The Story: Encounter the Story of Scripture in a Whole New Way

by Anonymous

Crack open a Bible and you're likely to find (a) Guidelines for living (b) Answers to life's deepest questions (c) Endless lists of people you've never heard of (d) An incredible story about a God who offers hope to a messed up world. 'Incredible story' isn't always the first thing that comes to mind when you attempt to read through the entire Bible. Maybe you've tried, only to get lost among obscure genealogies and ancient dietary laws. Maybe you don't have a clue where to begin. Christianity is a story about God and the remarkable lengths he goes to in order to rescue lost and hurting people. The Story gives you just that---the story of Scripture. Condensed into 30 accessible chapters, it reads more like a novel than your typical religious text. And like any good story, The Story is filled with intrigue, drama, conflict, romance, and redemption.

Genres: Religion

444 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2005

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[H.J. Swinford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been on the search for a Bible much like this: chapter/verse less, but not The Message translation. Thus far this is best I've come across. I love the concept of reading the Bible this way, and I find it quite refreshing. It is, for the most part, chronological (i.e. the "by faith" scriptures that are found in Hebrews are actually in Genesis with the stories they talk about and stuff). Some of the problems I have with it, though, is a great deal of the Abraham and Jacob stories it summarized instead of giving us a number-less version of the whole text. These between text summaries tend to be aimed at a younger reading audience and make a higher level of studying, like my own, a little challenging. I believe they could offer much more insight into the scripture than they do. I am not finished yet, and am still curious as to how it deals with the remainder of the Old Testament as well as the New.

So far, though, I find this a great recommendation for Christians of a younger age who love reading, they would find this translation most appealing. I still hope to find a Bible like this that is not so much aimed at the younger Christian, but the older.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I LOVE about this is how it brings all the stories of the Bible together. There were a lot of OT connections I was able to make that I had missed previously (ie same characters showing up in multiple books, etc). This is kind of a 25K foot view of the stories in the bible.

What made I missed was some of the details in some of my favorite stories... but that isn't the point of this edition. The goal is to get an overall view of what the bible is all about as a cohesive plot/ story... which makes this is a great read!

So glad our church has been working through this with the congregation. Looking for an intro to Bible or a different view on the Bible story? Pick this one up!

[Christian Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this edition of the bible. my only complaint is that the little summaries that are in between chapters of the actual biblical text are not exactly doctrinally neutral... they tend to be very one-sided philosophically and doctrinally. but i usually skip the summaries anyway.

a very approachable way to read scripture, if you are like me and prefer to read the entire text rather than having it chopped up into little confusing chucks of verses.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this version of the bible. Its good for those who would like to read the bible in chronologically order. It is very easy to understand because it is written in modern english from the new international versions of the bible. The only problem is as i read trough it it seems like this is stuff omitted. But non the less makes reading through the bible less tedious. Which is what a few people trying to read through the bible consider it. Recommended if you just want the main gist.

[Tom Leary]

While I've begun reading this book a few time, I keep losing interest. At some point I'll get through it, but I'd have to recommend The Message instead.

[Ellen Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting way to read the Bible--more like an actual storybook and much easier to read and comprehend.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the story of the Bible but written in an easy way to understand, especially the Old Testament.