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The Divine Romance
Book by Edwards, Gene
Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
194 people are currently reading
1799 people want to read
About the author
Gene Edwards
134 books272 followersGene Edwards is one of America's most beloved Christian authors. He has published over 25 best-selling books, and his signature work, "The Divine Romance," has been called a masterpiece of Christian literature. He has written biblical fiction covering nearly the entire Bible, with titles that include the following: "The Beginning," "The Escape," "The Birth," "The Divine Romance," "The Triumph," "Revolution," "The Silas Diary," "The Titus Diary," "The Timothy Diary," "The Priscilla Diary," "The Gaius Diary," and "The Return."
Gene grew up in the East Texas oil fields and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated from East Texas State University at 18 with a bachelor's degree in English history and received his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gene is part of the house-church movement, and he travels extensively to aid Christians as they begin meeting in homes rather than in church buildings. He also conducts conferences on living the deeper Christian life.
Gene and his wife, Helen, reside in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two grown children.
Gene grew up in the East Texas oil fields and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated from East Texas State University at 18 with a bachelor's degree in English history and received his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gene is part of the house-church movement, and he travels extensively to aid Christians as they begin meeting in homes rather than in church buildings. He also conducts conferences on living the deeper Christian life.
Gene and his wife, Helen, reside in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two grown children.
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January 7, 2024
A beautiful and poetic portrayal of the significance and reality of the Church as Christ’s bride.
Unfortunately, Edwards makes some serious theological errors. The biggest of these errors, in my opinion, is the denial of God’s all-sufficiency.
With great artistic license (not all bad) at the book’s beginning, Edwards tells the story of the creation of Adam and Eve in God’s image. The story is told of how Adam found that “it is not good for man to be alone,” and so, God made Eve from his side.
So far so good, however Edwards then takes this “aloneness” of Adam and his need for a counterpart and applies it to God, saying that God is “alone” and even going to far as to say that “it is not good that God should be alone.”
Thus, begins redemptive history, of which the main goal, according to Edwards, is so that God may fashion Himself a bride and may no longer be alone anymore.
This is a major error because it disregards God’s triunity. Nowhere in the entirety of the book does Edwards mention the Trinity or the plurality of God in any sense.
God is triune. In one essence there are three distinct persons.
God is not alone. In Himself, He enjoys perfect community and self giving love.
Edwards implies that God created us so that He might have someone to love; but this is not true. Within the Godhead, the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father (John 15:9; 17:26), so He has no need of anyone else to love because His love finds full expression within Himself,
Therefore, if God is perfect and complete in and of Himself, all sufficient in love and community, then He does not need us.
Indeed, it is impossible that He could need us, for He made us and all that we are finds its origin in Him. Our ability to love and our desire for community and intimacy with others is a reflection of His perfect communion and intimacy in Himself. If God was “alone” in every sense of the word, without plurality, without community, and without any kind of relationship, then these things (community, relationships, love) could not exist at all because all things find their origin in Him.
God created us and redeemed us, not to fill some need of His, but as an expression of who He is. He is loving, merciful, and compassionate. His creating and redeeming us is an outflow, an expression of His nature that He might be seen and known and worshiped as He is.
Ok, and here is why this matters:
To say that God created and redeemed us so that He might not be alone anymore, first distorts our understanding of the all-sufficiency and glory of God, but it also lessens our understanding of His love for us.
If God needed us to make Him complete, to give Him someone to love, then at least part of His motive behind creating and redeeming us was self-serving, to get something from us that He needs.
But He doesn’t need us! And this is the glorious reality of His love, that He would redeem us at the cost of His own Son, NOT because He really needed a friend, but simply because He loves the unlovable and has compassion on the needy and broken.
Though we deserved judgement and wrath, we have been forgiven and ransomed from wrath by His own blood and are now welcomed into the very communion, love, and intimacy of God that He already enjoys in Himself! We become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), enjoying and participating in the perfect loving relationship of the Trinity!
All that to say, I can’t recommend this book, though it did make me think. I have several other theological issues with this book, but I’m tired of writing and I’m sure you are tired of reading! Thanks for reading my long rant!
Unfortunately, Edwards makes some serious theological errors. The biggest of these errors, in my opinion, is the denial of God’s all-sufficiency.
With great artistic license (not all bad) at the book’s beginning, Edwards tells the story of the creation of Adam and Eve in God’s image. The story is told of how Adam found that “it is not good for man to be alone,” and so, God made Eve from his side.
So far so good, however Edwards then takes this “aloneness” of Adam and his need for a counterpart and applies it to God, saying that God is “alone” and even going to far as to say that “it is not good that God should be alone.”
Thus, begins redemptive history, of which the main goal, according to Edwards, is so that God may fashion Himself a bride and may no longer be alone anymore.
This is a major error because it disregards God’s triunity. Nowhere in the entirety of the book does Edwards mention the Trinity or the plurality of God in any sense.
