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God as Author: A Biblical Approach to Narrative
God as Author takes a thoughtful literary approach to understanding the Gospel. Gene Fant writes in the preface:
“Most of us have heard that Christ is ‘the Author and Finisher of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2), so it makes sense that the Gospel would be God’s story. As many a church message board has noted so succinctly, ‘History is His Story.’ In our easy discussions of special revelation, I cannot help but wonder if we have missed something awe-inspiring that may be revealed by a reversal of the lens that we turn toward narrative. Perhaps the Gospel is not just like a story; perhaps story, narrative in general, is like the Gospel. My clear conviction is that something stands behind the power of narrative. In fact, I believe that Someone stands behind it. There is an Author whose skill and grace imbues the broad range of the stories that we tell. There is a Father who gave us a story to help us understand our place in this world, a story that points back to Him. His story is, in many ways, the only story that we know. When we use that realization as a foundation for interpreting and generating narrative, it changes everything, including ourselves.”
“Most of us have heard that Christ is ‘the Author and Finisher of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2), so it makes sense that the Gospel would be God’s story. As many a church message board has noted so succinctly, ‘History is His Story.’ In our easy discussions of special revelation, I cannot help but wonder if we have missed something awe-inspiring that may be revealed by a reversal of the lens that we turn toward narrative. Perhaps the Gospel is not just like a story; perhaps story, narrative in general, is like the Gospel. My clear conviction is that something stands behind the power of narrative. In fact, I believe that Someone stands behind it. There is an Author whose skill and grace imbues the broad range of the stories that we tell. There is a Father who gave us a story to help us understand our place in this world, a story that points back to Him. His story is, in many ways, the only story that we know. When we use that realization as a foundation for interpreting and generating narrative, it changes everything, including ourselves.”
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 22, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 29, 2015
We thought that there was no better time than January to begin the book God as Author. The start of the new year ahead brings to mind a fresh beginning to a new page in a the storybook of our lives. Gene C. Fant Jr.’s “God as Author” explores how viewing God as Author can give us fresh insights into yet another aspect of His Godhood. God reveals Himself as our Father, our Provider, Counselor, but also the often forgotten facet of Author. (Hebrews 12:2)
The book’s initial pages begin with a thought provoking quote regarding our loss of grandeur in life.
“This is in fact, the blessing and the curse of adulthood: we know the and many of the answers, but we forget about the aesthetic component that possesses the power to move us so powerfully.”
We are lost in minutia to the point where we forget to take a step back to appraise God’s story with awe.
God as Author is chock-full of literary beauties such as Beowulf and Hamlet, as well as respectable apologetic and theological figureheads such as Allister McGrath, Nancy Pearcey, Francis Schaeffer and many others. This book is perfect for any lover of literature, theology, or someone who simply wants to find more joy in reading. The book contains plentiful sources and generous footnotes which we thoroughly appreciated.
Each chapter has such wonderful gems of truth that we have broken down some of our favorite key thoughts to share. You can read more of the review in its entirety here: http://inkblotsofanidealist.com/a-ref...
The book’s initial pages begin with a thought provoking quote regarding our loss of grandeur in life.
“This is in fact, the blessing and the curse of adulthood: we know the and many of the answers, but we forget about the aesthetic component that possesses the power to move us so powerfully.”
We are lost in minutia to the point where we forget to take a step back to appraise God’s story with awe.
God as Author is chock-full of literary beauties such as Beowulf and Hamlet, as well as respectable apologetic and theological figureheads such as Allister McGrath, Nancy Pearcey, Francis Schaeffer and many others. This book is perfect for any lover of literature, theology, or someone who simply wants to find more joy in reading. The book contains plentiful sources and generous footnotes which we thoroughly appreciated.
Each chapter has such wonderful gems of truth that we have broken down some of our favorite key thoughts to share. You can read more of the review in its entirety here: http://inkblotsofanidealist.com/a-ref...
Want to Read
September 10, 2019This book was added to my to-read after I stumbled on the following review....
http://inkblotsofhope.com/a-reflectio...
