Story
August 28th, 2012. Filed under: Tuesday's Tempting Reads.Storyteller Recaptures the Mystery of the Ancient Scriptures
Author Steven James leads readers to (re)experience the greatest story ever told.
James, a professional storyteller from East Tennessee, grew up in the church but fell in love with Jesus at age 21 on Easter Sunday at his bosses’ church. “Easter is a love story; I’d never realized it before, but I had to experience the entire Christian story to be truly moved and changed by it,” he says.
Through 30 short chapters, James retells key elements of the Christian story-from Adam and Eve in the Garden, to the Israelites plea for freedom and the love/hate struggles between humans and God in the Old Testament. Story illuminates Jesus miraculous birth and daring ministry on earth, building to the “rising terror” of the crucifixion and rediscovery of freedom following the resurrection.
A Story Unlike Any Other
At one point, James paints the brutal murder of Able in the Old Testament through the eyes of his brother Cain. He views Jesus dancing and turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana through the testimony of the bewildered bride. At another, he writes as a frightened onlooker as Jesus struggles to carry his cross to Golgotha, and captures the chaos sweeping through the Holy Land following the resurrection. All the while, James relates the events of the Bible to life on Earth today.
“I’m thankful Jesus didn’t come to start another religion. Jesus didn’t arrive on earth to debate theology but to propose marriage. In a very real spiritual sense, God is courting us. Christianity is wild. It’s intimate. It’s heartbreaking and soul-mending,” writes James.
However, James believes the real meaning of Easter has been lost somewhere in the last 2,000 years. “The bunny has stolen the rabbi and stolen the show,” James writes. “Easter has evolved into just another nice, harmless, spineless, little holiday…when it’s supposed to be about a wrestling match between life and death, a cosmic struggle between good and evil.”
James invites readers to meet Jesus again-or for the very first time. “It’s all one story. And only when you finally untangle it, see it unfold, and enter it for yourself do you realize that the story has finally entered and at last untangled you,” James writes
ISLAND BREEZES
This book is much different from Steven James books I’ve read previously. I certainly didn’t expect to need that box of tissues while reading the introduction, but the beauty of it caused tears.
Steven James can’t be boxed into any one genre. This is the old story made new from beginning to end.
Read this book and heed it’s message. Your soul will rejoice.
***A special thank you to Donna Hausler for providing a review copy.***
Critically acclaimed author Steven James has written more than thirty books, including his bestselling Patrick Bowers series. One of the nation’s most innovative storytellers, Steven developed his skill as a performer at East Tennessee State University (MA in storytelling). Steven is a much sought after speaker for writing conferences and seminars around the world. He lives in Tennessee with his wife and three daughters.
Available August 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.