The Drama of Scripture by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen

This is the latest book to be handed out by the Bishop of Winchester, and is the homework before a Diocesan conference in September. 

The premise of the book is simple – that there is a single over arching [meta] narrative to the Bible.  It is not enough to read parts of the Bible in isolation without at least a sense of the context of the whole “story”.  This is hardly a radical idea, although (as with last year’s book by Tom Wright) the authors seem convinced that this will rock our world…

Having set out this approach the bulk of the book is a retelling of the Bible with a focus on its unifying story.  There is nothing wrong with this – there are one or two points when there is a particular theological interpretation I might question – but in general it is a solid account.  I think that this would be of value to those considering confirmation (or equivalent step) – that is someone who is not completely fresh to Christianity, someone looking to deepen and consolidate their understanding. 

However call me an evangelical if you must, but I do always have a nagging feeling that in the vast majority of cases people would still be better off reading the Bible rather than reading a book about the Bible.

What is the purpose of this book in the context of our Diocesan Conference?  I think it is to encourage a different approach to outreach – for must of the 20^th Century mission has been about imparting the truth of the Christian faith (the search for the Historical Jesus and all that).  However the 21^st Century “post-moderns” have only limited interest in hearing the “facts” about Christianity and an accumulation of facts win never add up to a decisive argument – what matters to them is whether the “story” make sense, and make sense of the world.  The book does make that point – however personally I didn’t need to read this book to arrive at that conviction!

Alongside this we were also given “Hope – the heartbeat of mission” which is a source book of ideas for mission.  It labours its own “radical” notion, that social action and mission are a single activity rather than mutually exclusive.  It identifies three steps, One – connecting with your community, Two – sharing the Gospel in words, Three – giving opportunities to respond.  This is all well and good, and it has lots of great ideas for steps One and Two.  However all it offers under step Three is running an Alpha course (ok that is unfair – it does suggest as an alternative if you want to do something “different” running a Christianity Explored course!).  Really? Is Alpha the only format they could think of for response – and what does it say that Alpha is the third and seemingly final step?