Godstories: New Narratives from Sacred Texts

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Summary: The inherent dangers of modern day translations of the Bible
Review: Many inherent dangers are present when a man, far less than anything great, tries to take the inspired word of God and put his own twist on it. For thousands of years, the Bible has stood alone as the most influential piece of literature in history. Entire civilizations have been based off of the teachings of this book. Believed to be the inspired word of God, the Bible takes historical events, people, and ideas and uses them to explain and make an example of the only way to live a righteous life. Hundreds of parables, short stories, songs, prayers, and poems fill the pages of the Bible. The one redeeming quality in all of these literary devices is that they all become one of two things: either the teachings of God, or the praises of God, by man. There is a lesson to be learned on every page of the Bible that clearly relates to modern-day ideas and beliefs. Just as we do today, men and women in Biblical days faced trials and temptation that, more often than not, proved how human people really are. From the fall of Adam and Eve in the beginning to tales of the fall of all mankind in the end, the Bible paints an accurate picture of man's deficiency and God's proficiency. It is for this reason, I can't understand why people continue to take it upon themselves to try to relay this holy message in terms more suiting to themselves. Is it that they believe that God only had the words to relate to people before the twentieth century? Is their rational that "since we have cars, computers, and television, people aren't interested in things of the past. We have everything we need right here, right now." How wrong we are. It's this idea that God's word doesn't stand by itself that has in the past, and will again, bring about the fall of mankind.

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Summary: Wonderful for those familiar or unfamiliar with the Bible.
Review: Shoemaker's book is a much needed addition to all the books about persons in the bible and the nature of the biblical narrative. I am using it in a college course and the great majority of students reading and writing about Shoemaker's book find between it's covers an invitation to the humanity, humor, and grace available in the stories of the Bible. Shoemaker has taken a traditionally Jewish style of storytelling and enriched the resources of all persons for hearing and understanding the stories in the Bible. Sometimes the familiarity with Biblical stories and "how they turn out" keeps people from hearing the call to new ways of being in the world. Shoemaker takes off the layers of "foreignness" and provides a threshold to the Bible for those who have studied it before and those who have not.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful for those familiar or unfamiliar with the Bible.
Review: Shoemaker's book is a much needed addition to all the books about persons in the bible and the nature of the biblical narrative. I am using it in a college course and the great majority of students reading and writing about Shoemaker's book find between it's covers an invitation to the humanity, humor, and grace available in the stories of the Bible. Shoemaker has taken a traditionally Jewish style of storytelling and enriched the resources of all persons for hearing and understanding the stories in the Bible. Sometimes the familiarity with Biblical stories and "how they turn out" keeps people from hearing the call to new ways of being in the world. Shoemaker takes off the layers of "foreignness" and provides a threshold to the Bible for those who have studied it before and those who have not.

Rating:
Summary: quality storytelling
Review: Stephen Shoemaker continues the work he began in the sadly out of print work Retelling the Biblical Story (a casualty of the Baptist Holy War)-taking the stories of the primary characters of the Bible and retelling them so a Biblically illiterate church can hear and absorb them. By inviting us to hear the story again he invites us to hear God again. Well worth the money

Rating:
Summary: quality storytelling
Review: Stephen Shoemaker continues the work he began in the sadly out of print work Retelling the Biblical Story (a casualty of the Baptist Holy War)-taking the stories of the primary characters of the Bible and retelling them so a Biblically illiterate church can hear and absorb them. By inviting us to hear the story again he invites us to hear God again. Well worth the money