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

"Here is a book whose time has come. Bartholomew and Goheen have produced a brief, accessible presentation of the entire biblical story that highlights both the unity of Scripture and its profound cultural relevance today. For readers who think of the Bible as a succession of unrelated devotional fragments geared primarily toward individual morality and spirituality, this book will come as a salutary shock, a reminder that the Christ-centered canonical Scriptures constitute a coherent Word of God that challenges the underlying religious direction of Western civilization. Based on deep and wide scholarship, but engagingly written for a broad audience, The Drama of Scripture promises to be an indispensable tool for the many Christians who have been awakened to God's call for serious cultural engagement, in the name of Christ, with a post-Christian world in thrall to the idols of both modernism and postmodernism."

"This book is an intelligent, engaging overview of the narrative of Scripture in six acts. Bartholomew and Goheen have produced a clear and theologically sensitive account of the Bible that is perfect for college students or adult Bible study groups."

"In The Drama of Scripture, Bartholomew and Goheen provide a Christian reading of the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation. They do so in a way designed to remind contemporary Christians that they too inhabit that same story and are meant to live inside it, continuing the works and words of Jesus in today's world. The result is a challenge to reappropriate the Scriptures as a basis not only for church and theology but also for life itself."

"This brief yet penetrating and riveting overview of the Bible's dramatic message of creation, fall, and redemption--from Genesis to Revelation--will become a must not merely for students beginning theological studies but for all who wish to see the biblical forest rather than merely its trees."

"The rediscovery of the significance of story is one of the most important recent insights in biblical interpretation. This masterly book is a fine introduction for the aspiring student, combining evangelical commitment to the normative authority of Scripture with a deep understanding of modern scholarship. Bartholomew and Goheen have provided a fine service to the Christian community by opening up the story of the Bible in a way that can be lived in today's world."

"The Drama of Scripture is a model of biblical scholarship, integrating sound critical methods with a disposition of faith that is open to the revelation of the living God through his Word. This engaging book opens up for students the panoramic vision of the Bible that has been obscured by centuries of confessional battles and has been fragmented by Enlightenment rationalism. It succeeds in rendering the biblical world truly habitable, thus bridging the gap between the Bible and Christian experience."

"Nothing could be more necessary for the teaching of Scripture and the understanding of Christian theology than a command of biblical grand narrative. In this introductory text, Bartholomew and Goheen make it possible for students to situate fragmentary knowledge of the Bible within a coherent view of the canonical Scriptures--that larger story that both forms and, when central to living memory, unites the church."

"The Drama of Scripture is just what we would expect, and need, from the partnership of an accomplished biblical scholar and a noted missiologist. This is an entre into the grand sweep of God's story told with a keen eye for Christian formation and the mission of God's people. Though Bartholomew and Goheen are obviously in conversation with relevant scholarship, their narrative is uncluttered and disarmingly transparent in its invitation for us not only to grasp but also to be grasped by the big story of God's project."

"Bartholomew and Goheen do a masterful job of presenting the Bible as an organic whole. They powerfully demonstrate how the themes of covenant and the kingdom of God provide a coherence for Scripture that helps the reader make sense of its varied parts. I enthusiastically recommend this book as a university-level textbook, but all who want to enrich their understanding of the account of God's redemptive plan will benefit from reading it."

"This is a vivid introduction to reading the Bible as a coherent story of God's purposes for the world. It will not only help the new reader but also enable the experienced reader to distinguish the central themes of Scripture from mere sidelights."

"Much recent scholarship has emphasized the narrative quality of Scripture. This book takes that insight and brings it to life, enabling even the beginner to grasp the sense of Scripture as a single great story--a drama in which we are all invited to play a part. I am delighted to see solid scholarship made easily accessible in this splendid fashion."