God is triune. In one essence there are three distinct persons.
God is not alone. In Himself, He enjoys perfect community and self giving love.
Edwards implies that God created us so that He might have someone to love; but this is not true. Within the Godhead, the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father (John 15:9; 17:26), so He has no need of anyone else to love because His love finds full expression within Himself,
Therefore, if God is perfect and complete in and of Himself, all sufficient in love and community, then He does not need us.
Indeed, it is impossible that He could need us, for He made us and all that we are finds its origin in Him. Our ability to love and our desire for community and intimacy with others is a reflection of His perfect communion and intimacy in Himself. If God was “alone” in every sense of the word, without plurality, without community, and without any kind of relationship, then these things (community, relationships, love) could not exist at all because all things find their origin in Him.
God created us and redeemed us, not to fill some need of His, but as an expression of who He is. He is loving, merciful, and compassionate. His creating and redeeming us is an outflow, an expression of His nature that He might be seen and known and worshiped as He is.
Ok, and here is why this matters:
To say that God created and redeemed us so that He might not be alone anymore, first distorts our understanding of the all-sufficiency and glory of God, but it also lessens our understanding of His love for us.
If God needed us to make Him complete, to give Him someone to love, then at least part of His motive behind creating and redeeming us was self-serving, to get something from us that He needs.
But He doesn’t need us! And this is the glorious reality of His love, that He would redeem us at the cost of His own Son, NOT because He really needed a friend, but simply because He loves the unlovable and has compassion on the needy and broken.
Though we deserved judgement and wrath, we have been forgiven and ransomed from wrath by His own blood and are now welcomed into the very communion, love, and intimacy of God that He already enjoys in Himself! We become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), enjoying and participating in the perfect loving relationship of the Trinity!
All that to say, I can’t recommend this book, though it did make me think. I have several other theological issues with this book, but I’m tired of writing and I’m sure you are tired of reading! Thanks for reading my long rant!
February 5, 2015
I don't know if Gene Edwards deliberately took theological liberties in this book in the name of allegory or if he agrees with all the points he seems to make in its pages. I guess I could have misinterpreted things, but the trouble with making allegory out of scripture is that it can be taken the wrong way, and that's dangerous when you're dealing with things of God.
From the first few pages, This book seems to suggest that to be made in the image of God equates with being male. This is certainly not how I read scripture. Also, there is the suggestion that God is singular. While God is one, certainly when I read the bible, even in its early stages, this oneness doesn't seem to be the kind of oneness that we, as humans, understand it, but a suggestion of multiple persons in one (a view commonly understood as the trinity). This is not supported in this allegory, especially when, skipping forward to Jesus' arrival on Earth, heaven seems empty of God when he arrives here. Since the bible records Jesus praying to his Heavenly Father while on Earth (and even once in this book), I think this is a position that is not supported in scripture either.
A minor point is that, while the author does say Mary Magdalene was possessed by demons (which is what the bible says) he makes her a prostitute as well, even though there is no suggestion in scripture that she and the woman who poured perfume on Jesus' feet were one and the same woman, even if they were both called Mary.
Theology aside, this book had an overabundance of flowery phrases and the author seemed to enjoy belabouring each point he made. Point of view was a bit skewed at times. Also, I'd like to point out that there is such a thing as the overuse of italics. Using it constantly renders it virtually ineffective, even annoying. Italics is used to excess in this book, particularly in the first few chapters.
This is definitely not a book I will be recommending.
From the first few pages, This book seems to suggest that to be made in the image of God equates with being male. This is certainly not how I read scripture. Also, there is the suggestion that God is singular. While God is one, certainly when I read the bible, even in its early stages, this oneness doesn't seem to be the kind of oneness that we, as humans, understand it, but a suggestion of multiple persons in one (a view commonly understood as the trinity). This is not supported in this allegory, especially when, skipping forward to Jesus' arrival on Earth, heaven seems empty of God when he arrives here. Since the bible records Jesus praying to his Heavenly Father while on Earth (and even once in this book), I think this is a position that is not supported in scripture either.
A minor point is that, while the author does say Mary Magdalene was possessed by demons (which is what the bible says) he makes her a prostitute as well, even though there is no suggestion in scripture that she and the woman who poured perfume on Jesus' feet were one and the same woman, even if they were both called Mary.
Theology aside, this book had an overabundance of flowery phrases and the author seemed to enjoy belabouring each point he made. Point of view was a bit skewed at times. Also, I'd like to point out that there is such a thing as the overuse of italics. Using it constantly renders it virtually ineffective, even annoying. Italics is used to excess in this book, particularly in the first few chapters.
This is definitely not a book I will be recommending.
August 1, 2019
This is a work of fiction that tells the story from God's perspective. From the very beginning when God created all that is, he longed to create a counterpart for himself because He was lonely. He created man (i.e., adam), in his image, but soon man was lonely and asked for a counterpart, which God made for him (i.e., Eve). God was still lonely.
