Sacred Stories of the Old & New Testament (Selected for Children): English Stand…

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Sacred Stories of the Old & New Testament (Selected for Children) is a compilation of the child appropriate narratives of the English Standard Version of the Bible (the ESV).

In other words, it is a book of Bible stories straight from the ESV Bible, not a paraphrase or retelling. Each chapter reads like a single story with a beginning and an ending. Each story is of a manageable length (not too long) so that it can be used at a family prayer/devotional time even with very young children.

If you have been looking for a “reading plan” for family devotions or family prayer; if you want your children to hear the very words of Holy Scripture but you don’t want to get bogged down in boring genealogies or R-rated content; if you are running a children’s program at church; or if you work in a Christian school – then this is the book for you.

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a children’s book per se. It is more like a Bible specifically designed for family readng. There are no pictures.
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From the Preface:

Shortly after our daughter was born, I read something to remind me of the scene in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brother’s Karamazov in which the good monk Father Zosima recounts his childhood and the beginnings of his faith and particularly a formative book called A Hundred and Four Stories of the Old & New Testament. A little bit of research on Dostoevsky’s faith and formation taught me that he himself was influenced in his own childhood by the Russian translation of a book by Johannes Hübner – One Hundred and Four Sacred Stories from the Old and New Testaments Selected for Children.

The titles of these books stuck with me as we began to read various stories to our daughter, and I realized how badly I wanted these books to exist and be available for parents today.

Sacred Stories of the Old & New Testament is a compilation of Biblical stories using the actual language of Scripture, the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. The beginning of some of the stories has been edited slightly to help make each story start like a story. Anywhere the text has been added or changed from the ESV, the changed text will be shown in italics. An ellipses … or brackets {} signify that one or more words have been left out of that verse in order to help it read more like a story. This happens rarely and usually only at the beginning of the story.

So for Christians who believe both in the power of the Scriptures and the ability for “story” to shape and form us, I should imagine that the present volume will be found to be a graciously welcomed addition to the home.

In compiling these stories, however, I had to confront the reality that Holy Scripture is not a children’s book. If you happen to wonder why one or another particular story is missing, I invite you to go read it again in your Bible and I think you’ll understand why.

Even with the stories that have been included, you may still want to be prepared to talk about what is circumcision, and what does it mean that a man “knew” his wife or what “adultery” means. Some may find it uncomfortable to have these conversations sprung upon them without warning.

I hope that your family truly enjoys reading these stories together. I hope that your children will never know a time when they did not know of God’s eternal love that has created and sustains this world and of his personal and unique love for them individually. I hope this book will help with that. Glory to Jesus Christ.

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The Trinity Mission works to make ancient Christian formation more accessible to the modern believer. We offer various print. audio, video, and other resources available on our website.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09R3BZ9PQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Trinity Mission
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 21, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 431 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8985441000
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.34 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.08 x 9 inches
Part of series ‏ : ‎ Prayer in the Household Series