Customer Reviews

Drama of Scripture, The: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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This is a marvelous book that everyone in the church would benefit from reading! Written by two professors at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, it tells the whole biblical story from Genesis to Revelation as a drama in six acts with an interlude in the middle. In the first three "acts" God establishes his kingdom (creation), there is rebellion in that kingdom (the Fall), and God through Israel initiates redemption. In the interlude (the "intertestamental period") God's kingdom story waits for an ending. Then the story is completed with the coming of the King (redemption accomplished), the spread of the news (the church's mission), and the return of the King (redemption completed). What is marvelous about this book is that it is written so creatively without cliches so the reader sees the biblical story as if for the first time. The authors are convinced that most people read the Bible as a mere jumble of history, poetry, lessons in morality and theology, comforting promises, guiding principles, and commands. They never realize that the Bible is fundamentally coherent and challenges the "idols" of modern culture. This book deserves a place in everyone's library.

The Drama of Scripture" (213 p.) by Bartholomew and Goheen is an excellent read! I don't know much about Bartholomew but Michael Goheen did his dissertation on the missional ecclesiology of Lesslie Newbigin who is really the father of missional theology and has been very influential to many of the emerging church leaders. This book was designed for an intro course in Biblical Theology. The authors want the reader to become familiar with the storyline of Scripture, and help articulate a biblical worldview to live out as God's sent people. They write, "The Drama of Scripture tells the biblical story of redemption as a unified, coherent narrative of God's ongoing work within his kingdom (11)." They argue for a narrative reading from Genesis to Revelation. It is similar to a popular form of Dempster's "Dominion and Dynasty." Scripture should form our metatnarrative. They use the theme of kingdom to structure the book in 6 acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption Initiated, (Intertestamental Period), Redemption Accomplished, The Mission of the Church, and Redemption Completed.
They basically walk through the storyline of Scripture, with an eye to missional living throughout. I highly recommend this book! The chapter on the intertestamental period was very insightful for setting the background of the Jews and the coming of Christ. I also appreciated the emphasis on inaugurated eschatology, and the emphasis on the cosmic scope of redemption. 5 out of 5.
Quotes:
"Furthermore, the kingdom of God has arrived in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Two great figures stand at the entrances to two worlds: Adam stands at the gate of the old world, Jesus at the gate of the new. Adam's first sin inaugurated the old age and brought sin, death, and condemnation. Now in Jesus a new day of righteousness, life, and justification has come (Romans 5:12-21). If we are 'in Adam', we are part of the old age and under its sway. But if we are 'in Christ', we are part of the age to come and can already experience God's life-giving power" (189)
"If our lives are to be shaped and formed by Scripture, we need to know the biblical story well, to feel it in our bones. To do this, we must also know our own place within it--where we are int the story" (197)
"Salvation is not an escape from creational life into 'spiritual' existence: it is the restoration of God's rule over all of creation and all of human life. Neither is salvation merely the restoration of a personal relationship with God, important as that is. Salvation goes further: it is the restoration of the whole life of humankind and ultimately of the nonhuman creation as well" (199)
For similar theology and outlook, see N.T. Wright's article on how the Bible can be authoritative (they have been greatly influenced by his work), Dempster's book, Robert's book God's Big Picture, and Hoekema's book The Bible and the Future.

The Drama of Scripture provides a big-picture look at God's relationship to humanity as the creation and dream of God. The authors analogize the Biblical story to a 6 act play consisting of the following acts: Creation, Fall, God Chooses Israel, Coming of the King, Spreading the News (Church), The Return of the King.

The theme running through the book is God's desire and commitment to his original creation idea and his willingness to restore the fallen world through a personal sacrifice.

The authors follow the narrative of scripture from Genesis to Revelation with the addition of the Maccabee story in Israel's history. They offer some in depth writing on few topics while offering a comprehensive survey of the story promoted as the metanarrative for all people. They tie in the events to the theme of God's mission for humanity.

