by Jim Miller
NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible
Thomas Nelson Publishers (December 1, 2009)
Maybe at this point, a week from Christmas, you have run out of gift ideas. I have a suggestion for that reader on your list: you might want to drop by your local bookstore and see if you can locate a copy of the NKJV Greatest Stories of the Bible, an heirloom-bound anthology of 250 of the most remarkable stories ever told, straight from the Bible.
About this time every year people begin making their lists of New Year’s resolutions. Some have resolved that the time has come for them to finally read the Bible through, cover-to-cover, during 2010. But if life proves anything, most of these resolves will enthusiastically begin on New Year’s morning, breeze through all the electrifying stories in Genesis only to get midway through Exodus and bog down at those often-strange and antiquated laws and ordinances of ancient Israel that stretch for the next 3½ books. By the time they get to the Book of Numbers and all those “begats,” they will, as thousands before them have, renege on their resolution and their Bible will likely end up unopened on their end table for the rest of the year. Thomas Nelson Publishers may have found a solution to this perennial and collective attention deficit disorder in their newly released “Greatest Stories” in which they have compiled the more extraordinary narratives straight from the holy writ (i.e., the New King James Version).
I think we often miss the point that the Bible was originally written for the purpose of being read aloud in congregational settings. As such, one of the major strengths of “Greatest Stories” is its dedication to the Bible’s narrative literary style that makes it worth reading on a regular basis and just as enthralling today as it was to ancient audiences. The book contains action stories like Joshua at Jericho, Gideon’s battle with the Midianites, and David’s duel with Goliath; love stories such as Ruth and Boaz and Mary and Joseph; mysteries like Abraham and Isaac and the theft of the Ark of the Covenant; symbolic fantasy literature as found in the Book of Daniel and Revelation; plus a few of the more salacious stories, including David’s disastrous affair with Bathsheba and Samson’s fatal flirtation with Delilah.
Stretching across both the Old and New Testaments, “Greatest Stories of the Bible” provides readers with the most exciting events in the Bible in a concise, easy-to-navigate, storybook format, taken directly from the New King James Version of the Bible. From Creation to Jesus’ promise to return to Earth again, this attractive book chronicles the failures and triumphs of the most memorable people of the Bible and the events that have captivated the world for centuries.
I can see a variety of purposes this volume can meet: as a gift item for family and personal devotions, a book for the coffee table, an addition to doctor’s (and other) waiting rooms, church libraries, a resource for church classrooms, and much more.
Artist Bio
God. (No photo available)