Humanity fell from Grace but God still persued them to have a relationship with them, but after repeated failures on humanity's part to come back to God and connect with Him, God decided to come to earth and become man.
He comes as Jesus, to save humanity, by defeating sin and death and resurrecting their souls and fulfilling His ultimate plan.
This is a really simple outline of what is actually in this book. This is an extremely touching book, which shows God in a different light than what you might think. It stretches your imagination and certainly will help you feel closer to God. I found myself repeatedly saying, "Wow"...."Wow" LOL.
Humanity fell from Grace but God still persued them to have a relationship with them, but after repeated failures on humanity's part to come back to God and connect with Him, God decided to come to earth and become man.
He comes as Jesus, to save humanity, by defeating sin and death and resurrecting their souls and fulfilling His ultimate plan.
This is a really simple outline of what is actually in this book. This is an extremely touching book, which shows God in a different light than what you might think. It stretches your imagination and certainly will help you feel closer to God. I found myself repeatedly saying, "Wow"...."Wow" LOL.
March 2, 2017
I'm really debating whether this book deserves one star or two. I am the type who gives one stars for books that are morally bankrupt, and this book isn't. However, Edwards writing style is so painful to read, and so drawn out that I had to force myself to finish this book.
Also, his theology seems way off. God created us because he was lonely? Like so lonely he was depressed?!? In fact, I am really turned off by the picture of God in this book. He comes across as needy, lonely, depressed, and ... forlorn is the word I'm looking for.
Not an image of God that draws me closer to Him. However, there are enough glimpses into what the author was trying to accomplish, I just think his execution was terrible.
I am craving something theologically sound after reading this.
Also, his theology seems way off. God created us because he was lonely? Like so lonely he was depressed?!? In fact, I am really turned off by the picture of God in this book. He comes across as needy, lonely, depressed, and ... forlorn is the word I'm looking for.
Not an image of God that draws me closer to Him. However, there are enough glimpses into what the author was trying to accomplish, I just think his execution was terrible.
I am craving something theologically sound after reading this.
February 5, 2022
Overall, this is a fantastic work by Edwards. I have learned to appreciate this story-telling fictitious approach to help understand the story of scripture.
The treatment of the crucifixion in this book is packed with biblical substitutionary atonement and purposed with redemption.
My only hesitation with this book is that it almost appears to suggest that God created us because he was alone and needed to create us. Although Edwards doesn’t claim that God was “lonely”, his repeated use of the word “alone” could lead someone to believe that God needed us. I could be reading too much into it, but I believe it is due diligence to give a proper review.
The treatment of the crucifixion in this book is packed with biblical substitutionary atonement and purposed with redemption.
My only hesitation with this book is that it almost appears to suggest that God created us because he was alone and needed to create us. Although Edwards doesn’t claim that God was “lonely”, his repeated use of the word “alone” could lead someone to believe that God needed us. I could be reading too much into it, but I believe it is due diligence to give a proper review.
May 25, 2022
This book is an incredible picture of the God and His love for us through the span of time. It gave me a whole new perspective of who He is, and how He wants us to relate to Him- with love above all else. Out of his creation, we are the only creatures He has given the ability to love and have His Life within us. This is not the last time I’ll read this book.
March 8, 2011
A very difficult book to explain or to talk about. You really just have to read it.
February 25, 2012
As a novel this is a great book, but one that should not be taken out of the novel realm. The reader must not take the writing to represent the Christian God as revealed in Scripture. Nor the imagine of Angels to be taken as real nor what they say. I love his idea of Divine Romance and think there is a lot to be learned from the author. The famous poem "The Hound of Heaven" also talks of this Divine Romance. However one must not be confused in thinking what is written in this book is Scripturally correct, it is not. There is much liberty taken from scripture and so it could confuse some readers into thinking this is "Gospel" rather than a novel not fully based on Scripture.
The author portrays God as alone and yet Scripture says "Let US make Man in OUR imagine." God is plural not alone. Some would make that to mean the Trinity and the love flows back and forth between this "Our". So again as a novel the author can do what he wants but it doesn't work for Scripture. It is not my goal to offer my thoughts of God but to review the book with what Scripture tells us. Enjoy the book but don't confuse it as being a representation of the Scriptural God. And since according to scripture God is not the sad God floating around with no one to share love with, God in fact is love and joy even before man, so the whole premise of the book fails leaving the rest interesting but not representative of why God created man.
God told Mosses at the burning bush not to come any closer. We can only come so close to God and the rest is faith. An attempt by man, the author, to think like God, to think we can think like God and understand his thoughts will only produce rubbish. The Gospel tells us God's thoughts and ours are not even in the same ballpark. We simply are not wired for that sort of thinking. And to represent our understanding of what God thought at creation is not going to be even close either.
The author also ignores that God presented Man with other creatures as helpmates and man refused to accept any of them as his equal/partner. He even refused to accept God as his partner. Man would only accept himself as his equal/partner and so God separated Man so he could love himself. Thus the Divine Romance is more The Hound of Heaven.
