
A meditative look at Genesis for those who want something more than the typical narrative found in Evangelicalism.
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