I’ve only read the preface so far, but this new book from B&H looks exciting.
The preface opens with a parable, of sorts, about someone taking a class on Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. Instead of studying the whole story, individual episodes and themes from the book are focused on and analyzed. The student benefits greatly from the class’s attention to these selected episodes and themes, but never bothers to read the whole story.
The point, of course, is that this is the way that the Bible has been taught for a long time–without reference to the meta-narrative. So Preben Vang and Terry Carter have given us Telling God’s Story: The Biblical Narrative from Beginning to End.
The story related in the preface includes an account of the first two questions on the final exam: “Retell the story of Tom Sawyer in your own words from beginning to end,” and “What is the purpose of the story?”
If you can’t retell the story of the Bible in your own words from beginning to end, or if you’re not sure of its purpose, this book is for you.