There is much that could be said about Divine Romance but the author has made an assumption in the beginning of this book that is not scripturally sound and so what follows might be interesting but has no basis of fact. That is sad because I think the author has a great idea in this book, but based on misconceptions according to Scripture which means one must read it with caution and maybe a bible to refer to while reading it.
The author portrays God as alone and yet Scripture says "Let US make Man in OUR imagine." God is plural not alone. Some would make that to mean the Trinity and the love flows back and forth between this "Our". So again as a novel the author can do what he wants but it doesn't work for Scripture. It is not my goal to offer my thoughts of God but to review the book with what Scripture tells us. Enjoy the book but don't confuse it as being a representation of the Scriptural God. And since according to scripture God is not the sad God floating around with no one to share love with, God in fact is love and joy even before man, so the whole premise of the book fails leaving the rest interesting but not representative of why God created man.
God told Mosses at the burning bush not to come any closer. We can only come so close to God and the rest is faith. An attempt by man, the author, to think like God, to think we can think like God and understand his thoughts will only produce rubbish. The Gospel tells us God's thoughts and ours are not even in the same ballpark. We simply are not wired for that sort of thinking. And to represent our understanding of what God thought at creation is not going to be even close either.
The author also ignores that God presented Man with other creatures as helpmates and man refused to accept any of them as his equal/partner. He even refused to accept God as his partner. Man would only accept himself as his equal/partner and so God separated Man so he could love himself. Thus the Divine Romance is more The Hound of Heaven.
There is much that could be said about Divine Romance but the author has made an assumption in the beginning of this book that is not scripturally sound and so what follows might be interesting but has no basis of fact. That is sad because I think the author has a great idea in this book, but based on misconceptions according to Scripture which means one must read it with caution and maybe a bible to refer to while reading it.
March 31, 2023
Beautiful. Intimate. Romantic.
These words spring to mind as the author paints the heart of God as it could be.
In this lovely book, the author tells the story of God and of mankind, starting with creation and culminating with the Church being reunited with Jesus Christ when she is presented to Him as His bride.
Yet Gene's perspective is unique in that his focus is on God's yearning for a love relationship and on His loving actions in crafting this relationship by giving up of Himself.
Gene artfully tells the story of how Adam's loneliness before Eve prepared Him to have a piece of Himself removed to be fashioned into his mate which then returns to Him as the two become one flesh in marriage. He then paints the history of mankind as he traces God's preparation of mankind for becoming His bride. Gene reveals how the Church is formed from Jesus Christ in the same manner that Eve was formed from Adam. Yet as Eve became bone of Adam's bone and flesh of his flesh, since she was made from Adam's flesh and bone, Christians have become Spirit of His Spirit since our new birth is a result of His Spirit indwelling ours and giving it life.
Let me say that again in case you missed it.
God fashioned Eve from Adam by taking his flesh and bone and forming her into a new being. When she became his bride, Adam declares they are one again since she is bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. This is the beauty of the marriage relationship that God has instituted and ordained, that two become one. Yet God fashioned the church from Jesus Christ by taking His Spirit and placing it inside of each believer so that the deadness of their human spirit could spring to life in Christ. This makes us one spirit with Jesus Christ, and all who are indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ are part of His Church, and are little versions of Him, so that we are called Christians. Yet even more beautifully, we are His bride since we were fashioned from Him and for Him so that we can have a loving, passionate relationship with God Almighty through His Son, Jesus Christ who bought us with His blood and who fashioned us with His own Spirit.
This is true love. This is true romance. This is true passion. ...and we can partake in it by surrendering to Him and by becoming a part of Him.
Wow. Five thumbs up.
Feel the passion. Seek Jesus Christ. Fuel your desire by reading Gene's book.
Video review at... https://youtu.be/-tiC854sykM
These words spring to mind as the author paints the heart of God as it could be.
In this lovely book, the author tells the story of God and of mankind, starting with creation and culminating with the Church being reunited with Jesus Christ when she is presented to Him as His bride.
Yet Gene's perspective is unique in that his focus is on God's yearning for a love relationship and on His loving actions in crafting this relationship by giving up of Himself.
Gene artfully tells the story of how Adam's loneliness before Eve prepared Him to have a piece of Himself removed to be fashioned into his mate which then returns to Him as the two become one flesh in marriage. He then paints the history of mankind as he traces God's preparation of mankind for becoming His bride. Gene reveals how the Church is formed from Jesus Christ in the same manner that Eve was formed from Adam. Yet as Eve became bone of Adam's bone and flesh of his flesh, since she was made from Adam's flesh and bone, Christians have become Spirit of His Spirit since our new birth is a result of His Spirit indwelling ours and giving it life.
Let me say that again in case you missed it.