...the conclusion of which is...
"God as Author will have you wanting to dust off the classical literature on your shelf, appreciating the written word with greater fervor than you possibly ever have had prior, as well as piquing your interest even more with God’s own narrative. Fant widens our eyes to a worldview we may have not considered: viewing narratives with the creation-fall-redemption model that can be found in stories on the page, to a play, to movies, and TV. Once you read this book, you will never explore narrative stories the same."
http://inkblotsofhope.com/a-reflectio...
...the conclusion of which is...
"God as Author will have you wanting to dust off the classical literature on your shelf, appreciating the written word with greater fervor than you possibly ever have had prior, as well as piquing your interest even more with God’s own narrative. Fant widens our eyes to a worldview we may have not considered: viewing narratives with the creation-fall-redemption model that can be found in stories on the page, to a play, to movies, and TV. Once you read this book, you will never explore narrative stories the same."
March 28, 2024
Worst book I've read in my life, and I have read a lot of books. It's written like a high school essay instead of a novel. If I weren't a Christian, this book would push me farther away from Christ. The sentences are difficult to follow and confusing. It seems as though Gene Fant is trying to show of his "writing skills" rather than making the book easy to understand and enjoyable to the reader. I do not recommend.
December 5, 2018
Helpful at times, but perhaps a bit short-sighted in terms of God and literature. Will float some people's boats, will run dry for others.
July 2, 2015
Hermeneutics is the science if you will of interpretation. It engages in the process of understanding literary texts, specifically in reference to applying the message and overall intent of the author. When it comes to Scripture, the process of proper hermeneutics is vitally important. Furthermore, recognizing the manner by which God reveals to us His truth through the medium of narrative writing can bring to bear on our lives those biblical truths as well as to help us grasp how narrative as a whole impacts everyday life.
This is perhaps a perspective many have not focused on. The typical approach of hermeneutics is to analyze issues such as genre, history, theology, word meanings, and things along those lines. Those are certainly valuable and necessary pieces to understanding the Bible and its message. With that said, do we take the time to step back and look at narrative, noting the overall flow of the story and how that flow weaves its way through the text and into our lives through application. Gene Fant in his book God as Author: A Biblical Approach to Narrative, walks the reader through the process of looking at the overall story of Scripture, specifically the genre of literary narrative.
Anyone who might be fearful that Fant is suggesting what is in Scripture is nothing more than good stories with valuable moral application can set aside those fears and that is not Fant’s approach. Fant rightly notes concerning literary narrative (i.e. stories) that “stories communicate truth in ways that are unparalleled, in part because stories are “sticky”: we remember them in ways that we do not retain other forms of communication. This quality explains why narratives have influenced human thought so directly for millennia.”
In fact, we perhaps often forget the world of the Bible was an oral culture. Additionally, God commanded His people to talk about these things with their children at all times. What were “these things”? They were of course the command of God that outline what it means to love God and others, but “these things” also included relaying to each subsequent generation the stories of what God had done, is doing, and has promised to do for His people. That process takes place through literary narrative, the relaying of stories that are intended to stick and implant themselves firmly in one’s memory in order for those events to be told again and again and again without any important detail being left out.
If there was one statement by Fant I appreciated most in this book it was this:
“Readers tend to fracture the biblical story in ways that disconnect each narrative unit from the remainder of the entire Story. There are many stories contained in the Bible, but there is only one primary Story told by the Bible: that of God’s glory as revealed in His justice and loving-kindness towards His creation. Each of the stories it contains contributes to our understanding of the overarching redemptive Story.”
This necessary focus on the scarlet thread of redemption story that weaves its way from Genesis to Revelation is absolutely vital. Fant reminds the reader that as we examine literary narrative in Scripture, we have to constantly pay attention to the many ways God keeps bringing the individual stories back to the underling story of redemption. If we stray from that constant thread, the thread begins to unwind and the tapestry/mosaic of Scripture becomes opaque rather than what God intended, a beautiful picture of His redemptive purposes towards His people.
