Bible stories for grown ups?

[rara67]

Went to DS' carol concert today and suddenly felt that I wanted to hear all the bible stories I heard as a child. Over 30 years ago at my primary school the local vicar used to come into assembly once a week and tell the most amazing stories. Also, as a child I was gripped by Jesus of Nazareth (Robert Powell, Sunday tea time). I dont have time to watch the DVD boxed set but something to read would be good. Any ideas? Thanks

I think the easiest way to approach this is to find the "oldest" children's story-bible you can find. Dorling Kindersley used to do a good one. You could read it together with your DS or separately. Finding the stories that are usually told in assemblies or in Sunday-school is a little harder as they're scattered all over the bible, but for the Jesus story, read the first three gospels. Mark is the shortest and easiest but doesn't have all the parables you may remember from being young. For the old testatment, Genesis and Exodus have a lot of stories you'll recall (Creation, Noah, Abraham, Jacob's Ladder, Joseph, the escape from Egypt). Also the book of Jonah, or Daniel, or the book of Ruth, and bits of Samuel/Kings which covers the reign of King David and King Saul, then on to Solomon. Judges covers things like the story of Samson, Gideon and Esther. Joshua and the battle of Jericho is in the Book of Joshua. The book of Kings has the stories of Elijah the prophet who had to stand firm against the prophets of Baal; the story of Naaman the plague-ridden general.

Hope some of this helps. If you approach from the Bible end, find an easy translation - the Good News, or New International Version, or Living Bible.

this might also be worth a look. It's what it says on the tin - the Bible, from beginning to end, in the form of a novel (ie a chronological narrative).

I might be more heavy going than what you are looking for but it's quite good. I only read about half of it (was embarrassed at how many times I'd renewed the library loan so I returned it without finishing!) but I did enjoy it and found it very useful from the POV of the 'story' of God, especially the chronology of who did what to whom, and when, in the Old Testament. The Bible obviously isn't a novel / chronological story, but this helped make it more readable.

Just an idea :)

Thank you so much, that gives me lot of scope and definitely a New Year's resolution!

this is also an interesting and slightly different approach, it's basically the gospels in an innovative 'urban' setting, Rob Lacey the author also wrote the entire bible in this style, called 'The word on the street'. It's a fresh look at Jesus - you may find it helpful if you're looking for a new and different way of looking at the story.