Questions you should ask before reading the Bible with Dr. Jennifer Garcia Bashaw

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What if reading the Bible felt less like swallowing a prepackaged meal and more like cooking something nourishing with friends? We sit down with Dr. Jennifer Garcia Bashaw to reframe biblical interpretation through a simple, memorable kitchen metaphor that helps anyone move from fear and formulas to curiosity and depth. Instead of treating Scripture as a static rule book, we explore it as a living, multivocal library—divine and human—where honest questions don’t break faith, they build it.

We start with you the reader: how your social location, church background, and assumptions shape what you see. From there we unpack genre—poetry, wisdom, ancient history, gospels—and why recognizing these forms changes everything about how you read. Jennifer shares accessible tools like the Bible Project’s book overviews to anchor any passage in its literary and historical context, and she offers a healing on-ramp for those wounded by weaponized verses: return to Jesus. Using Jesus as the interpretive lens reframes violent depictions of God and invites a way of reading that matches the character of Christ.

Along the way, we revisit overlooked stories of women in Scripture, trace Israel’s long path toward monotheism, and practice a two-step that keeps us grounded: first ask what a passage meant to them, then consider what it can mean for us. The result is a richer, kinder approach to the Bible that welcomes complexity, values diverse voices, and makes space for growth. If you’re hungry for Scripture that feeds your mind and heals your heart, pull up a chair and join us.

Dr. Jennifer Garcia Bashaw's newest book can be preordered on the link below.

https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798889835561/Serving-Up-Scripture

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