Literary narrative is something we need to pay attention to and better understand. Fant does an excellent job of examining how God tells His story and how we can not only recognize that story of redemption, but more importantly, ways in which we can apply the stories of Scripture to our lives based on a proper understanding of how the individual stories connect to the whole. In turn, we can them read and write from a redemptive perspective.
This is a very helpful and informative book. I appreciated Fant’s focus on the importance of the story fo redemption and how we can better understand how Scripture declares that story in all its various components. While important to understand, equally valuable is finding ways to apply that redemptive truth in what we read and how we write – basically what comes into our minds and what comes out of our minds.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
This is perhaps a perspective many have not focused on. The typical approach of hermeneutics is to analyze issues such as genre, history, theology, word meanings, and things along those lines. Those are certainly valuable and necessary pieces to understanding the Bible and its message. With that said, do we take the time to step back and look at narrative, noting the overall flow of the story and how that flow weaves its way through the text and into our lives through application. Gene Fant in his book God as Author: A Biblical Approach to Narrative, walks the reader through the process of looking at the overall story of Scripture, specifically the genre of literary narrative.
Anyone who might be fearful that Fant is suggesting what is in Scripture is nothing more than good stories with valuable moral application can set aside those fears and that is not Fant’s approach. Fant rightly notes concerning literary narrative (i.e. stories) that “stories communicate truth in ways that are unparalleled, in part because stories are “sticky”: we remember them in ways that we do not retain other forms of communication. This quality explains why narratives have influenced human thought so directly for millennia.”
In fact, we perhaps often forget the world of the Bible was an oral culture. Additionally, God commanded His people to talk about these things with their children at all times. What were “these things”? They were of course the command of God that outline what it means to love God and others, but “these things” also included relaying to each subsequent generation the stories of what God had done, is doing, and has promised to do for His people. That process takes place through literary narrative, the relaying of stories that are intended to stick and implant themselves firmly in one’s memory in order for those events to be told again and again and again without any important detail being left out.
If there was one statement by Fant I appreciated most in this book it was this:
“Readers tend to fracture the biblical story in ways that disconnect each narrative unit from the remainder of the entire Story. There are many stories contained in the Bible, but there is only one primary Story told by the Bible: that of God’s glory as revealed in His justice and loving-kindness towards His creation. Each of the stories it contains contributes to our understanding of the overarching redemptive Story.”
This necessary focus on the scarlet thread of redemption story that weaves its way from Genesis to Revelation is absolutely vital. Fant reminds the reader that as we examine literary narrative in Scripture, we have to constantly pay attention to the many ways God keeps bringing the individual stories back to the underling story of redemption. If we stray from that constant thread, the thread begins to unwind and the tapestry/mosaic of Scripture becomes opaque rather than what God intended, a beautiful picture of His redemptive purposes towards His people.
Literary narrative is something we need to pay attention to and better understand. Fant does an excellent job of examining how God tells His story and how we can not only recognize that story of redemption, but more importantly, ways in which we can apply the stories of Scripture to our lives based on a proper understanding of how the individual stories connect to the whole. In turn, we can them read and write from a redemptive perspective.
This is a very helpful and informative book. I appreciated Fant’s focus on the importance of the story fo redemption and how we can better understand how Scripture declares that story in all its various components. While important to understand, equally valuable is finding ways to apply that redemptive truth in what we read and how we write – basically what comes into our minds and what comes out of our minds.
I received this book for free from B&H Academic and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
March 10, 2016
I picked this book up off a table of free books a few years back. I was expecting a book on biblical narrative. What I got was a surprise, but a good one. The author addresses the overarching biblical narrative and how that gospel narrative shapes human narratives. His theological background and depth of literary knowledge make this book an interesting read from beginning to end. It will shape the way I read narrative fiction.
March 6, 2015
A very good treatise on the pervasiveness of the Biblical restoration narrative in literature (and elsewhere!) and prescriptions for Christian readers and writers to carry out into the world. Has the potential to change the way you think about how and why stories are so powerful.
Want to Read
December 4, 2017Read a review here.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews