God’s Big Picture

by    25th April 2010    0 responses

godsbigpicture

With God’s Big Picture, Vaughan Roberts attempts the unenviable task of writing a Bible overview that is accessible to the average Christian.  A self-confessed imitation of Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Kingdom, God’s Big Picture is marketed as a simple-to-understand alternative.  There is certainly a need for a book that explains the Bible’s big story in a simple way, without introducing some of the complex and technical issues Goldsworthy does, and God’s Big Picture fills that gap.  But this really is a trimmed version of Goldsworthy, not a simple Bible overview.

The book is structured in eight sections, each corresponding to a period in salvation history.  The chapter titles all draw on the theme of kingdom (and as a result, the neatness of repetition sometimes wins over the clarity of expression).  Chapters cover the status of the kingdom of God in creation and Eden; at the fall; in the promises to Abraham; in the nation of Israel; in prophesy of the kingdom; in Jesus’ incarnation; in the life of the church; and in the new creation.  The whole sweep of scripture is covered, therefore, as the context of Bible books are explained in relation to their location on the timeline of salvation history.  It is natural that, when dealing with a subject as big as an overview of the Bible, things will often seem a bit rushed.  However, Roberts is largely successful in explaining things briefly without it seeming like he is going too quickly.

Roberts follows Goldsworthy as defining the kingdom of God as “God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule and blessing”.  He measures each stage in the Bible overview against this description to see the status of God’s people; the location of God’s people; and the relationship between the people and God.  These are helpful themes to draw out, and give a solid understanding of what it going on in the Bible story.  A series of tables and diagrams throughout the book updates the progress we have made through the Bible story, and help to illustrate that God’s progressive revelation is cumulative, not just always changing.

This is a very good book, and anyone wishing to get their bearings with exiles, kings, prophets and apocalypse would benefit from reading it.  God’s Big Picture traces the story of God’s kingdom through the Bible in a much simpler way than Graeme Goldsworthy does, although I suspect that Vaughan Roberts wishes to whet appetites for Goldsworthy’s more meaty volume rather than to replace it.  In a short book like God’s Big Picture, though, I am not sure that tracing the kingdom of God is the most helpful way to introduce people to Biblical Theology.  I think there is still a niche for a book that traces the story-line of the Bible with closer reference to the whole content of the Bible than one theme running through it.  Until that book is written, though, I heartily recommend God’s Big Picture.

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Ali grew up in London, but is currently at university in the North East of England. He helped to re-launch Crossring in 2009, and has acted as Managing Editor of the website since then. He occasionally dabbles in photography and web development - he also designed and maintains the Crossring website.

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