God fashioned Eve from Adam by taking his flesh and bone and forming her into a new being. When she became his bride, Adam declares they are one again since she is bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. This is the beauty of the marriage relationship that God has instituted and ordained, that two become one. Yet God fashioned the church from Jesus Christ by taking His Spirit and placing it inside of each believer so that the deadness of their human spirit could spring to life in Christ. This makes us one spirit with Jesus Christ, and all who are indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ are part of His Church, and are little versions of Him, so that we are called Christians. Yet even more beautifully, we are His bride since we were fashioned from Him and for Him so that we can have a loving, passionate relationship with God Almighty through His Son, Jesus Christ who bought us with His blood and who fashioned us with His own Spirit.
This is true love. This is true romance. This is true passion. ...and we can partake in it by surrendering to Him and by becoming a part of Him.
Wow. Five thumbs up.
Feel the passion. Seek Jesus Christ. Fuel your desire by reading Gene's book.
Video review at... https://youtu.be/-tiC854sykM
January 19, 2013
This is a fiction book which shares the love story of a God with his people but closer than that His love story with me .The story unravels beautifully like a play before your eyes as you get to see and hear conversations between Angels , of people through the ages as you catch a glimpse of Gods heart through the centuries . This is the best love story ever written in my view and it will compel you to the very heart of God as you become undone by his love for you .
August 10, 2022
Beautiful story of God's desire for a people, His Bride. Written from the angels perspective from beginning to eternity throughout the ages.
"And who is this girl? Do you not yet know. You are that girl. "
"And who is this girl? Do you not yet know. You are that girl. "
August 6, 2011
It is the most beautiful love story ever told...
March 27, 2016
This book was mostly just a big mess; I bought it at a garage sale, and I still feel like I wasted my money.
August 8, 2022
The way this book was written really does capture you. Wow. I cried. God is so good that he would die for us and cleanse us even before we were a thought. 😭
August 20, 2018
A good read of the vastness and power of God, but there is one theological issue that the book implies that is incorrect. The story implies that God is missing something, that there is a need that can only be completed by his "counterpart." That we are to fill that void in him. But this is untrue. Yes he desires us and yes we are conpleted in him, but God is perfect, we cannot "fix" any part of Him. God does not need us, we need Him
August 20, 2009
Gene Edwards has such insight and revelation into the mysteries of God and such a poetic, yet clear and concise way of bringing them to the page. I love the imagination mixed with truth in this story of the ultimate love of God for me.. His Bride.
May 14, 2013
Some really classy writing, but the premise of a lonely God looking for a counterpart, takes the imagery of Christ and the Church to a perilous extreme. The end result is a colossally unedifying read.
December 2, 2010
Awesome book.
May 16, 2021
As per request, here is my review of The Divine Romance. I'll be honest, this is almost a 1 star. It's clinging to 2 with the tips of its fingernails. It's a fast read, but not a good one.
This book is a Protestant (evangelical) retelling of Creation, Christ's Crucifixion, and the End of Time. It's written from God's point of view (note that, please) and attempts to give His perspective on all of these events. It's heavily influenced by Milton and loosely attempts the same style of storytelling via poetry, only modernized. The core concept is seeing all of history as a love story, and the events of the Bible are recast in that light.
Ok. Bear with me here, there's a lot to unpack. I'll be as succinct as I can. My issues fall into two broad categories: the theological and the literary.
I'm not even going to address the theological discrepancies between this book and what I understand of Eastern Orthodox theology, because that wouldn't really be fair. It's not an Orthodox book, it's not written from that background nor for that audience (although, even for a Protestant book, the lack of focus on the Virgin Mary is REALLY weird), so I can't expect it to check out there. But, putting all of that aside and just looking at it generally, it has a huge, huge gaping theological issue which is: the lack of recognition of God as Triune. I cannot express enough how glaring this is for a Christian book. It pays lip service to the concept of God as Triune, but it writes and expresses God as One and only One Person. It then goes on to cast Him as lonely and looking for a mate, hence He created the world. This is *not* the Christian narrative, I don't care what background you're from. It makes God out to deficient and needy, basically breaking the concept of Him as perfect and self-sufficient. Creation becomes less of an expression of Him and more as a thing He needs to try to figure out how to get it to meet His needs. This is basically making God out to be no different than a really powerful human, and that's not at all how the Bible describes Him. The God in this book is way too simple, almost naïve and childish. His depth and "other"-ness is completely lost.
Furthermore, this book is written *from God's perspective*. This made me wildly uncomfortable. The author takes huge creative liberties by "getting into God's head" and describing His thoughts and feelings, putting words into His mouth, etc. That's really dangerous ground to walk on, especially given the fact that God says in the Scriptures, "My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts", i.e. He is beyond our human ability to comprehend. The writers of the early Church trembled in fear to describe God because they knew it was beyond us, and that it's all too easy to fall into error (and even insanity) by letting your own feeble imagination basically "make up" what God is like. But this author doesn't even hesitate to do just that, and I really was not ok with it. That's sacred ground. A Christian author really shouldn't go there, especially to this extent.
