The Bible's Grand Narrative

Why myth matters to modern life is a lesson taught by the pagans. The pagans as our teacher and the Bible’s first few chapters as myth may not be an approach to the Bible one would expect to hear on AFR, but it is an approach taken as given by the Church Fathers who understood the Bible’s grand narrative as the union of God and His people.

In Genesis 1, God introduces himself against the larger backdrop of Ancient Near Eastern temple narratives. This podcast asks, “Why would God tell a story like the ones the pagans told?” and "What can we learn about God by comparing Him to gods and goddesses that perhaps can be learned no other way?

God as the Bible’s Hero is also its storyteller. So what kind of story is God telling in Genesis 1? In the modern world, most of us are deaf to this type of story. But as a narrative, it affects everything, even how we bury our dead.

God is the Hero of the grand narrative, not its protagonist. He has center stage in Genesis 1, but rather than emphasize his super strength he repeats something else about his character. What essential character trait does God emphasize about himself and why does it matter to the story?

This podcast defines the major starring roles in the biblical saga. It introduces the character of God, as in the role he plays in the grand narrative. Is He hero, protagonist, or antagonist? The answer may surprise you.

Marcia shares a personal story of her own encounter with the life-changing bread.

What Pharisees started in a wheat field, Christ finishes in the beginning. He takes us to the purpose of all creation and the potential of every human life. This podcast answers the question: “How can disciples breaking the Sabbath actually be innocent?”

In this week’s story, we follow Christ deeper into the Old Testament to the foot of a holy mountain. There former slaves are given the opportunity to become priests. Despite their sad rejection of God’s offer He gave his people the mediator they asked for: the priesthood via the sacrifices and the bread that made men holy.

From a wheat field where Christ’s disciples were accused of working on the Sabbath, Christ takes his listeners back in time to a table set with bread and wine by hardworking priests. Priests were able to work on the Sabbath because on that day they dined with God.

Due to a surprising turn of the story, we find ourselves stuck on bread. This podcast follows the bread stories woven together by Christ who will take us from the Gospels all the way back to the beginning.