Product Description

From the story of the Creation to the defeats and triumphs of the Children of Israel to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, here are the greatest stories from the greatest book ever written-presented in a masterful, accessible translation by a distinguished poet and scholar.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #535247 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-01
• Released on: 2001-11-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

A well-structured review of the Biblical narrative.
For those moderately familiar with the Bible, this book provides a well-structured review of key stories along with some critical commentary. The table of contents alone is a valuable survey tool, allowing the reader to see the scope and flow of the narrative and find stories and review their details. It's strength is in conveying the flow of history as seen through the authors of scripture. It does not pretend to give a sense of the development of the legal or ethical norms, and law and prophets are not strongly represented. However, it definitely serves a worthy purpose in renewing our familiarity with Biblical stories and characters and their context in the Bible.

a readable "Bible"
Despite the Nancy Drew title, "The Bible's Greatest Stories" appears to have been thought out and well researched, being translated as much as possible from hebrew/greek texts. The text is clear and appears accurate, based on my cursory cross-checking with King James. Most importantly, it's exciting and a page-turner--attributes your plain-jane Bible isn't likely to possess.

Roche has included nearly every piece of the bible that could be sensibly called "a story". Not included are psalmy songs, long levitician legal lists, or "so and so begat who and who begat so on and so on". The story-laden old testament gets more attention than the new (the book ends with St. Paul shipwrecked in Malta, as described in Acts). The four gospels are condensed into a single, easy to follow version.

I've wanted to read the bible for a long time and every attempt has failed within a few dozen pages, due to boredom. This book made me more familiar with the bible than I ever expected to become. I've heard the old "Tom Jones" movie described as "Fielding without the waffle." If you like, "The Bible's Greatest Stories" is God's Word without the "waffle".

ok, 2 and 1/2 stars really...
i got through about half of this. i've read many outlines/paraphrases in this biblical vien. don't read this poorly written book.