The Old Testament Retold

About this book

The Old Testament is the most influential collection of texts in Western civilization. It's also one of the least read. People know the highlights - Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, David and Goliath, the Ten Commandments - but most have never read the actual text, and those who have often did so in a fog of piety that obscured what the stories actually say.This book fixes that.The Old Testament: A Retelling takes you from the first words of Genesis to the four hundred years of silence that follow Malachi. Every major book, every important story, every significant character - retold in plain, sharp, modern English by a writer who respects the text without worshiping it.The creation stories. The flood. Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son. Jacob wrestling god in the dark. Joseph in Egypt. Moses and the plagues. The giving of the law at Sinai. The conquest of Canaan. The cycle of judges. Ruth's loyalty. Samuel anointing kings. Saul's madness. David's genius and David's crimes. Solomon's wisdom and Solomon's corruption. The divided kingdom. Elijah calling fire from heaven. The fall of Israel. The fall of Judah. The exile. The prophets screaming into the wind. The return. The silence.It's all here. Not summarized into blandness, but retold with the texture and strangeness intact. The ugly parts stay ugly. The beautiful parts stay beautiful. The contradictions stay unresolved, because the original authors left them that way.This is not a devotional. It's not a study Bible. It's not an academic commentary. It's a retelling - written for readers who want to know what the Old Testament actually says without having to decode archaic language or sit through someone else's theology. The narrator is a guide, not a preacher. He points things out, makes observations, occasionally cracks a joke, and trusts you to draw your own conclusions.You don't have to be religious to read this. You don't have to be irreligious either. The Old Testament belongs to everyone who's ever asked where we come from, why we suffer, and whether any of it means anything. These stories have been shaping human civilization for three thousand years. They deserve to be read by people who might never pick up a Bible.Includes appendices covering the women of the Old Testament, the strangest stories in scripture, the character of the Old Testament god, the great speeches, the geography of the ancient world, and the recurring patterns that give the whole collection its strange, insistent rhythm.83,000 words. Eight parts. Creation to silence.