Training · flashcard deck
The Drama of Scripture
Where does the story you are actually living in come from?
Bartholomew and Goheen argue that the Bible is one story, that it claims to be the true story of the whole world, and that a reader who does not know its shape will end up living inside some other story without noticing. These cards work through the six acts, and through the case the book makes for them.
- 1 The Bible as one story The book's opening argument: that Scripture is a single story, that it claims to be the true one, and what happens to a reader who does not know its shape. 8 cards
- 2 Act 1 — God establishes his kingdom Creation as the founding of a kingdom, and people placed in it with work to do on the king's behalf. 10 cards
- 3 Act 2 — Rebellion in the kingdom One decision to distrust the king, and the damage working outward until it has reached every relationship there is. 12 cards
- 4 Act 3 — The king chooses Israel Two scenes: a people for the king, and a land for his people — and the reason the rescue starts with one family rather than everyone. 17 cards
- 5 Interlude — A kingdom story waiting for an ending The four centuries the Bible skips, and why the book refuses to skip them. 6 cards
- 6 Act 4 — The coming of the king The turning point of the whole drama: the kingdom arrives in person, and not in the form anyone was expecting. 11 cards
- 7 Act 5 — Spreading the news of the king Two scenes: from Jerusalem to Rome, and into all the world — the second of which has not finished, and has us in it. 13 cards
- 8 Act 6 — The return of the king The ending the whole drama has been moving towards, and why it is creation renewed rather than creation abandoned. 11 cards
These cards follow the structure and argument of The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story, by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen (Baker Academic). They are a study aid written in our own words, not the book and not a replacement for it — the book is in print, and it is worth the evenings it asks for. The passages on the cards are ours: they are the texts each act turns on, not a list of citations taken from the book.