I really enjoyed Scot McKnight's writing style. After reading this one, it occurs that I need to go back and read his prequel...Jesus Creed.The basic premise of "The Blue Parakeet" is that everyone tends to pick and choose (adopt and adapt) when it comes to the way we read the Bible. And those passages/stories in the Bible which don't fit our pattern of discernment or mess with our theology are 'blue parakeets' which we tend to cage or otherwise silence. (The analogy makes more sense when you hear his story of encountering a pet parakeet in his back yard).
Another helpful analogy he uses is the picture of a water slide. The walls of the water slide represent the Bible and our tradition. The Holy Spirit is the water which enables us to glide through the story of God towards our world/context which is represented by the pool of water at the end.
He makes a helpful distinction, however, when talking about our traditions. There is a way to read Scripture through tradition which tends to treat the Bible as a law book or puzzle (bad). The preferable approach would be to read the Bible with tradition as a helpful guide (thus one side of the water slide which keeps us from flying off into dangerous territory).
Unfortunately, if you're hoping to walk away from the book with a formula for discerning HOW to pick and choose...you'll be disappointed. Of course, part of the whole point when it comes to reading the Bible as Story is to avoid that kind of approach to anything. We are to trust the Spirit to guide us into all truth instead of trusting our ability to master some model or fumble for formulas.
And this leads me to one last point and the best 'take-a-way' I gathered while reading The Blue Parakeet: If we fail to see the Bible as a means to meaningful relationship with the author of the Bible, then all we have done is successfully missed the point.
