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

Zondervan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2005

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. At its most basic level, 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 thirty 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.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (February 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310923719
• ISBN-13: 978-0310923718
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #219,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best choice., August 2, 2005

By 

Finding Amanda - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Story: Encounter the Story of Scripture in a Whole New Way (Hardcover)

While one admires the intent behind Zondervan's abridged version of the Bible, i.e., to introduce the Bible and the story of salvation to those who find the complete text too intimidating, they went too far in their editing. For example: Melchizedek is mentioned only as a priest and Abram's exchange with him is not at all explained and their conversation is completely omitted; the account of God's covenant with Abram omits completely Genesis 15.12-20; the account of God's visitation to Abraham and Sarah, Abraham's intercession, and the the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is also completely omitted.

If one is looking for a abridged or condensed version of the Bible a much more excellent choice is Tyndale House's "The Bible In Brief." It is less expensive and follows the same approach using the text of The Living Bible, and lacks the omissions of "The Story." Walter Wangerin's "The Book Of God," while actually a novel, is also useful as a means to introduce someone to God's story of redemption. Though being a novel it is written in the author's own words interspersed with passages of Scripture as opposed to using primarily the actual biblical text as the "The Story" and "The Bible In Brief" do.

Finally, an excellent paraphrase of just the Gospels can be found in Daniel Partner's "The Story Of Jesus: A Portrait of Christ from the Gospels."

58 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Chronological Bible I've seen, May 2, 2005

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Story: Encounter the Story of Scripture in a Whole New Way (Hardcover)

This is Today's New International Version of the Bible organized not by book and verse but as one seamless story from beginning to end. One of the difficulties for many people who study the Bible is the fact that it is not organized chronologically but the historical books often cover the same period (i.e. 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles) or are organized by the length of the book (major prophets vs. minor prophets) or other ways. This is a unique way of presenting the complete Bible story that brings pattern and structure to all the disconnected stories we tend to learn in church.

Others have taken the Bible and organized it into chronological order before but generally they have produced a paraphrased story and not a translation. What makes this book unique is that they have retained the translation so it is still a good study Bible. I recommend The Story as the best chronological Bible available today because it stays as true as possible to being a translation that has just had the chapters and verses reorganized to make it a single story.

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a curiously abridged book, August 9, 2007

By 

R. Ormsby (Newport Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Story (Paperback)

In hopes of gaining a better understanding of the Bible, I borrowed this book from a friend. Upon reaching page 24, I took a break from reading it through to check its contents against an actual Bible.

I find it a little odd that they left out the disturbing story of Genesis 19 by saying "Lot made some bad decisions"(direct quote). Also, there's none of that interesting bit about Noah's sons seeing him passed out drunk and naked, and Genesis 11 about the tower of Babel isn't in there. These were all omitted within the first 24 pages, and the remaining stories are all about God "offering hope to a messed up world" (as the back of the book states.)

This book blatantly leaves out all the bits that don't promote its cause of telling "a story about God and the remarkable lengths he goes to in order to rescue lost and hurting people" (also from the back of the book.) I understand they can't fit a whole teeny-print Bible into it, but that doesn't justify warping the Bible to make it a satisfying read for people craving stories only of God's love and mercy.

I wouldn't recommend picking this up if you expect a nice, accessible version of the Bible like I did. This book is worth reading solely for those who don't mind a lot of censorship and desire only a very general overview of "the story."