Biblical Outlaws: What the Bible's Most Despised Characters Can Teach Us

By Anthony B. Pinn

A revelatory exploration of how the Bible's underdogs, outlaws, and forgotten figures can teach us radical new ways of living

In this unprecedented book, a secular humanist and celebrated scholar of religion tells the stories of the Bible's most marginalized figures, challenging readers to reconsider who are the heroes of the text, and who are the villains. What happens when such figures as Lot's Wife, Job's Wife, Nimrod, "Doubting" Thomas, and the cursed disciple Judas take center stage? What happens if the Bible is read to privilege the margins of life, where the most socially questionable and ignored are found?

In asking and answering these questions, Anthony B. Pinn finds important lessons in the hidden corners of scripture, in the dark places, and among the despised figures who have a troubled relationship with a troubling world. Freeing these figures to offer their version of events, this book encourages a reading of the Bible against the Bible. What results are surprising new ways for readers to imagine the world and their place in it. Pinn argues that there are life-affirming lessons to learn from these marginalized figures. Something important about our humanity, the fragile nature of life, is illustrated not by the Bible's heroes but by those we tend to forget or discredit.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300283490
• ISBN13: 9780300283495
• Release Date: June 2026
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 192 Pages