I have many other theological issues (i.e. Christ fulfilled the Law, He didn't destroy it; God instituted the temple worship, not man; the Ascension does not happen in the way the book describes, and that's important; the author has a really weird idea of how love to God should be expressed; don't even get me started on the end of the book and the "consummation" scene; etc.), but the two above are biggest, most glaring issues to me. I also took huge issue with how he talked about God's "essence" being viewed by angels and then being put into humanity, but obviously this guy never read the Philokalia, and I honestly don't think he understands exactly what the traditional view of "essence" means (and when you basically cut the Holy Spirit out of the book, you are left with a difficulty in describing Christian regeneration so....he wrote himself into a corner there).
On a literary note, I, again, have two massive issues with this book. First, and this is going to seem nit-picky but I promise it isn't, he NEEDS to stop using ellipses for EVERYTHING. I cannot even tell you how often ellipses are used in this book. God is forever....pausing...in the middle of...every sentence...multiple times...throughout...the...book. There were so many times when this actually detracted from the drama and poetry of the work and made it really frustrating to read. The writing style became overly dramatic and absurd with its abundance of ellipses, to the point where it was hard to even take it seriously.
Second, and this is far more important, if I wasn't a Christian and didn't have a pretty good understanding of the Bible, this book would make literally no sense. At all. It assumes a LOT of the reader's knowledge of Scripture, and yet seems to be written for an evangelistic use? Entire segments of the Christian narrative are missing, which are essential for understanding what the heck is even going on. For instance, part one begins with God creating the world, making Adam then creating Eve, follows Adam and Even finding each other and falling in love, and then it jumps to part 2 which starts with Moses leading the Israelites trough the desert. WHOA! That is a MASSIVE leap! The Temptation in the Garden is totally skipped, the entire creation of Israel as a nation is skipped, David isn't mentioned AT ALL, the Incarnation (aka the birth of Christ) is only alluded to, we only meet maybe 3 of the 12 disciples, the Last Supper and Judas are totally skipped, as is Pentecost and the actual beginning of the Christian Church (we go straight from the Resurrection to the End of the World). Ok, look, all of these pieces are fundamental not just theologically but narratively! Like, how is ANYONE suppose to understand why on earth Christ is dying on the Cross when you only briefly mention that humanity is in trouble? Why is Jerusalem so important when you've skipped over the entirety of its history? Who the heck is Lucifer?? Is he Satan? How did Death become a thing? If all I had was this book to guide me, I'd have no clue! Nothing God does would make any sense because this book just doesn't talk about it! It makes huge leaps of logic that make sense when you're a Christian who's studied this your entire life, but it makes absolutely NO sense to ANYONE else! I would never just hand this book to someone who wasn't Christian. I wouldn't even hand it to a new believer! Unless you were raised in the church and have that narrative basically memorized, this book, from a literary perspective, is nonsensical. The plot is a train-wreck.
Ok, so, believe it or not, I did like a few things in this book which saved it from the dreaded 1-star rating. I liked the premise (God is love), despite the horrid application. I liked the concept of time at the Crucifixion. I liked the symbolism of Mary Magdalene representing the Church/Bride (but, again, why her? Why not the Virgin Mary? Especially if you're going to say Mary Magdalene was the first to really "love" God, but then totally ignore His actual mother who was with Him the entire time too? Like...c'mon). I liked the interaction of the angels (but I'm not sure it's 100% "Mother Alexandra approved", and, for me, she's pretty much the authority on angels, but this book's depiction of them was fun if nothing else). I liked the IDEA of what this book was trying to do. Just not its execution.
Honestly, the author should've just gone with allegory. Rewrite this entire thing as a fantasy allegory, and it would work a million times better, and you could avoid the theological pitfalls. I do not recommend this to anyone, Christian or not. Even to my Protestant friends: just steer clear. It's not helpful, it's annoying and uncomfortable to read, and there's better stuff out there for everyone.
This book is a Protestant (evangelical) retelling of Creation, Christ's Crucifixion, and the End of Time. It's written from God's point of view (note that, please) and attempts to give His perspective on all of these events. It's heavily influenced by Milton and loosely attempts the same style of storytelling via poetry, only modernized. The core concept is seeing all of history as a love story, and the events of the Bible are recast in that light.
Ok. Bear with me here, there's a lot to unpack. I'll be as succinct as I can. My issues fall into two broad categories: the theological and the literary.
