Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0310200059, Hardcover)

The Bible as a Single, Powerful Story. Here is the entire story of the Bible, narrated by master storyteller Walter Wangerin Jr. Reading like a great historical novel, The Book of God dramatizes the sweep of biblical events, making the men and women of this ancient book come alive in vivid detail and dialogue. From Abraham wandering in the desert to Jesus teaching the multitudes on a Judean hillside, The Book of God follows the biblical story in chronological order. Priests and kings, apostles and prophets, common folk and charismatic leaders--individual stories offer glimpses into an unfolding revelation that reaches across the centuries to touch us today. Wangerin recreates the high drama, low comedy, gentle humor, and awesome holiness of the Bible story. Imaginative yet meticulously researched, The Book of God offers a sweeping history that stretches across thousands of years and hundreds of lives, in cultures foreign and yet familiar in their common humanity. History and fact take on personality and warmth. Wangerin shows you human hands--Abraham raising the knife over his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, a priest offering incense in the temple at Jerusalem, Joseph the carpenter at work with his tools. He shows you human faces--Moses and Aaron face-to-face with the king of Egypt, Mary smiling like a white rose, and Jesus laughing with a Samaritan woman. Gardens, humble homes, olive groves, palaces, temples, and the hills of Judea shining in the afternoon sun--Wangerin makes the places where the events of the Bible took place come to life in the imagination. Wangerin helps you understand what it was like for each person to be caught up in the events of a particular time and place--a time and place where the eternal God somehow reached out and touched ordinary men and women. The book of God is no ordinary book. Written by a born storyteller, it is the magnum opus of one of the most respected and beloved authors of our time.