In his book, Lies My Preacher Told Me: An Honest Look at the Old Testament, Brent Strawn sets out to uproot ten common mistruths about the OT. Although this book is short—108 pages excluding endnotes—it packs a powerful punch as Strawn candidly addresses these important topics. In the introduction, Strawn discusses the title of the book, which he modeled off the well-known book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen.1 Strawn also includes a timely discussion on the nature of truth and the extreme danger that mistruth poses since it is often indicative of a laissez-faire attitude toward the truth. Mistruths surrounding the OT often arise from individuals being ill-informed or not fully informed about the nature of the text at hand. The mistruths that Strawn identifies about the OT include statements such as that the OT is a boring history book (mistruth 2), the OT has been rendered permanently obsolete (mistruth 3), the OT is hyper-violent (mistruth 5), the OT is not spiritually enriching (mistruth 7), and what really matters is that everything is about Jesus (mistruth 10). It is these and other often highly propagated mistruths that Strawn sets out to dismantle as he properly informs his readers.Strawn points out that these mistruths are often interwoven with one another, contributing to the difficult process required to uproot them. The interconnected nature of the ten topics is clearly demonstrated throughout the book since each chapter contains numerous references to other chapters in the book. As Strawn points out, many of the mistruths circulated about the OT stem from a misunderstanding about the relationship between the NT and the OT. This is particularly evident in the mistruths related to the spiritual enrichment and relevance of the OT (mistruths 7 and 8) as readers of the Bible often compare what they know about the NT to what they think they know about the OT. To combat these false assumptions, Strawn demonstrates via numerous examples that the OT has much to say about Christian theology and ethics. To give an example, in addressing the spiritual value of the OT Strawn identifies the major theological themes in the Apostle’s Creed and then demonstrates how the OT contributes to an understanding of each theme; thus, illustrating how the OT directly influences Christian theology.As a scholarly reader of this work, I often found myself desiring more. I was eagerly awaiting Strawn to plunge into the depths of the scholarly discussion surrounding topics such as literary genre and the OT, the relationship between the old and new covenants, the nature of violence in the OT, and the sociocultural context of the OT. I had to remind myself that I was not the intended audience of this work. This work is tailored to nontechnical readers. However, this does not mean this book is not worth the time for scholars. Strawn models what it looks like to bridge the divide between the work of scholars and the concerns of the church successfully. He does not shy away from difficult topics, but he addresses them in a way that is very accessible to lay readers. This book would be a wonderful work for a church small group study or even in an undergraduate introductory course. To add to its accessibility, each chapter concludes with a clarification, that is, a summary statement correcting the mistruth. Each chapter also contains a set of well thought out discussion questions that serve to deepen the conversation and help readers engage with the material as they consider its implication in their own context.Throughout the book, Strawn’s distinct voice is clearly displayed. The book is colloquial and easy to understand. At times, Strawn can be bold in his statements; however, his genuine concern for the people of God and their relationship to Scripture, particularly the OT, is reflected throughout the entire work. Strawn’s concern for the formation of the people of God that is implicit throughout the book is explicitly brought to the front in the conclusion when he reveals what has been his secondary goal throughout this work, namely, to help Christians read the OT better so that it can properly inform their lives. To make this point clear, Strawn pulls from Loewen’s book again to make a statement about what the church needs with regard to its relationship to the OT. His statement is worth quoting at length; he states that the church needs “to produce Christians . . . who command the power of Scripture—the ability to use Scripture to inspire and legitimize our actions in the present. Then Scripture will seriously inform Christians as individuals and as a church, instead of serving as a source of weary clichés” (p. 107).2 This is a big undertaking that will not be accomplished with one book alone, but Strawn’s work takes a step toward that goal by effectively challenging some of the major mistruths that prevent Christians from allowing the OT to fully inspire their lives.