"The Original Story is a comprehensive and lively guide to the Old Testament offering an essential introduction for readers of all faiths and none. It provides a complete course covering history, archaeology, geography and textual interpretation. Its core is a set of chapters exploring central biblical themes: the nature of God, God's relationship with the world, human suffering, ethics, experience of God, and the covenant relationship between God and Israel. The historicity of the Old Testament is examined in detail and there are also chapters on topics such as prophecy, worship, law apocalyptic and wisdom literature.Extensively illustrated and easily navigable with icons, sidebars and boxes providing helpful information and questions for discussion, "The Original Story is an ideal companion to Old Testament study for students and the interested general reader.