This overview of scripture would be helpful to readers trying to see the story of the Bible in a more condensed form. It reminded me of the mission of the church today, as the authors stress the unfinished business of the church and God's Spirit on earth. The chapters on the church's mission are most creative and enthusiastic; however, the authors zip through the concluding chapter on The Return of the King and the discussion of Revelation and end times.

The authors stress that God's plan is for total restoration of creation not partial restoration. They identify areas where Israel went astray from its mission and where the church may be missing the mark today.

Overall, a very helpful book but one that may be too elemental for mature students of the Bible.

Shakespeare On Spirituality: Life-Changing Wisdom from Shakespeare's Plays

I enjoyed this book and am currently using it my Biblical Theology course at seminary. It builds largely off N.T. Wright's model of a 5 act play, but adds the 6th act of New Creation. It's a really good book that traces many big themes right throughout the Bible (Covenant and Kingdom are the main two). But at times it does little more than restate the story of the Bible rather than wrestle with the implications of it. There is only so much a book like this can cover without becoming a multivolume academic work. On the whole for some new to the idea of seeing scripture as one coherent story this would be the perfect introduction. But if you have already read the likes of Goldworthy's "According to Plan" or Strom's "Symphony of Scripture" there is little that is new.

This book is excellent. The texts takes its reader through the story of Scripture as a large play full of characters and a director.

Bartholomew and Goheen's perspectives on God at work with His people is very inspiring. I have gained many great insights from their theological perspectives but also I have gained a "bigger picture" of the story of God's actions through history.

I have already recommended this book to several people and highly recommend more to read it. God has been at work at restoring his creation for all time. This book really helps a reader grasped that.

As an added bonus, the authors include many theological and historical insights along the journey of the play. These have been helpful to grasp more of what God is doing with man.

DEFINITELY READ IT!

This little volume provides an excellent overview of the biblical narrative for those who have not yet been exposed to the cosmic-redemptive style reading of men like N.T. Wright. The authors offer a way of viewing the Bible as one continuous narrative from start to finish.

The book essentially tells the story of Scripture from beginning to end, emphasizing the idea of God redeeming all of creation through acts in history. This telling provides a helpful context for understanding the place of believers in world history, past and future.

The only downside is that the authors do not appropriately address the many judgement passages in Scripture. They briefly mention judgement at the end of time (only one sentence!) but focus almost exclusively on the more "positive" aspects of redemption. This is certainly not a fatal flaw, but in a book that attempts to lay out the entire narrative of Scripture, you would expect more explanation of the many judgement passages found in the prophets, apocalypses, and gospels.

Despite its neglect of the issue of judgement, this book is an excellent introduction to reading the Bible as one continuous story. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about how to read the Bible... especially if he/she intends to go to seminary or Bible college.

the bible is way more than a big book of isolated verses to claim for helping oneself spiritually. the bible is the "story" of God's unfolding plan of redemption throughout history, from creation in genesis, and it's fall into sin, and then climaxing in the new creation vision of revelation ch. 21 and 22. This wonderful book shows this story from start to finish and shows how the biblical story of God's salvation unfolds and holds together. This book has some truly eye opening material about what the bible is all about, it should be required reading for anyone wanting to understand the bible according to the bible's own thematic structure. Don't miss this one!

I had to read a this book for a Bible class and absolutely loved it! The book paints the entire story of scripture in a way that is easy to comprehend while still showing the majesty of God's story. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a basic introduction to the Bible.

The Drama of Scripture is a solid book on biblical theology that traces the main themes of Covenant and Kingdom throughout Scripture. The six act structure made the book easy to follow and the writing was a straightforward read following the Biblical story line. If you are new to reading Biblical theology this book would be a great place to begin. It is not overly technical and provides the reader with a good understanding of the metanarrative (big picture) to help you understand the whole of Scripture. The believers place in God's story was touched upon to some degree, but was easily seen through deduction in other sections. The last emphasis was on missions and the future hope was of great encouragement.

A very scholarly yet readable book that was brilliantly crafted to give us a picture of the story of God and where we are in it. I came across this book after reading somewhere that Rob Bell uses it in his church in Michigan.

This book is fantastic and will paint a picture of our role as Christ followers and what we can hope for in Christ's return.

I highly recommend this book.