Woven: Understanding the Bible as One Seamless Story. Angie Smith. 2021. [March] 288 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: I was in my early twenties when a couple of new friends invited me to a Bible study.
Angie Smith's newest book, Woven, sets out to tell the big picture story of the Bible in a reader-friendly, super-accessible way. The intended audience she has in mind are those that are new--even completely new--to the Bible. To folks who might not know there is an Old Testament or a New Testament. To those who may not know that there are sixty-six books in the Bible. To those who may not know what chapters and verses are, who would be completely out of sorts if the pastor said turn your Bibles to John chapter three verse sixteen. It's important to keep HER intended audience in mind. Because I am sure there are folks out there who need such a book as this.
The book is focused on telling the whole big picture story of the Bible--mostly chronologically. It doesn't fit in all the details from all the books and should not be viewed as a commentary. The most time is given to the foundational book of Genesis and the four gospels.
I never got the sense that the book was trying to take the place of the Bible. (I do get that sense in some books about the Bible. Here, read this so you don't have to read the Bible.)
I would recommend to those who are new to the Bible, curious about the Bible, new to the faith, or perhaps for those that are trying to think of ways to help children or grandchildren access the Bible for the first time.
I didn't always love, love, love the narrative style. There were a few places here and there were the humor or presentation just wasn't my cup of tea. But I am not in the intended audience for which she's directly writing. One example that pops to mind is her presentation of Sarah--Abraham's wife (Sarai). Her presentation made it sound like Sarah didn't want to be a mother, to have a baby. Like she hadn't spent decades of her married life *longing* for a baby. Of course that is reading between the lines in both cases. The text doesn't explicitly state Sarah had been wanting a baby from the time she she was a young, new wife. Nor does it state that Sarah was happy, content, pleased with not having a child and would find a baby tiresome and too much too handle. But the way she presents that portion of text it was like THANKS A LOT GOD JUST WHAT I NEED AT MY AGE, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, SURE THIS IS A BLESSING FOR ABRAHAM, HE DOESN'T HAVE TO GET UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. It just seemed a bit off. But still more often than not the narrative wasn't problematic for me. It was nice enough.
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