I'm not even going to address the theological discrepancies between this book and what I understand of Eastern Orthodox theology, because that wouldn't really be fair. It's not an Orthodox book, it's not written from that background nor for that audience (although, even for a Protestant book, the lack of focus on the Virgin Mary is REALLY weird), so I can't expect it to check out there. But, putting all of that aside and just looking at it generally, it has a huge, huge gaping theological issue which is: the lack of recognition of God as Triune. I cannot express enough how glaring this is for a Christian book. It pays lip service to the concept of God as Triune, but it writes and expresses God as One and only One Person. It then goes on to cast Him as lonely and looking for a mate, hence He created the world. This is *not* the Christian narrative, I don't care what background you're from. It makes God out to deficient and needy, basically breaking the concept of Him as perfect and self-sufficient. Creation becomes less of an expression of Him and more as a thing He needs to try to figure out how to get it to meet His needs. This is basically making God out to be no different than a really powerful human, and that's not at all how the Bible describes Him. The God in this book is way too simple, almost naïve and childish. His depth and "other"-ness is completely lost.
Furthermore, this book is written *from God's perspective*. This made me wildly uncomfortable. The author takes huge creative liberties by "getting into God's head" and describing His thoughts and feelings, putting words into His mouth, etc. That's really dangerous ground to walk on, especially given the fact that God says in the Scriptures, "My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts", i.e. He is beyond our human ability to comprehend. The writers of the early Church trembled in fear to describe God because they knew it was beyond us, and that it's all too easy to fall into error (and even insanity) by letting your own feeble imagination basically "make up" what God is like. But this author doesn't even hesitate to do just that, and I really was not ok with it. That's sacred ground. A Christian author really shouldn't go there, especially to this extent.
I have many other theological issues (i.e. Christ fulfilled the Law, He didn't destroy it; God instituted the temple worship, not man; the Ascension does not happen in the way the book describes, and that's important; the author has a really weird idea of how love to God should be expressed; don't even get me started on the end of the book and the "consummation" scene; etc.), but the two above are biggest, most glaring issues to me. I also took huge issue with how he talked about God's "essence" being viewed by angels and then being put into humanity, but obviously this guy never read the Philokalia, and I honestly don't think he understands exactly what the traditional view of "essence" means (and when you basically cut the Holy Spirit out of the book, you are left with a difficulty in describing Christian regeneration so....he wrote himself into a corner there).
On a literary note, I, again, have two massive issues with this book. First, and this is going to seem nit-picky but I promise it isn't, he NEEDS to stop using ellipses for EVERYTHING. I cannot even tell you how often ellipses are used in this book. God is forever....pausing...in the middle of...every sentence...multiple times...throughout...the...book. There were so many times when this actually detracted from the drama and poetry of the work and made it really frustrating to read. The writing style became overly dramatic and absurd with its abundance of ellipses, to the point where it was hard to even take it seriously.
Second, and this is far more important, if I wasn't a Christian and didn't have a pretty good understanding of the Bible, this book would make literally no sense. At all. It assumes a LOT of the reader's knowledge of Scripture, and yet seems to be written for an evangelistic use? Entire segments of the Christian narrative are missing, which are essential for understanding what the heck is even going on. For instance, part one begins with God creating the world, making Adam then creating Eve, follows Adam and Even finding each other and falling in love, and then it jumps to part 2 which starts with Moses leading the Israelites trough the desert. WHOA! That is a MASSIVE leap! The Temptation in the Garden is totally skipped, the entire creation of Israel as a nation is skipped, David isn't mentioned AT ALL, the Incarnation (aka the birth of Christ) is only alluded to, we only meet maybe 3 of the 12 disciples, the Last Supper and Judas are totally skipped, as is Pentecost and the actual beginning of the Christian Church (we go straight from the Resurrection to the End of the World). Ok, look, all of these pieces are fundamental not just theologically but narratively! Like, how is ANYONE suppose to understand why on earth Christ is dying on the Cross when you only briefly mention that humanity is in trouble? Why is Jerusalem so important when you've skipped over the entirety of its history? Who the heck is Lucifer?? Is he Satan? How did Death become a thing? If all I had was this book to guide me, I'd have no clue! Nothing God does would make any sense because this book just doesn't talk about it! It makes huge leaps of logic that make sense when you're a Christian who's studied this your entire life, but it makes absolutely NO sense to ANYONE else! I would never just hand this book to someone who wasn't Christian. I wouldn't even hand it to a new believer! Unless you were raised in the church and have that narrative basically memorized, this book, from a literary perspective, is nonsensical. The plot is a train-wreck.
Ok, so, believe it or not, I did like a few things in this book which saved it from the dreaded 1-star rating. I liked the premise (God is love), despite the horrid application. I liked the concept of time at the Crucifixion. I liked the symbolism of Mary Magdalene representing the Church/Bride (but, again, why her? Why not the Virgin Mary? Especially if you're going to say Mary Magdalene was the first to really "love" God, but then totally ignore His actual mother who was with Him the entire time too? Like...c'mon). I liked the interaction of the angels (but I'm not sure it's 100% "Mother Alexandra approved", and, for me, she's pretty much the authority on angels, but this book's depiction of them was fun if nothing else). I liked the IDEA of what this book was trying to do. Just not its execution.
