The Book of Books: The Bible Retold

‘A good try. Could do better’ – a familiar enough comment on many a school report, and one which bears repeating for Book of Books. As a book which ‘gathers together the ancient writings from the Bible, the book of the Christian Faith’ it is a good try. Gone is the large format, hardback book with pictures of golden angels on the cover so familiar in books of Bible stories, and in its place is a hefty paperback at very reasonable cost, so that while sometimes mixing language and length of story appropriate to different age groups between school years 4 and 7, it is nonetheless a good read.

It is certainly comprehensive, covering stories, prophecy and poetry from the Old Testament and stories and letters from the New Testament – indeed, a good try (and in stories of Old Testament characters such as Elijah, and New Testament stories about Jesus, an excellent try). But it could do better. The fundamental problem with a book of this nature is that in the retelling of the stories, the author is tied not only to the original text but to his interpretation of the text. It is clear that the author takes a liberal position sometimes at odds with the received text, surprising in a book published by Lion. It is not just that Goliath was said to be hit in the leg by David’s slingshot, but an absence of the tent-temple during the 40-year wilderness wanderings, the existence of Deutero-Isaiah, Jonah walking to Nineveh, a non-mention of the virgin birth of Christ and a refusal to co-ordinate the birth stories … and so on; but then no two Bible scholars would agree on every point. There are inaccuracies too where God is made to speak from beside the Ark of the Covenant instead of from above it, where Thomas is missing from the disciple-group on Easter Sunday night because he is said to be at Golgotha, and where the point about the difference between absolute-love and friendship-love is totally missed from the story of Jesus’ resurrection meeting with Peter at the Sea of Galilee … and again, ‘and so on’. It might be worthwhile waiting for a revision of what is a good try when Lion and Trevor Dennis can manage it.