The Book of God: The Bible as a Novel Paperback – 8 Feb. 1998

This book is written from the perspective of the characters in the Bible and how they might have felt. This is not a substitute for the Bible by any means. The stories need to be known from a proper translation. What it does do, however, is make you look at the stories from different angles and makes you begin to think about how you might have reacted had you been there. I bought it as an occasional help in sermon preparation.

Many years ago I read the Bible retellings of David Kossoff and loved them. Wangerin here retells the stories in his very own, unique way and I must admit he had my total attention throughout. I simply thought these were very well done; better, in fact, than the laborious read of the original text.Top marks to Wangerin for this. Absolutely loved it and no doubt will be reading it for a second time very soon. Five stars easily.I hope you find my review helpful

My wife and I are studying theology and are looking at the story of the Old Testament and the Bible as a whole. The book is really well written, thoroughly enjoyable and so helpful in bringing the stories to life. Would recommend this book to anyone wanting to get to know the Bible better...

This is a interesting book - which seeks to present the 'story' of the Bible as a novel. In effect, it's the novelisation of the Old and New Testaments. It's written in a style that's intended for adults, and it is on the whole an engaging read. It's a fairly large book - at over 800 pages. This, of course, is a consequence of the fact that the Bible is an immense publication (the King James version is over 1,100 pages, with small font - see Holy Bible: King James Version (KJV) (Bible Kjv)). The author, Walter Wangerin, has adopted an imaginative approach - with parts of the Bible being expressed, in-story, as ancient tales. Yet it's nonetheless told in a sincere manner - aimed at a 'faithful' readership.While I enjoyed reading this book, I do think that the author tends to focus more on certain parts of the Biblical story than others. Some elements are covered very briefly (no doubt because they presented difficulties when trying to portray them within a novel). And, at times, the story is told in a far too simple - often literate - manner, e.g. when Jesus was confronted by the Devil during his 40 days of wandering around. Many aspects of the Bible are highly complex and require sophisticated interpretation - and to gloss over these complexities is to do a disservice to the theologians who's struggled to understand the meaning of the source materials.As such, I recommend this book as an 'introduction' to the Bible - as a fictionalised account of the basic storyline. But it should be remembered that as a novel, this book is simplifying the Bible.

the Old testament stories do tend to get a bit tedious, but then they are; but the author makes even some of these stories compelling and page turners. Some of the stories are omitted, The Story of Esther for instance.excellent read, however, and made interesting and understandable.

Read this years ago and have lost the book, so ordered as a kindle. Great way to read the stories of the Bible from start to finish. Really enjoyed it.

You must remember that this is written as a novel and don't confuse this with the authentic inspired word of God. BUT, to read the events of the bible as a story is a wonderful way of seeing the bible and God's continuing love and redemptive work in progress. You see the reality of Man/Israel's continual fall from grace and God's unwavering and unmerited patience and grace.Yes the bible tells all this but most frequently we dip into just parts of it for lessons or even if we read it through from beginning to end the books are not structured chronologically so it can be difficult to see the story unfolding.Anyway I thought it great

I've read this book before but wanted my own copy. Loving reading it again. Brings some parts to life and makes me think.