Honestly, the author should've just gone with allegory. Rewrite this entire thing as a fantasy allegory, and it would work a million times better, and you could avoid the theological pitfalls. I do not recommend this to anyone, Christian or not. Even to my Protestant friends: just steer clear. It's not helpful, it's annoying and uncomfortable to read, and there's better stuff out there for everyone.
September 2, 2025
I'm confused as to why this book is controversial when it's being marketed as fiction and not non-fiction. Have we forgotten the meaning of fiction? I hope not!
I first came across this book on Anna Miriam Brown's instagram page and was immediately intrigued. Not only is the cover stunning but the premise is interesting. I had to pick it up.
The way Edwards personified the dynamic between man and God in this fictional narrative was breathtakingly beautiful. I almost shed a tear. So poetic and touching. (Just remember that this is fiction while you're reading it, otherwise you will lose the joy of it.)
The writing had me in awe. I wish I could just write pages of his book here for you all to see but I shouldn't. Here's a glimpse however:
'The carpenter's body was now engulfed in the purity and holiness of this light. His corpse seemed to disappear in a furnace of liquid radiance. Or had it only changed?
Eternal Life has poured out the total content of its power and, in the midst of that explosion, the form of flesh had been swallowed up by an eternal and death-less body. A body as spiritual as the Spirit was now blazing from within him!
Now came a thunderous shout... from within the tomb!
"I am alive!" '
Doesn't that just capture your attention?
Ps. The italics didn't bother me.
I first came across this book on Anna Miriam Brown's instagram page and was immediately intrigued. Not only is the cover stunning but the premise is interesting. I had to pick it up.
The way Edwards personified the dynamic between man and God in this fictional narrative was breathtakingly beautiful. I almost shed a tear. So poetic and touching. (Just remember that this is fiction while you're reading it, otherwise you will lose the joy of it.)
The writing had me in awe. I wish I could just write pages of his book here for you all to see but I shouldn't. Here's a glimpse however:
'The carpenter's body was now engulfed in the purity and holiness of this light. His corpse seemed to disappear in a furnace of liquid radiance. Or had it only changed?
Eternal Life has poured out the total content of its power and, in the midst of that explosion, the form of flesh had been swallowed up by an eternal and death-less body. A body as spiritual as the Spirit was now blazing from within him!
Now came a thunderous shout... from within the tomb!
"I am alive!" '
Doesn't that just capture your attention?
Ps. The italics didn't bother me.
August 26, 2020
In the Divine Romance, Gene Edwards starts with the beginning...well the beginning of creation showing God and His majesty. He walks us through God creating this world including mankind, the struggle man (must have) endured realizing he was along. The love of God is highlighted not only in the creation of woman, to be a companion to Adam, but throughout God's plan to save man from the penalty of their sin. Gene Edwards enjoys adding a little more narrative to the story to help bring it to life and make the reader realize this is a real story. This can be good, drawing empathy but this can also be dangerous setting up a narrative that can cause false ideas and possibly theology. If you are looking for theology, then you probably are not reading Gene Edwards; however, if those who desire to relate more to the people in the Bible...this may be more you style. The 3 stars are due to some liberties he took at the beginning regarding creation; however, the overall thrust of the story is great 0 God loving and pursing His rebellious creation.
May 31, 2020
If you are lost, afraid, broken, searching, yearning, shattered, confused... If you are wanting to see Jesus in true form... if you are hungry for knowledge... for LOVE... Read this.
I cannot pray enough that more people read this book. It changed me. I needed this so much.
Jesus loves YOU. He made YOU--nothing we do, become, say, or change... nothing can change His love for us. He died for us. His love for us is TRULY the greatest love story of all time.
I cannot pray enough that more people read this book. It changed me. I needed this so much.
Jesus loves YOU. He made YOU--nothing we do, become, say, or change... nothing can change His love for us. He died for us. His love for us is TRULY the greatest love story of all time.
August 2, 2022
This book really grew on me the more I read it. Obviously not intended to be a theology book- but it gave word pictures to help me understand the deepness of the amazing mysteries of God hidden in Christ.
June 11, 2019
Wow. What a read for the soul. I’m not 100% on the theology, but I’m not sure my own theology is 100% accurate either. Beautifully written.
August 19, 2022
Captures glory and angels in powerful story telling. By far the most interesting way of describing the Bride of Christ.
February 15, 2023
i always cry at the end of these books.
June 25, 2023
I picked up this book after reading the tale of three kings. I liked that one much better than this one. I understood the concept, felt it lacked something.
October 7, 2023
An awesome book!
This is so well written and much like beautiful poetry. I read this about thirty years ago and fell in love with Jesus even more than before. I highly recommend it.
This is so well written and much like beautiful poetry. I read this about thirty years ago and fell in love with Jesus even more than before. I highly recommend it.
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September 22, 2024Wow. Highly recommend. Such an eye opening thing to re-imagine different biblical scenes.
February 25, 2025
I want to read this again out loud. Spectacular beautiful amazing top book
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