Finance ✦ Penny’s Take
What the Bible Really Says
Morton Smith · 1993
72/100
👍 Worth It
A credentialed, intellectually honest anthology that treats Scripture as a historical document rather than a faith text — useful for scholars, seminary students, and curious general readers willing to engage with academic biblical criticism. The secular-critical lens is consistent and transparent, which is its strength, but also means faith-oriented readers should know what they are getting into. Essay quality varies, and the lack of a unifying argument keeps it from being more than the sum of its parts.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Secular-critical framing challenges traditional biblical authority on women's roles, slavery, and war — faith-family audiences should be aware this is academic criticism, not devotional material. We still scored it 72; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
📚 Buy the book ↗📱 Read on Kindle ↗🎧 Listen on Audible ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety70
substance75
craft65
originality72
accuracy78
hype68
age-fit80
human-eye70
Penny’s verdict72
Cross-pollinate