The Book of God

The Bible as Novel

By: Walter Wangerin Jr.

Narrated by: Walter Wangerin Jr.

Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Experience the Bible as a singular, powerful story and prepare to be swept away by Scripture as never before! Wangerin's "Bible storybook for adults" features brilliant settings, dramatized scenes, and added dialogue—all gleaned from extensive research.

The Book of God reads like a novel, dramatizing the sweep of biblical events, bringing to life the men and women of this ancient book in vivid detail and dialogue. From Abraham wandering in the desert to Jesus teaching the multitudes on a Judean hillside, this award-winning bestseller follows the biblical story from start to finish.

Priests and kings, apostles and prophets, common folk and charismatic leaders—individual stories offer glimpses into an unfolding revelation that reaches across the centuries to touch us today. The Book of God:

• Follows the biblical story in chronological order
• Filled with carefully researched cultural and historical background
• Includes biblical events viewed through the eyes of minor characters

Master storyteller Walter Wangerin Jr. shares the story of the Bible from beginning to end as you've never read it before, retold with exciting detail and passionate energy. Experience the Bible in a beautiful new way!

©1996 Walter Wangerin, Jr. (P)1996 Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Critic reviews

1997, Christian Book Award Winner, Winner, ECPA

1997, Book of the Year - Christianity Today, Winner, Christianity Today Magazine

Disappointing

I had hoped this would help to deepen my faith. However, it was a just a very long reading of select parts of the bible. Where is Revelations? Also the author’s accent was very distracting. Too bad.

A Fabulous Novel with Truth

I was hesitant buy this first as I am not usually wild about the Bible being read with different characters/voices. This book is different & I'm very glad I decided to listen to it. The is another book that tells the story of the Bible as it happened also. Both re excellent.
I highly recommend this book.

The Book Of God

I will listen to books by Mr Walter Wangerin Jr. again because he does a great job of writing and with the narration— I also enjoyed how he put the Bible into a story form!

Not Bad At All

I LOVED this book. It was well presented and very thorough. In fact, a little too thorough. That is my one and only complaint. There was a bit more detail than I cared to know. For example, how many chariots Solomon had and how much each one cost. Some parts were also rather, for lack of a better term, graphic. The violent deaths and torturing occasionally found in the Bible are described in rather explicit detail. Not inappropriately, don't get me wrong. Just a litle to much for me. However, this book was overall a very interesting and enjoyable experience. I hope everyone gets as much out of it as I did.

The Fiction Book of God

I have immersed in the Bible since I can remember my name , so important things were left or twisted I guess for dramatic license. Even the baptism of John by Jesus doesn't as I have been and written except in this book. Jesus' death is mundane. No Opening of the skies and God's message to Him and other things that occurred at the time of his death Maybe it is because the author is Lutheran. I don't know if their Bibles are different than the king James version. Not it down , just what I am used to. I won't read any of his other books for this reason. He is a great writer and narrator as long as you don't know the material. His Jesus is dour all the time . It was the most depressing portrayal of Jesus I EVER heard.

An amazing experience!

This audio book brings the Bible to life, reinvigorating stories, people and truths in a dynamic way. Make no mistake this is not inspired scripture, but is inspired by scripture and allows access to the heart of God's love for his creation and His consistent attempts to speak to us using people throughout history that are more like us than we often understand when reading scripture.
Highly recommended for anyone that wants to have an overview of a book that not only transcends time, but is talked about every day by more people than any other literature in history.

a really helpful way to organize biblical content

it was so good to read the stories i'm familiar with with a narrative that wove them into a story and with the context of a chronological timeline.

but...I didn't really like the narration. sometimes, I thought the semi-yelling and exclamations that were so frequent to express dialog were out of place and, unfortunately caused many of the characters (whose dialog was all treated similarly) blend together instead of differentiating them.

I still loved the organization and the story... though familiar held my attention from start to finish.

A Bible Story: For Adults!

What did you love best about The Book of God?

The fact that it's written like a story and allows you to feel what the characters might have felt at that time.

What did you like best about this story?

That it's based on the Bible yet it's written in an interesting way that makes you want to listen.

What about Walter Wangerin Jr.’s performance did you like?

Everything. His voice is soothing and he does the characters voices quite well.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

It would be similar to my headline above.

Any additional comments?

This type of book has been a long time coming and I'm just glad that I ran across it. It's well worth the credit and is something that can be listened to and enjoyed for years to come. Thank you to the author. Well done.

Great idea ruined by narrator

How could the performance have been better?

I would buy the book again if they handed it over to another narrator. As it stands, I could not finish it. I apologize to anyone from the upper mid-west, but it is torture to listen to this man's accent. Imagine a book narrated by one of the characters from the movie Fargo and you will get the idea. Excruciating. This is not the first Audible book ruined by an author's ill advised decision to read their own book without first making an honest appraisal of their own speaking skills.

Mixed

I enjoyed it, especially the Old Testament. I gave it 3 stars. I found listening to the author/narrator exhausting.