Even though I grew up in a Christian family and community, parts of the Bible have always been hard for me to understand how they fit with other parts. For example, how do all of the battles and kings in the Old Testament have to do with Jesus and his teachings in the New Testament? I’ve heard pat answers from pastors and friends, but with this book I finally got answers as to why they fit together.
Heart of the Story is written by a prominent Christian author, Randy Frazee. The premise of the book is to identify the core of the various individuals and events that span the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. What Frazee suggests is that it’s God’s love that connects it all. Each chapter covers either an individual, e.g. Esther, Daniel, Ruth, Adam and Eve, etc. Or it discusses a span of history such as the many kings of ancient Israel from Saul to the Babylonian conquest (if you’ve ever read 1, 2 Kings, 1, 2 Samuel, 1, 2 Chronicles, you’ll be glad to read the condensed version in ten pages). The New Testament covers the birth of Jesus, his ministry, and his death, Paul’s mission work, and John’s writing the book of Revelation.
What I liked was how Frazee connects the theme to each story, but also gives evidence from each story that relates to the theme. My only complaint is that there isn’t enough of this. The evidence is pretty much the details that I knew from church and private school. I wanted deeper details that move beyond what I know. But at the conclusion of the book I realized that the book’s purpose isn’t for me, it’s for those that are new to reading the Bible, new to understanding God or religion at all. So overall it was a good read, well written, but I wasn’t the intended audience.
