Tuesday, October 10, 2017
A Lineage of Grace
by Francine Rivers
This one's a collection of five novels. Or maybe they were novellas. All I know is that they were originally published as individual books. Each book took a story from the Bible and retold it (with some embellishments) from the perspective of the story's heroine. I read the first two back when I was desperate for something to read and decided I wanted the first one on my shelf. Years later, I picked up this compendium and bit by bit read through them all. Of course, such a lengthy reading schedule makes for a lousy book review.
My opinions of the first two novellas didn't change after the second reading. I recall the third volume telling the story of Ruth, "Unshaken", as being the weakest of the lot. It seemed to import a lot of 20th Century American values into the tale. "Unspoken", the story of Bathsheba and her lust affair with David worked better. The stories from 1st and 2nd Samuel are some of my favorite from scripture and it was interesting to see that one fleshed out from Bathsheba's perspective. Ms. Rivers also didn't skimp on presenting sin, repentance, and forgiveness. Finally, "Unafraid", the story of Mary, gave an interesting take on what it's like to have a Messiah in the household. In the end, I'm glad I picked up the collection and took the time to read it.
It's on my shelf, worth checking out, and waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
This one's a collection of five novels. Or maybe they were novellas. All I know is that they were originally published as individual books. Each book took a story from the Bible and retold it (with some embellishments) from the perspective of the story's heroine. I read the first two back when I was desperate for something to read and decided I wanted the first one on my shelf. Years later, I picked up this compendium and bit by bit read through them all. Of course, such a lengthy reading schedule makes for a lousy book review.
My opinions of the first two novellas didn't change after the second reading. I recall the third volume telling the story of Ruth, "Unshaken", as being the weakest of the lot. It seemed to import a lot of 20th Century American values into the tale. "Unspoken", the story of Bathsheba and her lust affair with David worked better. The stories from 1st and 2nd Samuel are some of my favorite from scripture and it was interesting to see that one fleshed out from Bathsheba's perspective. Ms. Rivers also didn't skimp on presenting sin, repentance, and forgiveness. Finally, "Unafraid", the story of Mary, gave an interesting take on what it's like to have a Messiah in the household. In the end, I'm glad I picked up the collection and took the time to read it.
It's on my shelf, worth checking out, and waiting room material.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, FrancineRivers, LineageofGrace, OnMyShelf, WaitingRoomMaterial
Friday, April 06, 2007
Unashamed
by Francine Rivers
This one's the second of the Lineage of Grace series--five novellas based on the women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Unashamed is the story of Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho who hid the Israelite spies and so ensured the survival of herself and her family. The tale is not as good as Unveiled, the first in the series, but it's still worth checking out. Its main weakness, I think, is that it's a tad overdone. Rahab is supposed to be the woman of faith, and with the faith she displays, she should be out moving mountains. She also seems to have had a sneak preview of the New Testament. But I suppose I shouldn't be complaining. Instead, I should be asking myself why I don't have faith like that...
LibraryThing link
This one's the second of the Lineage of Grace series--five novellas based on the women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Unashamed is the story of Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho who hid the Israelite spies and so ensured the survival of herself and her family. The tale is not as good as Unveiled, the first in the series, but it's still worth checking out. Its main weakness, I think, is that it's a tad overdone. Rahab is supposed to be the woman of faith, and with the faith she displays, she should be out moving mountains. She also seems to have had a sneak preview of the New Testament. But I suppose I shouldn't be complaining. Instead, I should be asking myself why I don't have faith like that...
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut, FrancineRivers, LineageofGrace
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Unveiled
by Francine Rivers
I think there's a whole new genre I've gotta get into--Biblical fiction. It's when an author will take a story from the Bible, or a setting from the same, and fill in the details to flesh out the tale. I've read three different books like that in my daughter's curriculum, and enjoyed each one. And now along comes Unveiled, an expansion on the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. That tale stands on its own, of course, but I tend to fill in the blanks with my own 20th Century American worldview. In this book, Ms. Rivers tries to fill it in with ancient Hebrew and Canaanite values. More importantly, she interprets the tale as one of redemption. Through it all she stays faithful to the biblical text. Despite the addition of fictionalized elements, you might even say that she does a better job of presenting the tale than does a typical Bible class. In my experience, we just pull the story of Judah and Tamar out of the text, never dwelling on it's relation to the overall story of Joseph, in which it's placed. Anyway, I'm going to have to find a copy of Unveiled to put on my shelf.
LibraryThing link
I think there's a whole new genre I've gotta get into--Biblical fiction. It's when an author will take a story from the Bible, or a setting from the same, and fill in the details to flesh out the tale. I've read three different books like that in my daughter's curriculum, and enjoyed each one. And now along comes Unveiled, an expansion on the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. That tale stands on its own, of course, but I tend to fill in the blanks with my own 20th Century American worldview. In this book, Ms. Rivers tries to fill it in with ancient Hebrew and Canaanite values. More importantly, she interprets the tale as one of redemption. Through it all she stays faithful to the biblical text. Despite the addition of fictionalized elements, you might even say that she does a better job of presenting the tale than does a typical Bible class. In my experience, we just pull the story of Judah and Tamar out of the text, never dwelling on it's relation to the overall story of Joseph, in which it's placed. Anyway, I'm going to have to find a copy of Unveiled to put on my shelf.
LibraryThing link
Labels: FrancineRivers, LineageofGrace, OnMyShelf
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