Reviews

An endorsement by Dr. Leland Ryken:

Dana Bennett has written an innovative book on how to read and teach the Bible. It is a readable book that the common person can understand, yet it is informed by scholarship of the highest order. The author’s approach is built around unifying themes, patterns, and archetypes in the Bible. The goal of making the Bible come alive as a unified book rather than a collection of fragments is fully achieved. Another strength is that the author shows a literary awareness that the Bible is a book of human experience, rooted in everyday reality. This book is a wonderful corrective to certain tendencies in conventional approaches to the Bible. It opens the door to seeing new dimensions of the Bible and passing these on to students and groups.

-Dr. Leland Ryken is professor of English emeritus at Wheaton College and author of over 30 books in biblical studies including How to Read the Bible as Literature, Ryken's Bible Handbook, and Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible.

Refreshingly, Bennett tucks her presentation of themes into almost fifty pages of appendices rich in charts, this allowing her to organize the stories of the Bible into coherency through universal themes exploring the meaning and purpose of life: Creation, Birth, Infancy, Childhood, Adulthood, Death, and Heaven. Throughout these chapters, Bennett encourages and allows students to ask what human experience is and what it means. She succeeds in making the Bible accessible and relevant to her students.

Bennett has taken to heart the admonition in Joshua 24:15 to “choose whom you will serve.” She unabashedly confesses to a Christian commitment that guides and controls her understanding and presentation of the Bible as God’s culminating revelation in Christ. A simple, direct style compliments her overall sense of engaging students to let the Bible talk to them through its stories.

-Dr. Jeanie C. Crain, Professor Emerita Missouri Western State University, PhD English and Philosophy-Purdue University, PhD Biblical Studies-Newburgh Theological Seminary, and author of Reading the Bible as Literature: An Introduction and Biblical Genres: Introduction.

Dana Bennett's depth and breadth of the Bible is evident in her writing and presentation. Paired with her love and enthusiasm to share about the story it contains and the message it offers is the perfect platform for her to present brilliant insights and recurring themes that speak to those who seek to learn more.

-Becky Cortino, author and speaker

Relevant Revelation is a fascinating study of the Bible in a way you probably haven’t studied it before, be prepared to have some “ah ha” moments as you dive into this book and start putting together connections between different eras of Bible times.

--Amy Buff, member St Stephens Lutheran Church Hickory

It is a very smooth and seamless read. One chapter melds into another. There are no awkward pauses. The needle and thread of this text stitch together a story of God and His people with colorful stories, relevant themes that reach into our world today, and beautiful ribbons of Salvation present throughout, as the Bible intends us to understand.

~Kara Wittenberg, member of First Baptist Church Hickory

“This is an amazing and well-organized study of Israel’s development from a family group to a nation, presented as the stages of human life. It is written in a thought-provoking way that takes the reader through the major Old Testament themes. The book culminates with the prophecy fulfillment of the Messiah’s arrival on earth and the final covenant in Christ’s sacrificial mission.”

-Valera Gregory, MCE (masters of Christian education) member of First Baptist Church Hickory

"I commend you, praise you, and admire you for your determination and intense dedication ... in completing this so worthwhile and needed magnificent teaching and studying tool. Your book "project" is Scripturally detailed, enlightening, and motivationally inspiring to cause one to want to "dig deeper" to learn more about the Bible and to share more with others about the Word... I'll just summarize my thoughts in one word: AMAZING!!"

-Reader from South Carolina

By stepping back from individual stories, one is able to study overarching themes and follow the

red thread so deftly woven through time and scripture by Yahweh. Relevant Revelation

presents the reader with seven themes to survey through the Old Testament. Such study

deepens one’s faith, illuminating the consistency of the Father’s unchanging nature juxtaposed

against the moral development of humanity. For example, the author observes that “the barren

women motif is a succinct example of how important it is to look not only at the individual

stories, but to look for connections among those stories. The Bible tells colorful, meaningful,

short stories but with much more brilliance if read in its entirety and in context. Then we can

appreciate the pieces that form a larger tapestry of meaning.”

-Revonda Miller, member of First Baptist Church Hickory

A word from the editor of "Relevant Revelation":

When I first read Dana Bennett's "Relevant Revelation," I was taken aback by the introduction. Bennett sets lofty goals for herself and the book, and thus high expectations for the reader that seem questionable at best, impossible at worst. And I warned her of that fact as I was halfway through my first reading of her book: "You need to tone down the introduction." But, in the end, I had to tell her, "Well, you did it. You proved me wrong. It was possible to meet those expectations by the end of this work. God must have had a hand in this." How's that for a relevant revelation?

I am now reading and editing her book for the fifth time and, every time, I am surprised at how it just gets better. I've enjoyed seeing the changes she makes with every draft and manuscript and cannot wait to see the finished hardcopy book.

Her work fills a hole in Christian literature, as it is not a self-help book, but rather serves to prove the Gospel in unconventional ways as well as redirect the perspectives of even the most in-depth readers. God's hand has directed her path and lead her to write this work for its readers. Everyone who reads this book will get something new out of it and hearts will be changed. They will understand God and the Word better. But, it is more than a textbook, more than a self-help book, but rather is a work of God.

One of my personal favorite quotes is "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world" - Mother Teresa. Dana Bennett has certainly allowed herself to become God's vessel so that others may read and understand His words more clearly, as He intended them. Her book serves as a guide so that we can understand God's expectations in how we should read and share the Bible with others.

As the book's editor, I feel comfortable saying that "Relevant Revelation" is not a perfect work. And it shouldn't be. There is only One perfect work and only One perfect Author, and Relevant Revelation serves to help us understand His Word and its perfection.

-Katelyn Wilder, editor, Relevant Revelation: Understanding the Bible as One Continuous Story